No.
83, August 4, 2010
OPENINGS
what’s hot and what’s not?
XIIIIIIIIY
Beating the 9r+lwqk+-tr0
9zpp+nvlpzpp0
9-+-zp-sn-+0
Czech Benoni 9+-zpPzp-+-0
9-+P+P+-+0
9+-sNL+-+-0
9PzP-+NzPPzP0
9tR-vLQmK-+R0
By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris xiiiiiiiiy
Caruana won the tournament in Biel in the blitz Frequency
tiebreak. The Magistral de San Juan in Pamplona was
a shared victory for Wojtaszek and Fressinet, while
Morozevich was out of shape. We also had a look at
the games of the Wch Correspondence Final.
what’s hot?
Score
[Link] is becoming more and more of an 1.e4 expert, as can be
judged from her win against Open Lopez expert Mikhalevski. At the World
Championship of Correspondence Chess every third game was a Najdorf.
Black drew with the trendy 9...h5 Taimanov in Negi-Vachier Lagrave, but we
suspect White was better along the way. In both Morozevich-Zvjagintsev
(French Steinitz) and Kurnosov-Lopez Martinez (Caro-Kann) Black
deviated from the well throdden paths and got acceptable play (see PGN).
Wojtaszek did good business with the QGD: with White he beat Morozevich
after a long positional struggle and with Black against co-winner Fressinet
he showed that the isolated pawn on d5 is not really a weakness. Below
we'll have a look at Adams' interesting handling of the Catalan with Black.
With 1.d4 Morozevich wasn't able to achieve much either, as can been
seen in his Grünfeld game against Kurnosov below. Vachier-Lagrave
beat Rodshtein's Grünfeld using the Fianchetto Variation. Giri had mixed
experience with openings that avoid the two most frequently played first
moves. With White he beat So with 1.c4, but with Black he lost against
Nguyen Ngoc Trong Son's 1.¤f3. Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only
The Czech Benoni (1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5) doesn't have a terribly good reputation, but it can be a clever way of avoiding theory and/
or tactical complications. The positionally oriented player may be happy to take the black side of this opening. In the Game of the Week
Wojtaszek-Lopez Martinez the Czech Benoni was completely taken apart though. In the
diagram position Black went for the somewhat suspicious 7...g6.
what’s Not?
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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not? No. 83, August 4, 2010
A strategical masterpiece by Wojtaszek
Radoslav Wojtaszek has become known with the big public because of his work as World
Champion Anand's second. This very job seems to have pushed him to the next level, as can
be seen from the current game against Lopez Martinez, which is a real strategical masterpiece.
The right recapture. After 21.¥xf4?! ¥f6
game of the week followed by 22...£e7 Black consolidates his
position.
Wojtaszek, R (2663) - Lopez Martinez, J (2543) Gheorghiu, Skopje 1970. An interesting 21...¥xh4 22.¢d1 ¥g3?
San Juan (Pamplona), 31.07.2010 alternative is 8.¥h6 ¤g4 9.¥d2 h5 10.f3 ¤gf6 XIIIIIIIIY
A56, Czech Benoni and now instead of 11.£c2 h4, White better 9r+nwqn+-tr0
plays 11.h4!? with similar play as in the game. 9+p+l+pmk-0
1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5 8...h5 9.g3 ¢f8 10.f3! 9-+-zp-+p+0
The Czech Benoni is a rare guest at this level. XIIIIIIIIY 9zp-zpP+-+p0
Black has a slightly passive position, but he 9r+lwq-mk-tr0
has his strategical trumps as well.
9-+P+PzP-+0
9zpp+nvlp+-0 9zPPsN-vL-vl-0
4.¤c3 d6 5.e4 ¥e7 6.¥d3 ¤bd7 7.¤ge2 9-+-zp-snp+0
Rather than fianchettoing the ¥, this kind of 9-+-wQLsN-+0
9+-zpPzp-+p0 9+R+K+-+R0
setup seems to be White's most promising.
The pawn structure on the kingside remains
9-+P+P+-zP0 xiiiiiiiiy
flexible. This game proves that once the
9+-sNL+PzP-0 The main defender of the black squares wil
position becomes open, the ¥ is better off on 9PzP-+N+-+0 soon be eliminated. 22...¥f6 would have made
d3, while on g2 its range would have been 9tR-vLQmK-+R0 White's task harder, though after 23.¢c2 White
limited. xiiiiiiiiy is still better.
7...g6?! White has successfully restricted Black's 23.¢c2 h4 24.¤d3 ¤c7 25.a4!
Judging from subsequent play, we have to possibilities on the kingside. Black's space Finishing all Black’s hopes for counterplay.
condemn this move. Alternatives: disadvantage makes it much harder for him 25...¤a6 26.¥f3 £e7 27.¤e2 ¤b6 28.£c3+ f6
a) The provocative 7...¤h5?! can be met by to regroupe his pieces. The senseless 10.¥d2 In case of 28...£f6 29.£xf6+ ¢xf6 White
8.g4!. The following example illustrates the was played once before in Van Hoolandt- has 30.¥d2! ¤b4+ 31.¤xb4 axb4 32.a5!
dangers for Black: 8...¤hf6 9.¤g3 g6 10.¥h6 Ermenkov, Turin 2006. disconnecting Black’s ¦s: 32...¦xa5 33.¤xg3
¥f8 11.¥e3 h5 12.g5 h4 13.¤ge2 ¤h5 14.¦g1 10...¢g7 11.¥e3 ¤e8 12.£d2 ¤c7 13.a3 ¤a6 and wins.
¥e7 15.£d2 a6 16.0–0–0 0–0 17.¦g4 b5 18.¦xh4 14.¦b1 ¤b6 15.b3! 29.¦bg1 ¤b4+ 30.¢d2!
bxc4 19.¥b1! ¦e8 20.¦xh5! gxh5 21.¤g3 Now it becomes obvious that Black can hardly 30.¤xb4?! axb4 would unnecessarily
Vallejo Pons-Graf, Benidorm rapid 2003. create any play on the queenside either. Also complicate things, as White has to reckon with
b) 7...a6 8.0–0 (8.¤g3 h5 9.¤f5 ¥f8 10.¥g5 g6 playable is 15.b4 but since Black’s ¤s are out all sorts of sacrifices on a4.
11.¤e3 h4 12.g3 ¥h6 13.¥xh6 ¦xh6 14.£d2 of play on the queenside, there is no need to 30...¤a2 31.£a1 ¤b4 32.¤xg3 hxg3 33.¦xg3
¦h8 and since the black-squared ¥s have force matters on that wing. ¤xd3
been traded, Black was doing fine in Zhao 15...¥d7 16.¤g1! 33...¥xa4? fails to 34.f5! (not 34.bxa4? ¤xc4+
Jun-Nisipeanu, Khanty-Mansiysk 2007.) 8... The closed character of the position enables 35.¢e2 ¤xe3) 34...¥e8 35.fxg6 (threatening
h5 9.a3 h4 10.b4 ¤h5 11.¥c2 ¥g5 12.¥a4 White to slowly improve the position of his ¤f4-e6) 35...¤xd3 36.¦xh8 ¢xh8 37.£h1+
£f6?! 13.bxc5 dxc5 14.¦b1 ¦b8 15.¥xg5 £xg5 pieces before taking concrete measures. ¢g8 38.g7+-.
16.£c1 £xc1 17.¤xc1 ¤hf6 18.¤d3± Dreev- 16...¤c8 17.¤h3 ¤c7 18.¤f2 a5 19.f4! 34.¢xd3 ¢f7?
Can, Budva 2009. The consequences of this pawn sacrifice don’t More stubborn would have been 34...¥e8
c) 7...h5!? 8.f3 (Serious attention deserves require deep calculation, as Black’s pieces are though after 35.¦xh8 ¢xh8 36.¥d2!
8.h4!? Compared with the game, Black still has awkwardly placed. Black’s position will soon fall apart as well.
the g-pawn on its initial square which gives 19...¤e8 35.¦xh8 ¦xh8 36.£g1 ¦h6 37.¦xg6!
him the additional option to go for ¤f8-g6.) 8... Probably Black didn’t feel ready for the and here Black resigned, in view of 37...¦xg6
h4 9.¥e3 g6 10.£d2 ¢f8 11.a3 ¢g7 12.b4 a6 immediate pawn grab: 19...exf4 20.gxf4 ¥xh4 38.¥h5 when White is a pawn up and has a
13.¤a4 b6 14.¦b1 ¤h7 15.bxc5 bxc5 16.0–0 21.e5! with a powerful initiative. winning position.
¥g5 with level chances in Zhao Xue-Aronian, 20.¥e2 exf4 21.gxf4! 1–0
Beersheba 2005.
8.h4
Premature is 8.f3?! ¤h5 9.¥e3 ¥g5 with a
comfortable game for Black in Reshevsky-
wojtaszek-lopez martinez
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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not? No. 83, August 4, 2010
this week’s harvest
Najdorf, 6.¥e3 e5 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 a6 6.¥e3 ¤g4 7.¥c1 ¤f6 8.f3 e5 9.¤b3 ¥e7 10.¥e3 ¥e6 11.£d2 0–0 12.
XIIIIIIIIY 0–0–0 ¤bd7 13.g4 b5 14.g5 b4 15.¤e2 ¤e8 16.f4 a5 17.f5 a4 18.¤bd4 exd4 19.¤xd4 b3 20.¢b1 bxc2+ 21.¤xc2 ¥b3
9-+-+ntrk+0 22.axb3 axb3 23.¤a3 ¤e5 24.h4 ¦a4 25.¦h3 £a8 26.£d5 ¦xa3 27.bxa3 £xa3 28.£d2 £a8 29.¥d4 £xe4+ 30.¢b2
9+-+-vlpzpp0 Note that the move numbers are two higher than usual because of the repetition of moves initiated with 7.¥c1.
9-+-zp-+-+0 The position after 24...¦a4 can be considered the current main line of chess, if you would go by either the latest
Correspondence World Championship or the Rybka 3 book. Before moving on to 8...e5, we should mention
9+-+-snPzP-0
the interesting novelty 18.¦hf1!? (Van Oosterom-Murray) in the 8...e6 line we discussed in CVO 72. In Van
9-+-vLq+-zP0 Oosterom-Vrkoc it was shown that 17...¥xb3 has not yet been refuted either. The line 18.fxe6 axb3 19.exf7 ¦xf7
9+p+-+-+R0 20.¢b1 bxc2 21.¢xc2 ¤b6 22.£xb4 obviously cannot be anything for White, as was shown in two identical
9-mK-wQ-+-+0 games at the Corr Wch. In the critical position after 24...¦a4 the Rybka 3 book examines no less than five
9+-+R+L+-0 different options for White. Remarkably all five games we added (including Quesada Perez-Andriasian) ended
xiiiiiiiiy in a draw, so we can speak of a delicate dynamic balance.
1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 £b6 5.¤b3 ¤f6 6.¤c3 e6 7.£e2 ¥b4 8.¥d2 0–0 9.a3 ¥e7 10.0–0–0 d5 11.e5 ¤d7 Grivas Sicilian
12.f4 ¤c5 13.¤xc5 £xc5 14.h4 ¥d7 15.¥e1 ¦fc8 16.¤a4 ¤d4 17.¤xc5 ¤xe2+ 18.¥xe2 ¥xc5 19.¦f1 a5 20.¥f2 b6 21.g4 XIIIIIIIIY
4...£b6 may be refered to as the Grivas Sicilian since Greek GM Efstratios Grivas played it countless times 9r+r+-+k+0
and published a book about it in 2005. 7.£e2!? is a nice attacking line against it, with the idea of castling 9+-+l+pzpp0
queenside as quickly as possible. One shouldn't worry about ¥f1, since that piece is perfectly fine there for 9-zp-+p+-+0
the time being and will later move to either d3 or h3. On the prophylactic 10...£c7!? White may consider the
9zp-vlpzP-+-0
counter-prophylactic 11.¢b1!?. The idea is that after ...d6 one continues with the standard attacking move g4
and in the isolated d-pawn positions that appear after ...d5 exd5 one may prefer to have the pawn on g3. In
9-+-+-zPPzP0
Van Delft-Neverov Black deviated with 12...¤c5 from the model attacking game Ootes-Siebrecht, Wijk aan Zee
9zP-+-+-+-0
2009 (a game not available in Megabase/TWIC, but which I (MvD) downloaded from the tournament site). The 9-zPP+LvL-+0
queens were exchanged, but surprisingly enough I soon got a dangerous attack anyway by simply pushing my 9+-mKR+R+-0
kingside pawns. xiiiiiiiiy
Catalan, 4...¥b4+, 5...¥d6 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.¤f3 ¥b4+ 5.¥d2 ¥d6 6.¥g2 c6 7.£c2 ¤bd7 8.0–0 0–0 9.¦d1
XIIIIIIIIY £e7 10.¥g5 h6 11.¥xf6 ¤xf6 12.¤bd2 e5 13.dxe5 ¥xe5 14.cxd5 ¤xd5 15.¤xe5 £xe5
9r+l+-trk+0 Instead of the common 5...¥e7, with 5...¥d6!? Black has another retreat of his ¥ worth considering. On d6 the ¥
9zpp+-+pzp-0 is a bit more active, as Black's idea is to carry out the liberating ...e5 with the help of ...£e7. The diagram position
9-+p+-+-zp0 offers Black equal chances as his position doesn't show any weaknesses. White's chances lie on the kingside (he
has a pawn majority there), but the immediate push of the pawns has clear drawbacks as well. Adams perfectly
9+-+nwq-+-0
anticipated and exchanged one pair of rooks. Although his kingside got weakened by 22.f6, the central files were
9-+-+-+-+0 controlled by the £ and ¦. By 29.¦d1? White committed a horrible blunder, which abruptly ended the game. An
9+-+-+-zP-0 interesting idea for White is 9.¥f4, preventing ...e5 and leaving Black with a bad ¥ on c8. Matters turn out not
9PzPQsNPzPLzP0 to be that simple, and the weakened pawn structure gives Black hopes for counterplay as well. After studying
9tR-+R+-mK-0 games of GMs Adams, Ponomariov and Turov, this line can be included in a solid black repertoire.
xiiiiiiiiy
x
1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 d5 4.¤f3 ¥g7 5.£b3 dxc4 6.£xc4 0–0 7.e4 a6 8.e5 b5 9.£b3 ¤fd7 10.e6 fxe6 Grünfeld, Russian System
11.¥e3 ¤f6 12.a4 bxa4 13.¦xa4 ¤c6 14.¥c4 ¦b8 15.¥xe6+ ¢h8 16.£c4 ¥xe6 17.£xe6 £d6 18.¤g5 ¤d8 XIIIIIIIIY
Nowadays, with the help of the special move order 4.£b3, the early £ sortie attracts new fans against the 9-tr-sn-tr-mk0
Grünfeld. The fashionable 8.¥e2 seems to have been put under control by Svidler's 11...¤bd7 and hence White 9+-zp-zp-vlp0
players are having a fresh look at the more aggressive 8.e5 again. In Morozevich-Kurnosov Black slightly 9p+-wqQsnp+0
improved on current theory by 18...¤d8!?, whereas in two earlier games after 18...¦xb2 Black had to suffer a
9+-+-+-sN-0
bit. On move 22 Moro called it a day, as after 22.g3 £b4! £s will be traded when there doesn't remain much to
play for. A few months ago GM Zdenko Kozul, an expert in this field, instead chose 15.£c2?!, but after 15...¤b4!
9R+-zP-+-+0
Black's dynamic chances outweighed his structural weaknesses. A true model game for Grünfeld players. The
9+-sN-vL-+-0
same can be said about the game Shabalov-Kamsky where Black opted for 12...b4!?. By immediately returning 9-zP-+-zPPzP0
the pawn, Black accelerates completing his development. His wonderful position was ruined by the one-move 9+-+-mK-+R0
blunder 21...£g3?, dropping the ¥ on b7. The Hungarian system (...a6) is definitely in good shape these days. xiiiiiiiiy
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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not? No. 83, August 4, 2010
it's your move
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
O9r+l+-trk+0 o9-tr-wq-trk+0
9zpp+-+pzpp0 9+-zp-snpvlp0
9-+-vlp+-+0 9-+-zp-+p+0
9+-+nsN-+q0 9zp-zp-+l+-0
9-+-zP-+-+0 9-+P+-+-+0
9+L+-+NzP-0 9+PsN-+-zP-0
9PzP-+QzPP+0 9P+-wQPzPLzP0
9+-tR-+RmK-0 9tR-vLR+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy
last week's solutions
XIIIIIIIIY
Van Delft-Monsma, Open Dutch Ch (Dieren) 2010
9r+-tr-wqk+0
22.¦g1! 22.h7+ ¢xh7 23.¤f4 ¥e8! 24.¤xe6 £f5 25.¤xd8 ¦xd8 is still a bit stubborn.; 22.¤f4! ¤e7 (22...£f7
9zp-+l+-+-0
23.¦g1 ¤e7 24.¤xh5 wins for White.) 23.h7+ ¢h8 24.¤xh5! gxh5 25.¥g5! may be the most killing line of all. You
9-+n+p+pzP0 can safely consider yourself a grandmaster of attack if you found this line. 22.¢d2 cannot be bad either, bringing
9+p+pzP-+p0 the other rook into play. 22...¢h7 23.¤f4 ¤e7 24.¤xh5! Again this typical sacrifice to open the roads to Black’s
9-+pzP-+-+0 ¢. 24...gxh5 25.¦g7+ ¢h8 26.¥g5 ¤g8 27.¥xd8 27.£xh5 ¥e8 28.£h4 ¦d7 29.¦xd7 ¥xd7 30.h7! also wins.
9zP-zP-vL-+N0 27...¦xd8 28.£xh5 £f4 29.h7?? I should have sticked with my first intention 29.¦g4 £f5 30.£xf5 exf5 31.¦g6
9-+P+QzP-+0 with a winning ending. 29...¤h6 30.¦xd7 ¦f8! This unpleasant surprise keeps Black in the game. 31.f3 £e3+
9tR-+-mK-+R0 32.¢d1 ¤f5 33.¦f7 ¦xf7 34.£xf7 £g1+ 35.¢d2 £e3+ 36.¢d1 £g1+ 37.¢d2 £e3+ 38.¢d1 ½–½
xiiiiiiiiy
XIIIIIIIIY
Wang Yue-Wei Yi, Chinese Team Ch (Shanghai) 2010 9r+l+-trk+0
20.c5! With this positional exchange sacrifice White keeps a strong initiative. 20...¥xd4 In case of 20...¤d7 9zppwq-+pzp-0
White can simply retreat with 21.¦dd1 and c4 is no longer hanging. 21.¤xd4 ¤d7 22.c6! bxc6 22...¤b6 is met
9-sn-+-vl-zp0
by 23.¤b5! £b8 (23...£e7 24.¥a3; 23...£d8 24.cxb7) 24.c7 trapping the £. 23.¤xc6 ¢h8 24.£d2 Threatening
25.£xh6. 24...¢h7 25.¥a3 ¥a6 25...¦e8 26.¥d6. 26.¥d6 £c8 27.¥xf8 and Black resigned as both 27...¤xf8
9+-+-+-+-0
(and 27...£xf8 28.£xd7) 28.¤e7 lose more material. 1–0
9-+PtR-+-+0
9+N+-+-zP-0
9PvLQ+PzPLzP0
9+R+-+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
[Link]/openings
ChessVibes Openings is a weekly PDF magazine that covers the latest news on chess openings. Which openings are hot in top level chess?
Which are not? Editors IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris keep you updated once a week! Singles issues cost € 1. You can subscribe too:
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