Wasartieniiy Guide to choosing end planning your openings 4 = Steve GiddinsFirst published in the UK by Gambit Publications Ltd 2003 Copyright © Steve Giddins 2003 The right of Steve Giddins to be identified as the author of this work has been as- serted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which itis published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication data is available from the British Library. ISBN 1 901983 89 7 DISTRIBUTION: Worldwide (except USA): Central Books Ltd, 99 Wallis Rd, London E9 5LN. Tel +44 (0)20 8986 4854 Fax +44 (0)20 8533 5821. E-mail: orders @ Centralbooks.com USA: BHB International, Inc., 302 West North 2nd Street, Seneca, SC 29678, USA. For all other enquiries (including a full list of all Gambit chess titles) please contact the publishers, Gambit Publications Ltd, PO. Box 32640, London W14 OJN. E-mail: info@ gambitbooks.com Or visit the GAMBIT web site at http://www.gambitbooks.com Edited by Graham Burgess Typeset by Petra Nunn Printed in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press, Trowbridge, Wilts. 10987654321 Gambit Publications Ltd Managing Director: GM Murray Chandler Chess Director: GM John Nunn Editorial Director: FM Graham Burgess German Editor: WFM Petra NunnContents Symbols Introduction The Keys to Successful Opening Play Variety — the Spice of Life? Stylistics Main Roads or Side-Streets? Move-Orders and Transpositions Use and Abuse of Computers Universalities Infidelity and Divorce Some Players’ Repertoires Analysed We N= ODmMDANDN S Index of Players Index of Openings 20 29 46 57 73 84 104 118 142 144Symbols + check ++ double check # checkmate '! brillzant move ! good move ? interesting move 2 dubious move ? bad move 29 blunder +— White 1s winning + White is much better + White is slightly better equal position Black is slightly better Black is much better + Black is winning Ch championship Cht team championship Wch_ world championship +l il Il j Wcht Ech Echt ECC Ct IZ Z OL je wom rpd tt corr. 1-0 Wfn-1/n 0-1 (n) (D) world team championship European championship European team championship European Clubs Cup candidates event interzonal event zonal event olympiad junior event women’s event rapidplay game team tournament correspondence game the game ends in a win for White the game ends in a draw the game ends in a win for Black nth match game see next diagramIntroduction Openings: Can't Live with "em, Can’t Live without ’em Openings are an area of the game with which most chess-players have a love- hate relationship. On the one hand, al- most all serious chess-players take a great interest in the opening phase of the game. We spend a very large pro- portion of our chess study time on openings, and an equally large propor- (ion of our chess book money goes on opening books. Although many of us would claim that we regret the large role played by opening theory in mod- ern chess, the hard facts tend to give the lie to this. The failure of Fischer- random chess to attract much interest from the great majority of us attests to the fact that, whatever we might like to icll ourselves, most of us have little real desire to escape from the vast edi- lice that is modern opening theory. However, on the other hand, we are almost all sure that openings are to blame for the majority of our defeats, and that we would be much stronger players “if only | knew my openings properly”. Just think of all the times you have heard team-mates and friends complaining after losing a game. How often have you heard them say “Well, I lost’ because I misplayed the rook ending” or “If only I could play fixed pawn-structures better’, or something similar? If your team-mates and friends are anything like mine, the answer will be “Hardly ever”. Instead, what one hears in the great majority of cases is something like “He knew the open- ing better than me”, or “It’s that open- ing, I'll have to give it up; I always lose with it’. The truth of the matter is that the great majority of players below master level spend a disproportionate amount of their chess time on openings, yet achieve very little in the way of con- crete benefits. There are a number of reasons for this — changing openings too often, over-concentration on rote learning of variations, at the expense of understanding the positions, too great a willingness to trust authority rather than using their own judgement, etc. Above all, too few players under- stand how to study openings, and how to form an opening repertoire. The negative results of this extend to the whole of one’s game. Because we spend so much time on openings, we neglect other areas of the game. In ad- dition, when we lose a game, we fre- quently blame the opening, decide to learn something else, and so spend yet more time on openings, oblivious to the fact that the real reason we lost the6 HOW TO BUILD YOUR CHESS OPENING REPERTOIRE game in question was because we mis- played the ending! The aim of this book is to try to help readers rectify this sorry state of af- fairs, by ensuring that their opening studies are conducted efficiently and effectively. With properly-directed ef- forts, it is not so difficult to have a reli- able and effective opening repertoire, in much less time than most of us ha- bitually spend on openings. Of course, having such a repertoire 1s not going to stop us losing games, nor will it ensure that we never emerge from the open- ing with a bad position. However, it will reduce the number of times these things happen, and it should also help us to focus our attention on the real cause of our defeats, which in practice is rarely the opening. One thing the book does not attempt to do is to recommend any specific opening rep- ertoire per se, still less one that guar- antees you a win in under 20 moves against any defence — there are plenty of other authors out there who offer such miracle cures, if that is what you are seeking. Instead, what I have tried to do is to help you decide for yourself which openings to play, but in so do- ing, I have discussed a large number of specific opening systems, and my opinions on these will be apparent from the text. You may legitimately be wondering what qualifies me to give advice on such a subject. I would freely admit that for much of my chess career, I had no idea at all how to approach the problem of openings. Up until 1993, by which time I was in my 30s and rated about 2250, I had an extremely weak opening repertoire. In fact, [had almost no repertoire at all, because I chopped and changed openings virtu- ally on a monthly basis. What I did have was a very good all-round knowl- edge of lots of openings, chiefly be- cause I happen to be blessed with an excellent memory. However, there was no single opening which I had played more than a handful of times, or of which I could claim to have any real understanding. And, inevitably, every time I Jost a game, I put it down to the opening, made a menta! note not to play that line again, and consigned my scoresheet to the dustbin. My first steps on the path to righ- teousness came when [ started living and working in Moscow in late 1992, and was exposed for the first time in my life to an experienced chess trainer. I still recall my embarrassment when he asked me to write out my whole Opening repertoire, including which lines I played against each main black defence, etc., and I was forced to con- fess that in all but one or two cases, I simply could not say! I would just make my mind up at the board, proba- bly picking some line which [ hap- pened to have seen in a game in a recent magazine. After rolling his eyes in disbelief for a minute or two, he gave me a severe dose of the “every Russian schoolboy knows better than that” routine, and then we started some serious opening work for the first time in my life. Onder his guidance, I soon began to develop a proper, cohesive repertoire, and within a couple ofINTRODUCTION 7 years I already had a whole series of lines which I had studied, played and analysed enough to have developed at cast a modicum of understanding of what I was doing. Needless to say, my confidence soared, and my results fol- lowed suit. Of course, not many players have the Opportunity to gain access to an experienced Soviet-era chess trainer. My aim in this book is to try at least partially to bridge the gap, by passing on to my readers some of the things I have learned about opening prepara- (ion, and so to enable them to develop wv well-balanced and effective opening repertoire with a minimum of effort. We all enjoy chess more when we are winning, and while having a decent opening repertoire is not in itself a cast-iron guarantee of success, it 1s certainly a very good step in the right direction. Acknowledgements Thanks are due to Graham Burgess, for editorial assistance, and for the drunken evening in Gausdal which spawned the idea for this book. Many players, inadvertently or otherwise, gave invaluable insights into their own approach to openings, and their con- tributions are acknowledged in the ap- propriate place in the text. By far my greatest debt is to IM Igor Belov, my chess trainer when I lived in Moscow, and the man who first taught me the difference between a serious chess- player and a player who works sen- ously at chess. Finally, this book is dedicated to my friends Dave, Roger, and the late John; without their generous encour- agement of an enthusiastic kid at the local chess club, this book would never have found its author.1 The Keys to Successful Opening Play In his book The Slav, GM Matthew Sadler enumerated three key elements in successful opening play: 1) Knowing the aims of the open- ing; 2) Knowing the value of move- orders; 3) Understanding typical positions. In this excellent advice, with which I concur 100%, there are a number of things I should like to comment on in more detail. Fishing for Compliments The first thing to note is that memoriza- tion of opening lines is not mentioned at all. Contrary to what one may think, memorizing variations is a relatively small factor in enabling one to play an opening successfully. It is far more important to understand the positional and tactical themes of the opening, and to appreciate what you should be aiming for in the given position. It is rather like the popular aphorism, be- loved of humanitarian rehef agencies: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and you feed him for life’” Chess openings are rather similar. Teach a player a se- ries of opening moves, and you enable him to play well in one specific posi- tion. Teach him why the moves are played, and you enable him to play well in lots of positions. The player who depends entirely on his memory, with little real understanding of the ideas behind the moves, will be com- pletely at sea the moment his oppo- nent deviates from the ‘book’, or he reaches the end of his memorized line. By contrast, the player who un- derstands the opening will be able to find the best move, or at least a rea- sonable move, even if he is blissfully unaware of what Grandmaster Anono- vich recommended in his latest open- ings book. The following game ts an excellent illustration of the value of understand- ing an opening, rather than merely learning lines by heart. It also proves that even at the highest level, under- standing is more important than mere knowledge. Lautier — Short Pamptona 1999/00 1 d4 e6 2 Df3 6 3.c4.d5 4 ADc3 Be7 5 225 h6 6 2h4 0-0 7 €3 b6 8 2d3 &b7 9 0-0 Dbd7 10 223 c5 11 We2 Ge4 12 exd5 exd5 13 Had1 (D)THE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL OPENING PLAY 9 "ho 7 M@ & we LT Oe ae Lay tig Ys gS | ; A Joint Lie, “MY, Y Oe |Z | qo. AK G Or 2 %, ips 4; 7 OLE GE TTT COTTE: LB EG tity LGEE (A Yes Letts ‘This position had arisen a number ol times prior to this game, with White’s 13th move having emerged as potentially the most dangerous try for White. The Jate Russian GM Alexei Vyvhmanavin had played 13 Had] several times, with excellent results. lor example, he had twice gained a nice advantage following 13...Adt6 I-bdxc5 Axc3 15 bxc3 Bxc5 16 Ad4. Another move which had been tried was 13...Axg3 but after 14 hxg3 a6 15 dxc5 bxc5 16 @b1 @b6 17 a4! Black’s hanging pawns proved too much of a liability in Kramnik-Yusupov, Dort- mund 1998, Instead, Short produced an effec- (ive new move for Black: 13...We8! lor our purposes, his comments in New in Chess (1/2000, p. 35) were far more significant than the move itself: “Although I had seen [the Kramnik- Yusupov game}, I had forgotten every- thing. My memory is like a sieve. I normally try to work out things by peneral principles. If 1 can’t under- stind why I am putting my pieces on certain squares, it’s hopeless.” So, how did Short’s application of general principles lead to his choice of move? Well, it is obvious that the opposition of the white rook on dJ and the black queen on d8 is awkward for Black. As we saw from the Vyzhmanavin exam- ples above, after 13...2\df6 14 dxc5 the pin on the d5-pawn means that Black must take on c3 before recaptur- ing. Releasing the tension in the centre by 13...cxd4 is obviously unattractive, so Short came up with the idea of sim- ply moving his queen off the d-file. In this respect, the fact that White has put his queen’s rook on d1, rather than his king’s rook, helps Short’s idea; with the king’s rook ond], 13...%4%c8 would invite 14 Hacl. Another factor in fa- vour of 13...4%c8 is that once the knight leaves d7, the queen will be able to go to e6, a typical post for the black queen in structures where he has hanging pawns on d5 and c5. Short’s move had an immediate ef- fect, because Lautier thought for a long time and failed to come up with an effective plan. He eventually chose: 14 Q2bl Short pointed out that if White plays a la Vyzhmanavin with 14 dxc5S, Black has 14...Axc3 15 bxc3 and now 15...Axc5 is possible. Black will fol- low up with ...2e4 and ...2.f6, with excellent play. 14...Adf6 15 Yc2 The battery along the b!-h7 diago- nal is not very effective here, because Black is never likely to be in real dan- ger of being mated. 15...e8 16 &e5 We6 17 dxc5 bxc510 HOW TO BUILD YOUR CHESS OPENING REPERTOIRE It is clear that Black has solved his development problems very well and has no difficulties at all here. In fact, Short was already feeling confident enough to turn down a draw offer at this point, and he went on to win a highly impressive game. To my mind, this is a really excellent example of the value of understand- ing one’s chosen opening, rather than merely learning variations. Thanks to his many years of playing the black side of the QGD, Short was able, over the board, to find an effective answer to a line which had caused significant trouble for Black. His words in the note to Black’s 13th move are espe~- cially noteworthy. Order out of Chaos The second of Sadler’s three elements is knowing the value of move-orders. This is so important that I shall devote a whole chapter to it later in the book. For the present, suffice it to say that it is no good knowing an opening really well, if you then play a move-order which allows your opponent to trick you into some other line that you know nothing about. In preparing our openings, therefore, we must take ac- count of move-order subtleties and transpositions. As an example, let’s suppose that you are starting your opening reper- toire from scratch, and decide to open 1 d4. Against the QGD, you have been very impressed by a couple of games you have seen where White played the Exchange Variation with @ge2, and you decide that you would like to play this line. You therefore spend several weeks studying the position after 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Ac3 Al6 4 cxd5 exd5 55 &g5 Be7 6 e3 0-0 7 &d3 Abd7 8 Age2 c6 9 We2 He8 10 0-0 Af8 11 £3 (D). GLY, LY x ee) vue Th, eS YY B Wy “Of oo ZS * ; Ze Hep one WY) By the time you have studied such classics as Botvinnik-Keres, USSR Ch (Moscow) 1952, and Kasparov- Short, London PCA Weh (15) 1993, and others, you are all ready to crush any unsuspecting QGD player with a mighty pawn avalanche e4-c5-f4-f5, etc. You then turn to the line 1 d4 Afo 2 c4 e6. After some consideration, you decide that you really like some of Kasparov’s wins in the line 3 Af3 b6 4 a3, so you decide to avoid the Nimzo- Indian and play 3 @f3 instead. Being a thorough chap, you do not forget to prepare something against the Bogo- Indian, 3...2b4+, as well. Eventually, the great day comes when you wheel out your d-pawn in a tournament game. The game starts 1THE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL OPENING PLAY il d4 £6 2 c4 e6 3 @F3, but now the un- speakable rogue plays not 3...b6, nor ’...2b44, but 3...d5. Suddenly the aw- ful truth dawns. If you go back to a QGD with 4 @c3, you cannot reach your beloved Age2 Exchange Varia- tion, because your knight is already committed to f3. You could play 4 g3, lransposing into a Catalan, but this is im opening you have never studied, ind some of the lines can be pretty complicated, especially those where Black takes on c4 and tries to cling onto the pawn — hardly the sort of thing you want to play without prepa- ration. So, the only alternative is the ultra-tame 4 e3, immediately forego- ing any pretensions to an opening ad- vantage, and certainly not what you had in mind when you were analysing ill those Kasparov crushes. In short, you have been ‘move- ordered’. When you decided on your various opening choices, you failed to check whether any of them were in- consistent with ome another, and now you have paid the price. Don’t let it happen to you! Hope- lully, after reading Chapter 5, you will be on the business end of any move- order trickery which happens to be Moating about. Typical, Just Typical ‘The third element is understanding typ- ical positions. This is something which involves going well beyond opening study per se, and instead learning to play the types of middlegame and end- game which arise from the opening you have chosen. This is probably the main area where players below master level fall down. It is relatively easy to understand the main points of an open- ing, to master its move-orders and to memorize a few key lines. It is far more difficult to develop a really good understanding of the typical middle- game and endgame positions. As a first example of the impor- tance of really understanding typical positions, I should like to consider the following position. YY tty thy x ft 2 RR LM; iM © Vy i “ YG BG Y ‘Gp & N/ Y “Y Z y wo We Kramnik — Timman Belgrade 1995 The position is easily recognizable as having arisen from a Queen’s Gam- bit Declined, Exchange Variation. Most strong players will be aware that White’s principal plan in this struc- ture is the so-called Minority Attack, whereby the pawn is advanced to b4 and b5, with the aim of capturing on c6 and leaving Black with a backward pawn. In the diagram position, there- fore, White of course played 16 bS,12 HOW To BUILD YOUR CHESS OPENING REPERTOIRE didn’t he? Well, no, actually he didn’t. Kramnik played... 16 bxa5! ..and wrote “A typical decision, since 16 b5 c5 does not promise White as much as he would like”. This is an example of really understanding typi- cal positions. The point is that after 16 b5 cS White can isolate the black d- pawn by 17 dxc5. However, it is one of the more subtle aspects of these struc- tures that IQP positions are usually not so good for White when his b-pawn has advanced to b5. This is because he has weakened his c3- and c4-squares, which Black can frequently exploit for counterplay. For example, a knight can come to c4, supported by the IQP, or Black can put his rooks on the c-file and pressurize White in that way. An- other point is that White is weak on the dark squares on the queenside, particularly b4, thanks to the fact that he has no dark-squared bishop and the black a5-pawn controls b4. An incur- sion by the black queen on b4 could be rather awkward for White, especially if the white rook has left the a-file, with the result that an exchange on b4 leaves his a-pawn undefended. For all of these reasons, Kramnik instead switched plans. 16...Exa5 Kramnik now revealed the point of his alternative plan: 17 @d2 The intention is to seize the c5- and b6-squares by playing by “\b3, a5 and &\a4. One can see that White has com- pletely reversed the trend on the queen- side — instead of White being weak on the dark squares, as would have been the case in the line after 16 b5, he now threatens to get a bind himself on those very same dark squares. A few moves later, having used the queen- side, threats to disrupt Black’s forces, Kramnik switched plans again and broke through in the centre with the advance e4, soon achieving a winning attack. The next example features a little- known subtlety in a typical [QP posi- tion. vege Lis i yf ao Cea aaa iy Wye wake B® Ae SY SOFA Yr anne? WG Wy, ts Stanec — Beliavsky Graz 1996 Unlike most IQP positions, where White seeks to turn his extra space into a kingside initiative, here he has played mainly on the queenside. How- ever, such a plan is rarely justified, unless Black has weakened his queen- side structure in some way. Here he has not, and already White’s hopes should be connected with equalizing by a timely d5 advance. However,THE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL OPENING PLAY Itclavsky forestalled this plan with an excellent sequence: 18...2.c6! 19 2xc6 bxcé6! I( is the last move which is the key ulea. At first sight, it looks crazy for Blick voluntarily to accept a weak, isolated pawn on an open file. In real- ity, however, the c6-pawn ts much less weak than it appears, and it is the white pawns on d4 and b2 which are the more vulnerable. Meanwhile, the «6-pawn ensures that White will never lw able to liquidate his IQP by advanc- mg d5. Such a structural transforma- tron is a known idea in such IQP positions, although it is not dealt with 11 most books (Alexander Baburin’s Winning Pawn Structures and Drazen Marovié’s Understanding Pawn Play in Chess being notable exceptions). ‘he first high-level example of which 1 «um aware 1s Lasker-Capablanca, Ha- vana Wch (10) 1921, although in that yame, the full didactic value of Black’s idea was lost after a few moves, when White exchanged: pieces on d5, per- milting Black to eliminate the extra pawn-island by ...cxd5. In the present yame, the c6-pawn survives for the long term, and Beliavsky gives a text- hook demonstration of the advantages of the black structure. 20 Ae4 Hd7 21 a5?! ‘This weakens the a-pawn and drives the knight where it is going anyway. 21...Ac8 22 Wad Ae7 (D) The knight is ideally placed on e7, defending the c6-pawn and preparing a later jump to f5, attacking the d4 weakness. The remainder of the game is not really within the scope of the en 3 \ N 8 S ols SS SWS! We y SN y OWS : BSNS WY WN ‘SN SN SX present book, so I give the concluding moves without further comment. 23 AgS Hd5 24 Df3 Wd6é 25 h3 Eb8 26 Hd2 Wb4 27 Wxb4 Exb4 28 He2 £6 29 a6 Sf7 30 Hel h5 31 h4 Hd6 32 g3 Af5 33 Sg2 Le7 34 Zeci $d7 35 Hal @xd4 36 Axd4 Bdxd4 37 Ha5 Hd5 38 Ha3 e5 39 Hf3 Bb6 40 EHa3 &c7 41 Sf3 Hdb5 42 Ha2 Bb3+ 43 Se2 Hob4 0-1 These two examples both illustrate subtle aspects of a typical pawn-struc- ture. If you play openings which lead to these structures (for example, if you play the Queen’s Gambit as either White or Black), your success rate will improve greatly if you develop a fa- miliarity with such typical plans and positional ideas as those shown above. The depth of some grandmasters’ understanding of typical middlegame and endgame positions from their fa- vourite openings is quite remarkable. In this respect, I am reminded of a story quoted by Alexander Kotov, concerning former world champion Mikhail Botvinnik.14 HOW TO BUILD YOUR CHESS OPENING REPERTOIRE WW io Oe 2, Spel EN ee x WW Botvinnik — Matulovic Palma de Mallorca 1967 This was the adjourned position. Writing in his classic Think Like a Grandmaster, Kotov told the follow- ing tale: “During the break from play, Botvinnik remarked to Smyslov and me, ‘The position is an easy win for White. At the appropriate moment, there is a decisive knight sacrifice on g6 or h5. I analysed similar endings when I was preparing for my match with Tal’”. Sure enough, when play resumed, Botvinnik quickly wrapped up the full point, thanks to a sacrifice on g6: 43 Sf1 8c8 44 Ag3 2d7 45 e2 Wad 46 Sf2 2e8 47 Axgé! AxdS Or: 47...2\xg6 48 Axf5; 47... Bxe6 A8 4)\xhS. 48 @xh5 Ade7 49 We7+ 1-0 This is a perfect illustration of the depth of GM preparation. The ending above had arisen from a Benoni, a fa- vourite opening of Tal’s. Clearly, when preparing to face Tal in their world championship matches in 1960 and 1961, Botvinnik’s study of the Benoni had gone way beyond simply analys- ing the opening sequences themselves. Instead, he had analysed characteristic middlegames and endgames arising from the Benoni, and had worked out the typical methods of play in such positions. A small piece of that knowl- edge was demonstrated in the Matulo- vié game. So how does one develop such knowledge? Well, firstly, not by mem- orizing variations — no amount of rote learning will enable you to find moves like Kramnik’s 16 bxa5, or Beliav- sky’s 19...bxc6, let alone Botvinnik’s endgame plan against Matulovic. Sim- ilarly, most opening books will not teach you such things. It is true that many opening monographs nowadays include an introductory chapter on po- sitional themes of the opening, and typical do’s and don’ts, but these are of necessity brief and usually only scratch the surface of the subject. In- stead, the main method of acquiring such knowledge consists in studying well-annotated games by players who specialize in the opening in which you are interested. I should like to present an example from some work I once did along these lines. Ever since I started to have a con- sistent and identifiable opening reper- toire, my defence to 1 e4 has been the French, and, more specifically, the Winawer Variation: 1 e4 e6 2: d4.d53 “c3 2b4 4 e5 5 5 a3 &xc3+ 6 bxc3 Ae7 (D) In this opening, Black takes some clear positional risks. He places hisTHE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL OPENING PLAY 15 (eas gs Ti eres, SRE ppigg oi Atty Wy Seuiias| Nil) o/h . ppp UYUfe Spells Uy Cl}OTE wa v y o 7 - SS C77 Oe GOETLAAT ay, . central pawns on light squares and then gives up his dark-squared bishop, thus leaving himself with severely weakened dark squares. In return, however, he doubles the white pawns and induces White partially to block the position with e5, thereby robbing the bishop-pair of much of their effec- liveness. In the ensuing middlegame, the strategic battle usually revolves around White’s attempis to open the position for his bishops, and, in partic- ular, to get his dark-squared bishop into the game effectively, often via the a3-f8 diagqnal. Black, meanwhile, generally struggles to keep the posi- lion closed, often playing ...c4, and (rying to pressurize White’s weakened pawn-structure. Sometime around 1994, after los- mg a couple of nasty games on the lblack side of this position, I concluded that [ needed to improve my under- standing of these typical Winawer nuddiegames. In order to do so, I de- vided to analyse some games played hy the main masters of this opening, otvinnik and Uhlmann. The latter, in particular, played almost nothing but the French throughout a forty-year ca- reer. As luck would have it, some ten years ago he published a book of his best French Defence games, under the modest title Ein Leben lang Franzoé- sisch — richtig gespielt! (“A lifelong French — correctly played!’’). An ex- panded English translation of the book is available, entitled Winning With the French. I naturally used this book as the basis for my work, and one of the games I studied closely was his fa- mous victory over Bobby Fischer: Fischer — Uhimann Buenos Aires 1960 7 AE3 B.d7 8 a4 Yad 9 Yd2 Abc6 10 2d3 c4 11 Be2 £6 12 2a3 Age 13 0-0 0-0-0 14 2.d6 Ace7 15 Ah4 Bde8 16 @xg6 hxg6 17 exf6 gxf6 18 h3 “M5 19 2h2 25 20 f4 Ad6 21 2£3 (D) A | GMLY, fe yy te ys oY 0: ma 2) Be aT Ea gh ty Tee, Y G a iS Uy Zi. 7 7 LY o7 Sk GPTIELE 2, os 7 o 04 Ye thy Yj YE LORE, y “ Here we see a typical Winawer struggle. Black has played ...c4, castled into (relative) safety on the queenside, and has broken up White’s centre with16 How TO BUILD YOUR CHESS OPENING REPERTOIRE ...£6. With his central pawn-mass and excellently placed knight on d6, Black has very good prospects, if he can keep White’s bishops from getting ac- tive. This, however, is looking diffi- cult, as it appears impossible to stop the dark-squared bishop on h2 becom- ing tremendously active after either ...gxf4 by Black, or fxg5 by White. This is clearly a critical moment in the game, and Uhlmann rose to the occasion, with a move which every French player should remember: 21...g4!! With this wonderful positional pawn sacrifice, Uhlmann underlines the main theme of Black’s play in such Wina- wer positions — the fight to tame the white bishops. White cannot take with the bishop, because after 22...2e4 his queenside would collapse. He is there- fore forced to take with the pawn: 22 hxg4 f5! (D) wee. ty, YG Ge OES GLIA ,ee” SYD LYLE i : EEL Z o* 7 py” WEI. tye 153 Yl, YEE WELD YL & BG tip, GLE May ON. i aaa UIT yy Wovaes 4 A : ce Ce. 2 LEY a z The point. Black nails the f4-pawn to the spot, and in so doing condemns the h2-bishop to a life of monastic in- activity behind the cloisters. Although White has a protected passed pawn on g5, it is clear that the pawn 1s going nowhere, lacking as it does any sup- port from the white pieces. White’s position is now totally passive, and he can only watch as Black strengthens his grip and prepares the final assault. 23 ¢5 He7 24 293 Se8 25 We3 4\e4 26 & xed dxe4 (D) Not, of course, the awful positional blunder 26...fxe4??, which would ne- gate the whole of Black’s previous play by allowing White to free his en- tombed bishop with 27 f5. “yyy, ’WLL Wes — EL, ‘7 VOY dA, y Sika. “gy YE) ey, YY, Yo AY We UL Sy GIGE LOGE 27 S22 Heh7 28 Hfb1 Wd5 29 Wel Eh1 30 Wxhi e3+ 31 Ygl Bxhl+ 32 Sxhl1 e2 33 Bb5 2xb5 34 axb5 Wxb5 35 Hel a5 36 Hxe2 a4 37 Excé a3 38 26 Wd7 39 He5 b6 40 2.h4 a2 41 Hel We7 42 Hal Wxg6 0-1 This is a magnificent example of one of Black’s most important strate- gic goals in the Winawer -- taming the white bishop-pair. Another typical Winawer theme on which | found some tremendously instructive material is the positional exchange sacrifice. TheTHE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL OPENING PLAY 17 following example by Botvinnik is a classic. Yn Y ‘KA Ky Yy pal ~ wer # MLL y A oy ‘fe Git 8 MM Wen 4, e%, we GE Z Tolush — Botvinnik USSR Ch (Moscow) 1945 Here White has managed to get his dark-squared bishop into Black’s posi- tion, but while he has been doing so, Black has captured the white a-pawn, and has a potentially dangerous pawn phalanx on the queenside. Botvinnik now removed White’s most active piece with a thematic exchange sacri- lice: i 21...2xd6! 22 exd6 2.c6 For his exchange, Black already has one extra pawn, and the d6-pawn Is voing to drop sooner or later. In addi- tion, the blocked nature of the position ineans that the white rooks have no open files along which to penetrate, whereas Black’s pieces (especially his knight) have far greater activity. Fi- nally, Black also has the long-term plan of advancing either his queenside majority, or playing ...f6 and ...e5 and using his central pawn-mass. White, meanwhile, has no active plan. The game continued: 23 h3 @d7 24 Sel Wh4 White’s only remaining active piece is his queen, so Botvinnik seeks to ex- change that as well. If White acqui- esces, Black will have a completely free hand. 25 We5 Wt6 26 We3 Hh! This stops He3-f3. 27 He3 Hf4 Black has a total grip on the posi- tion, and now plans ...Wh4 to force off the queens. He followed up with ...b4 and won easily. The following is another instruc- tive example of Black’s positional ex- change sacrifice in such positions, this time with some slightly different themes: VA, LOL Wy, GEL, MG Ys Ek SSS SNS XS XS SS a N Byvshev — Geller USSR Ch (Moscow) 1952 Once again, we have many of the typical features of the Winawer mid- dlegame. On this occasion, however, it18 How TO BUILD YOUR CHESS OPENING REPERTOIRE is White’s light-squared bishop which is the more active, whereas its fellow prelate on cl presents a sorry specta- cle behind the fixed white pawns. Geller dealt with the light-square pres- sure by offering the exchange: 34...Hef7! 35 &.xf5 Hxf5 As in Tolush-Botvinnik above, the main factor justifying Black’s sacri- fice is the blocked nature of the posi- tion, which denies the white rooks any scope. An additional factor this time 1s the weakness of the light squares in the white position. Once again, there is litthe White can do, and his thrash- ing about soon led to a lost position: 36 2a3 27 37 Zefl Wxa4 38 2e7 “\c6 39 96 @xe7 40 gxf7+ Yxf7 41 Kel Wc6 42 Be2 g6 (D) \Wwwyeg yu of ZY ° fees 4 e z A Ly —_ = Me CLE “ , 4 (p OY . tee oe Be” Ya ey ONS & GS U3 Ys ip SZ Z i Sp SZ ” CECE Ee A “0 4 ULF, LAA, | Black has a pawn for the exchange, an iron grip on the light squares, and the now-ftamiliar pawn phalanx on the queenside. He now prepared ...b5-b4, and went on to win comfortably. I hope you can see how studying these and other examples brings out the positional themes underlying this middlegame structure. By performing such work, I was able to learn a great deal about how to handle these posi- tions, and my results with the Wina- wer improved markedly. If you wish to improve your play in your favourite opening, this is the sort of work you should try to do. Identify some leading players who specialize in that open- ing, and study their best games, pref- erably with their own notes. When you come across an interesting or in- structive moment, make a note of the position and the key moves, particu- larly emphasizing the ideas and themes which support the move played. By so doing, you will gradually build up your understanding of the typical po- sitions reached from your opening, their characteristic plans and ideas, tactical devices, etc. Such knowledge does not go out of date, nor is its value restricted to only one given position. If you continue to work in this way on your opening systems, you will soon find that your results will improve significantly, and your all-round mid- dlegame and endgame play will bene- fit. All Openings are Sound Before leaving the subject of success- ful opening play, there is one other point I wish to make, by way of sup- plementing Sadler’s three principles. This is to say that by and large, it is a mistake to think that one opening is objectively better than another. At first sight, this may seem a radical claim,THE KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL OPENING PLAY 19 but it 1s one supported by most strong players. For example, consider the fol- lowing exchange between interviewer Bachar Kouatly and Garry Kasparov, on a 1991 GM Video production con- cerning the final Kasparov-Karpov match: Kouatly: “You once said that the Griinfeld Defence is 100% sound” (emphatic nod from Kasparov). “So why then, did you also play the King’s Indian Defence in this match?” Kasparov: “I think all openings are 100% sound — all normal openings, that is! It is just a question of your mood and your preparation.” The question put by Kouatly sounds pretty naive, of course, but the answer it received is actually very valuable. Contrary to what many players be- lieve, there is no objective basis for thinking that the Sicilian 1s better than the French, or the Nimzo-Indian better than the Slav, etc. In reality, all ‘nor- mal’ main-line openings are pertectly sound, and there is no good reason for preferring one opening over another. Opening theory is largely a matter of fashion, and lines go in and out of popularity mainly for subjective rea- sons. What matters is how comfortable you feel with an opening, and how well you ‘know’ (in the broadest sense of know and understand) it. It follows from this that one should be very careful about switching open- ings, just because a certain variation looks unpleasant or a certain GM has just lost a game with it. All openings are sound, and all openings have their critical variations. If you give up an opening every time you encounter a problem with it, you will never have a decent opening repertoire. If you are playing a reputable main-line open- ing, it is essential to understand that there cannot be anything much objec- tively wrong with it. Consequently, when you encounter a problem in a given variation, you need to study the Jine concerned and find an improve- ment. Switching instead to a new opening wil] simply bring new prob- lems, as well as depriving you of the chance to utilize your experience and understanding of your previous open- ing. This is a subject to which we will return in more detail in Chapter 8.2 Variety — the Spice of Life? In approaching the question of open- ings, a player has essentially two main options — either to stick resolutely to a narrow selection of openings, or play a wide variety of systems. Both these approaches have their pros and cons. Playing Against the Pieces Over the years, the majority of master players have tended to have a rela- tively narrow opening repertoire. They choose a certain set of lines for White, and as Black they have one main de- fence against | e4, and one against | d4. With only a few, relatively rare, exceplions, they stick to these lines through thick and thin. This approach has the key advantage that the player has plenty of opportunity to build up his knowledge and understanding of the lines he plays. There ts nothing like practical over-the-board experi- ence to develop one’s understanding of an opening, or a certain type of middlegame or endgame structure. As we saw in the previous chapter, having a deep understanding of the typical middlegame and endgame positions to which an opening leads is one of the most important aspects of successful opening play. By devoting all of one’s efforts to a narrow range of openings, one has the chance to gain the neces- sary experience. We have already cited above the ex- ample of Wolfgang Uhlmann, who showed an almost religious devotion to the French Defence throughout his entire career. Another leading non-So- viet GM of the 1950s and 1960s was Svetozar Gligori¢. Although not quite as monomaniacally focussed as Uhl- mann, Gligori€ too was a player who stuck to a narrow opening repertoire. Against 1 e4, he usually defended a Closed Lopez, although he occasion- ally switched to the Sicilian, particu- larly in his younger years. Against 1 d4, he remained faithful to the King’s Indian for his entire career, moulding the opening into a formidable weapon that brought him numerous points. As White, he was similarly well-focused, opening | d4 in the great majority of his games, and having a series of fa- vourite opening lines from which he rarely varied. As an example of the way Gli- goric’s approach can bring great divi- dends, I should like to look briefly at his handling of one particular line, namely the Exchange Variation of the Griinfeld. Gligorié was a firm be- liever in this line as the best reply for White. In the Russian collection of his best games, Igrayu protiv Figur,VARIETY — THE SPICE OF LIFE? 21 he wrote on this subject: “My fond- ness for the Exchange Variation has lasted for more than a quarter of a century. Maybe fondness is not even the right word — rather, it seems to me a matter of principle, that if Black of- fers his opponent the chance to seize the centre, White is almost obliged to take up the challenge, notwithstand- ing Black’s rapid development and queenside counterplay.” The following game is a character- istic example of Gligorié’s expertise with his favourite line. Gligori¢ — Tukmakov USSR — Yugoslavia, Odessa 1975 1 d4 Af6 2 c4 g6 3 Dc3 d5 4 exd5 ‘2\xd5 5 e4 2 xc3 6 bxc3 2.27 7 2c4 Although current theory concen- trates on the lines with 7 “3 as White’s most dangerous try, the text- move was considered virtually obliga- lory until the 1980s, and was the line always preferred by Gligorié. 7...€5 One of Gligori¢’s earliest experi- cuces with the Exchange Variation saw atypically vigorous demolition of the line with ...b6: 7...0-0 8 Ae2 b6 9 0-0 wb7 LO £3 cS 11 Be3 exd4 12 cxd4 “WO 13 Hel e6?! 14. d5! exd5 15 &xd5 “Na 16 Df4 Bc8 17 Bxc8 Wxc8 18 whl Qxd4+ 19 Wxd4 Ac6 20 Wb2 “7 21 Hel Wbh8 22 Deo Bxd5? i*’ txe6 23 Bxe6+ HF7 24 Wo WEE 'y Mc7 +--) 23 We7# (1-0) Gligorié- Machman, Buenos Aires 1955. ¥\e2 Z\c6 9 23 0-0 10 0-0 (D) 10...4\a5 B Z “yy Py YY YH —_ Wille YL: iy; GRY, & “iy, ty LY “pe type" ty“ YF & GY | Vi Lp XE Ge: yy Sa ae “ fy BY ‘4 “4 z 4% wt eee We GA ~ SS e 0, 4 (Ll YW In his notes in the above-mentioned book, Gligorié points out an amusing paradox. In the 1973 Leningrad Inter- zonal tournament, he had lost two games on the white side of the Ex- change Griinfeld, against Smejkal and Tukmakov. Subsequently, Smejkal had repeated the Griinfeld against him, this time trying out the line that Tuk- makov had used at Leningrad. Armed with an improvement for White, Gli- gori¢ had won in the following crush- ing style: 10...!c7 11 Bcl Hd8 12 Wd2 Was 13 Hfdl b6 14 Bh6 26 15 &.xa6 2.xh6?! 16 Wxh6 Wxa6 17 At4 cxd4? 18 Bd3! Wb5 19 Kh3 Wed 20 Wxh7+ Sf8 21 Ae6+! fxe6 22 Wxg6 Wo 23 Nf3 Wxf3 24 gxf3 d3 25 Shi 1-0 Gligorié-Smejkal, Milan 1975. Now, in the present game, it is Tuk- makov’s turn to repeat the Grtinfeld, and he chooses the line with which Smejkal had beaten Ghigori¢ at Lenin- grad 1973! This little tale illustrates something very typical of Gligori¢’s approach to openings — a refusal to be cowed into changing his line just be- cause of a defeat.22 HOW TO BUILD YOUR CHESS OPENING REPERTOIRE 11 2d3 cxd4 12 cxd4 b6 13 Hel The first sign that Gligorié has an improvement ready. In the aforemen- tioned game against Smejkal, where Black had preferred the immediate 11...b6, he had adopted the plan of Wd2 and &h6. Here he has a very dif- ferent idea in mind. 13...e6 (D) 13...8b7 would be met by 14 d5. “iy ey a ‘py LGD S77 ‘t Cdr DEL ” GLEE 14 e5! This excellent move is the key to Gligori¢’s new plan. Although it looks odd to concede the d5-square and give up the chance of creating a passed pawn with d5, the move’s merits out- weigh these factors. Black’s Griinfeld bishop on g7, usually the pride of his position, loses its effectiveness at a stroke. Meanwhile, the diagonal of White’s d3-bishop is opened towards the black king, and White will follow up with 2)f4 and We4, with the mak- ings of a dangerous kingside attack. Meanwhile, the black knight on a5 is a long way from the key d5-square. In another game played at the same event, Gligori€ used the same strategic idea to beat Vaganian in different variation of the Exchange Griinfeld: 7...0-0 8 Be2 Wd7 9 0-0 b6 10 Wd3 2b7 11 5! 4\c6 12 Af4 e6 13 Wh3 Aas 14 Be2 c5 15 Se3 cxd4 16 cxd4 Hfd8 17 Hadi We7 18 Wg3 Hac8 19 h4! with initiative, Gligori¢-Vaganian, USSR- Yugoslavia, Odessa 1975 (1-0, 56). The present game continued: 14..2b7 15 fa! We7 16 We “\c6 17 h4 “Db4 18 2c4 b5 19 2h3 h5 20 Wg3 20 Wh3! is stronger, planning a later 24. 20...8fc8 21 2.d2! Bxcl?! 22 Excl (D) ae: Wit hae At this point, Black blundered: 22....24€8?? However, even after the superior 22...2\d5 23 4)\d3! White would have had the advantage. 23 Hxc8+ &xc8 24 Wc3 1-0 White is winning a piece. Gligori¢é had clearly won the theoretical debate, and avenged his previous defeat in the variation.