No.
25, June 24, 2009
OPENINGS
what’s hot and what’s not?
XIIIIIIIIY
Attacking with 9r+lwqkvl-tr0
9+pzp-+pzpp0
9p+n+psn-+0
the Catalan 9+-+-+-+-0
9-+pzP-+-+0
9+-sN-+NzP-0
By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris 9PzP-+PzPLzP0
9tR-vLQ+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
Ivanchuk, the man who can play any opening line with Frequency
both colours, is leading in Bazna with two rounds to go.
Cheparinov won the Ruy Lopez tournament in Zafra and
Dominguez Perez indeed won the Capablanca Memorial.
what’s hot?
In Zafra White eventually made a convincing 5 out of 6 with the Ruy Lopez,
the best way to honour the famous theoretician. In Bazna, Nisipeanu Score
introduced the interesting novelty 9.¥d5 against Shirov’s Archangelsk,
playing for a structural advantage, but Black managed to solve all problems.
Ivanchuk got a serious advantage against Radjabov with a clever Anti-
Sveshnikov approach. Dominguez beat Meier in the French Rubinstein
ending we discussed in CVO 15. Apparently things are not so easy for Black
after all. The strong novelty 8.a4 from last week’s Caruana-Granda Zuniga
was repeated in Radjabov-Nisipeanu, but Black’s 8...g6 wasn’t really put
to the test.
Our Game of the Week features Caruana with a nice Catalan attacking
win over Perez Candelario. In the diagram position Black went for the most
common move, 7...¦b8. Gelfand-Radjabov could have been a nice follow-
up of last week’s Game of the Week, but this time around Gelfand chose the
more positional 9.¤d2. The first new move was 16...a4 and with 17...¤h5!?
Black used a theme from the famous third matchgame Spassky-Fischer,
Reykjavik 1972 to create nice counterplay. In Tbilisi, Jobava showed how
to beat the annoying Exchange Variation of the King’s Indian. Gelfand-
Kamsky looked like a big advantage for White in the Grünfeld. Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only
The Taimanov Sicilian is under firm pressure. Black stays away from the main line, which is not a good sign. Cheparinov-Cramling was
another win for White in the 8...¥e7 9.f3 h5!? line we mentioned last week. Savchenko-Timofeev and Quezada Perez-Potkin were played
simultaneously in Havana and ended 1.5-0.5 in White’s favour. Should White counter 6...¤f6
with 7.£d2 or with 7.f4? In Shirov-Gelfand the 5.£b3 line against the Queen’s Indian was a
complete disaster. CVO readers know there are more promising lines available for White.
what’s Not?
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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not? No. 25, June 24, 2009
A double pawn sac to mate the black king
The Catalan is known to be a quiet, positional opening well suited for players like Sosonko,
Aronian and Kramnik. However, as Caruana showed this week, it’s possible to go for a direct
attack on the black king sometimes, not bothering about a pawn or two.
15.¦ac1
game of the week The direct attempt to double rooks with 15.¦d4!?
was probably even stronger as after 15...b5
Caruana, F (2649) - Perez Candelario, M ¦xf7 21.£f3 ¢h8 22.¥xf7 £b4 23.£e4 ¦a8 ½–½ 16.¦ad1 it’s hard for Black to remove his knight,
(2513), Ruy Lopez (Zafra), June 19, 2009 Gelfand-Vallejo Pons, Monaco blindfold 2006. since 16...¤c5 fails to 17.¤f6+ gxf6 (17...¢h8
E04, Open Catalan XIIIIIIIIY 18.£h5 gxf6 19.exf6 ¥xf6 20.¥e5) 18.£g4+
¢h8 19.¥h6 ¦g8 20.£xg8+! elegantly mating.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.g3 dxc4 5.¥g2 a6 9-trl+k+-tr0 15...b5 16.¦d4!
5...c5 leads to another sharp branche which we 9+pzp-vlpzpp0 Creating a swinging rook and starting the attack
covered in Zontakh-Gasanov, CVO 14. 9pwq-+psn-+0 against the Black king.
6.0–0 ¤c6 16...¦e8
Recently Naiditsch employed 6...b5 twice in 9+-+-+-+-0 16...c5 wouldn’t help either, for example 17.¦d2
Poikovsky: against Shirov he refuted a dubious 9-+p+P+-+0 £a5 (17...¦b7 18.¦cd1) 18.¦cd1 ¦d8 19.£g4
sacrifice while two rounds later he painfully lost 9+-sN-+-zP-0 with crushing threats.
to Inarkiev. 17.a3 £a5 18.¦cd1 ¤f8 19.¥g5 ¥xg5
7.¤c3 ¦b8 9PzP-+QzPLzP0 19...¥b7 20.¤f6+! gxf6 21.exf6 favours White
Consequently played in line with Black’s 9tR-vLR+-mK-0 as well.
previous moves. Apart from the blunder 7... xiiiiiiiiy 20.¤xg5 c5
b5? 8.¤e5 Black has several other options like 20...h6 21.¤xf7! ¢xf7 22.£h5+ g6 23.£xh6
7...¤d5, 7...¥b4 and 7...¥e7 but they all seem 12.e5!? followed by 24.¦f4.
to give White a pleasant edge. A novelty that makes sense, as the knight 21.£h5 £c7
8.e4 ¥e7 can’t go to d5. 12.¥e3 £a5 would transpose Obviously 21...cxd4? doesn’t work in view of
Risky is the immediate 8...b5 9.d5 ¤b4 10.b3 to 11...£c5 12.¥e3 £a5. Besides that, GM 22.£xf7+ ¢h8 23.£xe8 while the inclusion
cxb3 11.£xb3 c5 12.dxc6 ¤xc6 13.¥f4 ¦b7 Avrukh has extensively analysed his novelty of 21...g6 22.£f3 £c7 fails to 23.¦d7! ¥xd7
14.¦ad1 ¤d7 15.¦fe1 ¥e7 16.¤d5! which gave 12.£xc4!? 0–0 (12...e5 13.¤a4 £c6 14.£xc6+ 24.£xf7+ ¢h8 25.¤e4 and White makes use of
White excellent attacking prospects in Haba- bxc6 15.¥e3©) 13.¥e3 £a5 14.e5! ¤d7 the weakened black squares.
Morozevich, Kemer 2007. (14...£xe5 15.¥f4 £c5 16.£xc5 ¥xc5 17.¥xc7 22.¦f4
9.£e2 ¤xd4 ¦a8 18.¦ac1©) 15.f4 b5 16.£e2 in his repertoire White managed to enter his opponents camp
9...b5 10.¦d1 ¤b4 11.d5 (11.¤e1!?) 11...exd5 book 1.d4 Volume One. and Caruana easily converts his decisive
12.e5 also leads to a double-edged game. 12...¤d7 13.¥f4 £b4 advantage.
10.¤xd4 £xd4 11.¦d1 £b6?! 13...0–0 14.£xc4 is better for White. 22...h6
Better is 11...£c5, e.g. 14.¤e4 0–0 22...¦e7 23.¤xh7! ¤xh7 24.¦h4 and 22...g6
a) 12.¥e3 £a5 13.¥d2 £c5 14.e5 ¤d7 XIIIIIIIIY 23.£h6 ¦e7 24.¤e4 both win.
(14...¤d5!? 15.¤xd5 exd5 16.¥e3 £a5 23.¤xf7 ¦e7 24.¤d6 ¥d7 25.¦g4 ¥c6
17.¥xd5 0–0 gives Black reasonable chances 9-trl+-trk+0 26.£xh6 ¦d8 27.£h5 ¥e8 28.£h3 ¥g6 29.¦h4
to equalize.) 15.¤e4 £xe5 16.¥c3 £f5 17.£xc4 9+pzpnvlpzpp0 ¤h7 30.£g4 ¥f5?
0–0 18.£xc7 ¥d8 19.£d6 b5 20.¥b4 a5 21.£xb8 9p+-+p+-+0 Black could have prolonged the fight with
¤xb8 22.¥xf8 ¥b6 23.¥c5 ¥xc5 24.¦ac1 1–0 30...¥c2 31.¥e4 ¥xe4 32.£xe4 ¤f8 though his
Mikhalevski-Krush, Ashdod 2006. 9+-+-zP-+-0 position remains very bad.
b) 12.e5 ¤d5 13.¤xd5 (13.¤e4 £b5 14.£g4 9-wqp+NvL-+0 31.¤xf5 ¦xd1+ 32.£xd1 exf5 33.¥d5+ 1–0
¢f8 15.¥g5 ¥xg5 16.£xg5 ¥d7 Gelfand- 9+-+-+-zP-0
Drozdovskij, Odessa rapid 2008; 13.¥xd5
exd5 14.¤xd5 ¥d8 15.¥e3 £c6 16.¤b4 £b5 9PzP-+QzPLzP0
17.¦xd8+ ¢xd8 18.¦d1+ ¢e8 19.¤d5 £c6 9tR-+R+-mK-0
20.¤b4 £b5 21.¤d5 £c6 22.¤b4 £b5 ½–½ xiiiiiiiiy
Miton-Perunovic, Vrsac 2008) 13...exd5
14.¥xd5 0–0 15.¥e3 (15.¥xc4! keeps Black
under pressure - Avrukh.) 15...£a5 16.¥a7 ¦a8
17.e6 ¥xe6 18.¥xe6 ¦xa7 19.¦d7 ¥d6 20.¦xf7
caruana-perez candelario
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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not? No. 25, June 24, 2009
this week’s harvest
Sicilian Four Knights 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¤c3 e6 4.d4 cxd4 5.¤xd4 ¤f6 6.¤xc6 bxc6
XIIIIIIIIY 7.e5 ¤d5 8.¤e4 £c7 9.f4 £b6 10.c4 ¤e3 11.£d3 ¤f5 12.¥d2
9r+l+kvl-tr0 Radjabov is a leading expert on the Sveshnikov, which he confirmed once more in Bazna drawing quite easily
9zp-+p+pzpp0 against Shirov. Therefore some special attention should be given to Ivanchuk’s move-order, luring his opponent
9-wqp+p+-+0 into one of his own pet lines. The Azeri has already tackled many GMs with this tricky line, but this time Ivanchuk
came up well-prepared and uncorked the strong novelty 12.¥d2!. White got a huge space advantage and
9+-+-zPn+-0
prevented Black from releasing the pressure on the queenside. Despite being a pawn down, Blacks position
9-+P+NzP-+0 seemed to be completely paralysed by White’s firm grip in the centre. Interestingly, in the final position both ¦a8
9+-+Q+-+-0 and ¥c8 are still on their initial squares, while Radjabov was able to create counterplay only with his other rook
9PzP-vL-+PzP0 and so restoring the balance. As it turned out, Ivanchuk missed a good chance to force matters on the queenside
9tR-+-mKL+R0 by 22.¦b1! creating a passed pawn and making his advantage more concrete. A big smack for Black!
xiiiiiiiiy
1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤c6 5.¤c3 £c7 6.¥e3 ¤f6 7.£d2 ¥b4 Sicilian, Taimanov
8.f3 ¤xd4 9.£xd4 ¥xc3+ 10.bxc3 0–0 11.£c5 £b8 12.¥g5 d5 13.0–0–0 ¥d7 14.£e3 XIIIIIIIIY
The English Attack against the Taimanov Sicilian has two remarkable features. First of all it is important to 9rwq-+-trk+0
understand all the different move orders. This starts with the moves 2...e6 and 4...¤c6 that can be switched 9zpp+l+pzpp0
around and continues throughout the rest of the opening stage. 6...¤f6 is an attempt to do without the move 9-+-+psn-+0
a6 and White may have to stick to 7.f4 as Shirov has done recently. In Havana 7.£d2 appeared on the board
9+-+p+-vL-0
twice during round six. Potkin prefered 7...¤xd4 against Quezada Perez, which looks like a concrete solution that
seems to hold for Black. Timofeev played 7...¥b4 8.f3 ¤xd4 and got into trouble, which brings us to the second
9-+-+P+-+0
remarkable point: White seems to have no problem with the doubled c-pawns as he enjoys strong pressure on
9+-zP-wQP+-0
the black squares. In fact 13...dxe4 14.¥xf6 £f4 15.¢b2 £xf6 16.fxe4 e5! seems to be perfectly fine for Black, so 9P+P+-+PzP0
we prefer the simple 10.£xc3 which gave White a nice edge in Smeets-Stellwagen, Wijk aan Zee 2009. 9+-mKR+L+R0
xiiiiiiiiy
King’s Indian, Exchange 1.d4 ¤f6 2.¤f3 g6 3.c4 ¥g7 4.¤c3 d6 5.e4 0–0 6.¥e2 e5 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.£xd8 ¦xd8 9.¥g5
XIIIIIIIIY ¤a6 10.¤d5 ¦d6 11.¤d2 c6 12.¤xf6+ ¥xf6 13.¥e3 ¥d8 14.0–0–0 ¥e7 15.¤b3 ¦xd1+ 16.¦xd1 c5
9r+l+-+k+0 Many openings have a potentially annoying exchange variation the second player has to deal with. The main
9zpp+-vlp+p0 problem seems to be psychological, since objectively Black is simply fine and should be able to achieve decent
9n+-+-+p+0 overall statistics (true: you cannot win every single game). Against the King’s Indian Exchange Variation Joe
Gallagher has suggested a good antidote in Play the King’s Indian: 9...¦e8 10.¤d5 ¤xd5 11.cxd5 c6 12.¥c4
9+-zp-zp-+-0
cxd5 13.¥xd5 ¤d7! 14.¤d2 ¤c5 15.0–0–0 ¤e6 16.¥e3 ¤f4 17.¥xf4 exf4 18.f3 ¥e6 19.¤b3 ¥xd5 20.¦xd5 f5!
9-+P+P+-+0 with active play. Of course this still tends to end in a draw, but Bromberger managed to win the ending last year.
9+N+-vL-+-0 In Mchedlishvili-Jobava Black also managed to fight his way to victory against the exchange variation, but the
9PzP-+LzPPzP0 course of the game leaves many questions open. White refrained from the theoretical recommendation 11.¥xf6
9+-mKR+-+-0 ¥xf6 12.¤xf6 ¦xf6 13.¤xe5 ¦e6 14.f4! followed by 0–0–0. With the surprising 16...c5! Black grabbed the initiative.
xiiiiiiiiy
1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 d5 4.cxd5 ¤xd5 5.e4 ¤xc3 6.bxc3 ¥g7 Günfeld, Exchange
7.¥c4 c5 8.¤e2 ¤c6 9.¥e3 0–0 10.0–0 ¤a5 11.¥d3 b6 12.£d2 e5 13.¥g5 XIIIIIIIIY
For many decades now, the 7.¥c4 system has been one of the main battlefields of the Grünfeld. This sharp 9r+lwq-trk+0
approach develops continuously and so less scope for creativity remains. For many Black players it was a sign to 9zp-+-+pvlp0
abandon their dynamic weapon. Since 2006, Grünfeld guru GM Sutovsky introduced a new way of undermining 9-zp-+-+p+0
the centre and from that point on the line extended its theory again. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Kamsky
9sn-zp-zp-vL-0
took over Sutovsky’s findings and included the Grünfeld into his repertoire. The American stood many tests
already, but in Bazna Gelfand came up with a recently explored plan of forcing the black queen to block his
9-+-zPP+-+0
own bishop. After trading bishops, it became evident that Black couldn’t exert pressure anymore, while White
9+-zPL+-+-0
simply could mobilize his forces in order to support the advance in the centre. In the game Gelfand liquidated 9P+-wQNzPPzP0
his advantage by going into a drawish endgame. Instead 28.¦xf6! was called for, with good chances for a win. 9tR-+-+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not? No. 25, June 24, 2009
opening expert
Who: Leinier Dominguez Perez
Born: September 23, 1983
Nationality: Cuba
Rating: 2721
Expertise: Style of Kasparov, playing similar openings like Grünfeld and Najdorf.
Why: The talented Cuban player possesses a very dynamic sense for the game.
In tactical complications he has the ability to outcalculate his opponent,
while keeping an eye on the positional nuances. His openings can be
very well compared with The Boss himself. Both players made a huge
contribution to the current theory of the Najdorf and Grünfeld, while with
White Dominguez consistently enters the critical main lines. Apart from his
deep opening preparation, he is ready to accept a small, but lasting
advantage, which he gradually converts. This week he convincingly
won the Capablanca Memorial. In the last round he played a true model
game against Germany’s Georg Meier. Enjoy his fabulous technique,
similar to his legendary countryman Jose Raul himself!
Key game: Dominguez Perez-Meier, Capablanca Mem (Havana), June 17, 2009
XIIIIIIIIY
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.¤c3 dxe4 A useful move, as it’s clear that the king will pick
A Meier speciality.
9-+-vl-+k+0 up the pawns on the kingside anyway.
4.¤xe4 ¤d7 5.¤f3 ¤gf6 6.¤xf6+ ¤xf6 7.c3 9+p+-+-zpp0 41...¥a3 42.b6 ¢c6 43.¢e5 ¥c5
c5 8.¤e5 a6 9.¥e3 £c7 10.£a4+ ¤d7 11.¥b5 9-+-+p+-+0 43...¢xb6 44.¢f6! (but not 44.¢xe6? ¢c6 45.¢f7
cxd4 12.¥xd7+ ¥xd7 13.£xd4 ¥b5 14.a4 ¥d6 ¢d7 46.¢g7 ¢e7 47.¢xh7 ¢f7 with a draw.)
15.¤xf7
9+Q+-+-+-0 44.¢f6!
15.axb5 ¥xe5 16.£a4 0–0 17.b6 £e7 18.0–0 ¦ad8 9-+-+-+-+0 Not 44.¢xe6? ¥xb6 45.¢f7 ¢d7 46.¢g7 ¢e7
19.¦ad1 ¦xd1 20.¦xd1 ¦d8 21.¦xd8+ £xd8 22.g3 9+-zP-vL-+-0 47.¢xh7 ¢f7 which would have led to a draw
g6 23.c4 ¥d4 24.c5 ¥xe3 25.fxe3 £d2 26.£d4 again.
£e1+ 27.¢g2 £e2+ 28.¢g1 ½–½ Korneev-
9-zP-+KzPqzP0 44...¥d4+ 45.¢f7 ¥xb6 46.¢g7 e5 47.f3
Meier, Chalons en Champagne 2009 9+-+-+-+-0 47.¢xh7 e4 48.¢xg6 e3 49.fxe3 ¥xe3.
15...¢xf7 16.axb5 axb5 17.¢e2 £c6 xiiiiiiiiy 47...¢d5 48.¢xh7 e4 49.fxe4+ ¢xe4 50.¢xg6
The first new attempt. In previous games Black 25...£c6? White is winning now as his pawn is already on
couldn’t completely equalize. Keeping queens on the board with 25...¢f8 h4!
18.¦hd1 ¦xa1 19.¦xa1 b4 would have given better chances for a draw. 50...¥e3 51.¥d6 ¢d5 52.¥e7 ¢e6 53.¥g5 ¥c5
19...¦d8 26.£xc6 bxc6 27.b4 ¢f7 28.¢f3 ¥f6 29.c4 g6 54.h5 ¥f8 55.¥h4
20.¦d1 ¦d8 21.£h4! 30.¢e4 ¥g7 31.b5 cxb5 32.cxb5 ¢e7 33.¥d4 55.¥f6 ¥h6.
The start of a strong manoeuvre. ¥h6 34.¥e3 ¥g7 35.¥d4 55...¢d5 56.¥f6 1-0
21...¥e7 22.£f4+ ¢g8 23.¦xd8+ ¥xd8 24.£xb4 No hurry! The next move is 57.¥g7 and so Black resigned.
£xg2 25.£b5 35...¥h6 36.¥e5 ¢d7 37.¢d4 ¥f8 38.¥g3 ¥b4
The exchange of pawns certainly favours White, With the idea to meet 39.¢e5 with ¥c3.
since he is able now to create a passed pawn now. 39.¢c4 ¥e7 40.¢d4 ¥b4 41.h4!
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