CVO_117.pdf

No. 117, March 30, 2011

OPENINGS

WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT?

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Even sharper

theoretical battles

By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris

Frequency

As expected, Aronian didn't give up his lead and

won the last edition of the Amber Tournament. We

checked out rounds 9-11 for you. Of course, we also

take a look at the European Championship in Aix les

Bains, where 172 grandmasters are participating.

WHAT’S HOT?

Score

In Popov-Svidler (Spanish Four Knights), Black did indeed play the

improvement 9...¤g4, neutralising the line (compare CVO 113). Anand-

Carlsen is a further example of a Ruy Lopez leading to a King's Indian, as

we discussed three weeks ago. In Guseinov-Nielsen, Black got a winning

position from the Najdorf Poisoned Pawn version we examined in CVO 105,

but lost anyway. We also cover some highly critical Najdorfs and Taimanovs.

In our Game of the Week , Topalov-Nakamura, we examine a French version

of the Poisoned Pawn variation, which starts with 8...£b6 in the diagram

position. Volokitin-Cornette was an exciting French Winawer with 17.g4 as

the new direction. In A.Zhigalko-Lupulescu and Nevednichy-Dreev trust

was again displayed in the Caro-Kann Poisoned Pawn. Kotronias keeps

winning with the Caro-Kann main line.

Cheparinov-Ter Sahakhyan confirmed our judgement from CVO 85 that

17...cxb2 is pretty dangerous for Black. Wojtaszek-Hracek (Nimzo-Indian)

and Potkin-Savchenko (Budapest Gambit) are very beautiful games and

Kramnik-Ivanchuk (Catalan) is an amazingly complex blindfold game.

More on the Ragozin and Grünfeld can be found below. Brand new King's

Indian study material was provided by Giri-Grischuk, Kramnik-Nakamura

& Volokitin-Reinderman.

Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

All's been quiet on the Sicilian Sveshnikov front lately, and this must be because of the new positional main line 9.¤d5 ¥e7 10.¥xf6 ¥xf6

11.c4. Black seems to be holding theoretically, but apparently not to the extent that it satisfies

world class players with Black, as it did when Leko and Kramnik played it ten years ago.

Polgar-Edouard (11.c3) and Nisipeanu-Kotronias (11.c4) were excellent wins for White.

WHAT’S NOT?

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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not?

No. 117, March 30, 2011

The French Poisoned Pawn

It looks like every opening has its own poisoned pawn variation. They seem to have one thing

in common: theoretically they are often better than their reputations, but in practice the positions

are not always easy to play. In any case, Topalov won a nice game against Nakamura.

GAME OF THE WEEK

25.¦e1!

The ¦ has done its job on the b-file and decides

to hit a new target. 25.¦xe6? is premature, in

view of 25...£xb1+.

25...£c4 26.¦bxe6 ¥b4?

Another mistake. Black should have tried

26...£xc3 27.¥xc3 ¤e5 (27...¥c5 28.¥a5+)

28.fxe5 ¥xe6 29.exf6 ¢d7 30.fxe7 ¦b8 and

although White is winning after 31.¥f6! it requires

precise play on his part.

27.¥xf6+ ¤xf6 28.£xf6+ ¢c7

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29.¦e7+?

Almost throwing the win away! Far simpler would

have been 29.£e5+! ¢b7 (29...¢d7 30.£g7+)

30.£g7+ £c7 (30...¢b8 31.¦b6+) 31.¦e7 and

further loss of material is inevitable.

29...¥d7 30.£e5+ ¢c6

30...¥d6 loses to 31.¦xd7+! ¢xd7 32.£xh8.

31.£xh8 ¥xe7 32.£a8+

Not 32.¦xe7?? 32...£f1#.

32...¢c7 33.£a7+ ¢d8 34.£b8+

Topalov noticed in time that his intended

34.£b6+ ¢e8 35.£d6? is met by 35...£f1+!

36.¦xf1 ¥xd6 and Black should hold.

34...¥c8 35.£e5 ¥c5

After 35...¥b4 36.c3! £xc3 (36...¥xc3 37.£e7#)

37.£xd5+ White is winning.

36.f5!

Bringing another soldier to the front!

36...£xc2 37.f6 £f5 38.£e8+ ¢c7 39.¦c1 ¢b6

39...d4 is most simply met by 40.£b5 ¢d6

41.¦xc5 £xc5 42.£xc5+ ¢xc5 43.f7 and wins.

40.f7 d4 41.£d8+ ¢b5 42.£c7 and Black

resigned, as he gets mated soon. 1–0

Topalov,V (2775) - Nakamura,H (2774)

Amber Rapid (Monaco), 22.03.2011

C11, French, Classical

Lubbock 2010.) 16...£d8 17.0–0 £c8 18.¦b3

£c4 19.¤e2 ¥e7 though Black didn ’ t face too

many difficulties in Karjakin-Nakamura, Monaco

blindfold 2011.

14...b5?

The most consistent response, but the

subsequent forced line seems to favor White.

Hence, better is 14...£h4+! and now:

a) 15.g3?! £h3! (The £ can ’ t be harassed by

the light-squared ¥ anymore.) 16.¥xd7+ ¥xd7

17.¦xb7 h5 18.£e2 ¥e7 with reasonable play for

Black, but not 18...h4? 19.g4 ¦c8 20.¦b3!.

b) 15.¥f2 £d8 (15...£g4!?) 16.¥b6 £h4+ and it ’ s

questionable whether White can prove anything

here at all.

15.¥xb5 axb5 16.¤xb5 £d8

The inclusion of 16...£h4+ 17.¥f2 £d8 only

helps White, as the ¥ is no longer vulnerable on

d4.

17.£c3 £a5 18.¤c7+ ¢d8 19.¤xa8 £xa8

20.0–0 £a4 21.¢h1!

The tempting 21.¦b8? is refuted by 21...£xd4+!

22.£xd4 ¥c5 and Black is clearly better.

21...¥e7

21...£c4 22.£a5+! £c7 (22...¢e8 23.¦d1 £a6

24.£c7 £c4 25.¦c3 £xc7 26.¦xc7 is better

for White; 22...¢e7 23.¦d1) 23.£xc7+ ¢xc7

24.¦c3+ ¢d8 (24...¢b8? 25.¦b1+ ¥b7 26.¦cb3)

25.¦b1 and the a-pawn decides the game (a4/

a5/¦c6 etc.).

22.¦fb1

Again 22.¦b8?! is unfavorable for White, in view

of 22...£c4 and after the exchange of £s, Black

is able to coordinate his forces on the queenside.

22...f6 23.exf6

The point of Black ’ s previous move is that after

23.¦b8 £c4 24.£a5+ ¢e8! the ¢ escapes to the

other side.

23...gxf6 24.¦b6 £xa2

24...£c4 25.£xc4 dxc4 26.¦xe6 would have

been very difficult to defend for Black, due to

White ’ s strong passer.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.e5 ¤fd7 5.f4 c5

6.¤f3 ¤c6 7.¥e3

In CVO 105 we had a look at 7.¤e2.

7...cxd4

7...¥e7 is considered the main line nowadays.

8.¤xd4 £b6

A move with a dubious reputation, but perhaps

it ’ s playable. 8...¥c5 used to be Black ’ s main

option.

9.£d2 £xb2 10.¦b1 £a3 11.¥b5 ¤xd4

12.¥xd4 a6

The most fashionable continuation. The

alternative 12...¥b4 is hardly seen anymore,

because of 13.¦b3 £a5 14.a3 ¥e7 15.f5 and

White retains a nasty initiative.

13.¦b3 £e7

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14.¥a4!?

Evidently the former World Champion has been

inspired by an earlier game of his second, which

went 14.0–0? axb5 15.¤xb5 £d8 16.£c3 £a5

17.¤c7+ ¢d8 18.¤xa8 £xa8 19.f5 b6! and

Black consolidated in Cheparinov-Vallejo Pons,

Dresden 2008, as he is able to install his ¥ on

c5. One day later, Karjakin tried to improve upon

the present game by 14.¥xd7+ ¥xd7 15.¦xb7

£h4+! 16.¥f2 (16.£f2 £d8 17.¥b6 £c8 18.¦c7

£d8 (18...£b8? 19.£d4! was better for White

in Brkic-Bitalzadeh, Rijeka 2008.) 19.¦b7 £c8

20.¦c7 £d8 21.0–0 ¦c8 22.¦xc8 (22.¦b7 £xb6!)

22...£xc8 23.£d4 a5! 24.f5 ¥b4 and Black

obtained sufficient counterplay in Almasi-Meier,

TOPALOV - NAKAMURA

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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not?

No. 117, March 30, 2011

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Sicilian Najdorf, 6.¥g5 ¤bd7

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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 a6 6.¥g5 ¤bd7 7.£e2 £a5 8.h4 h6 9.¥d2 £b6 10.¤b3 e6 11.g4

¤e5 12.f4 ¤exg4 13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 £c7 15.exf6 £g3+ 16.¢d1 ¤f2+ 17.¢c1 ¤xh1 18.¤e4 £xh4 19.£c4

In CVO 113 we pointed out the problems Black currently has after 7.¥c4!? and now more problems seem to be

coming from a different direction. If Black can be smart by first playing 6...¤bd7!?, then White can be equally

smart by first playing 7.£e2!?. Now 7...e6 8.f4 and 7...£c7 8.0–0–0 e6 9.f4 are transpositions to the Gelfand

Variation (6...e6 7.f4 ¤bd7 8.£e2). 7...b5 is recommended in the new Najdorf book by Ftacnik, but here the

novelty 8.a4! must be critical. 7...h6 8.¥h4 was tested in a few grandmaster games last year, but White seems to

be doing well there. The idea behind Black playing 7...£a5 is 8.¥h4 e5! 9.¤f5 d5! with a powerful initiative, but

in Vallejo Pons-Papaioannou, White played the clever novelty 8.h4!?. The similar 8.¥d2 £b6 9.¤b3 also comes

into consideration. After a move like 12.¦g1 the position resembles a Keres Attack. With the sharp 12.f4!? Vallejo

set the board on fire with a wild move sequence leading to the diagram position. As far as we can tell, 19...£h2

seems to maintain the balance, but it's definitely shaky.

Sicilian, Taimanov

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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤c6 5.¤c3 £c7 6.¥e3 a6 7.£d2 ¤f6 8.0–0–0 ¥b4

9.f3 ¤e5 10.¤b3 b5 11.£e1 ¥e7 12.f4 ¤g6 13.e5 ¤g4 14.¤e4 ¤xe3 15.£xe3 0–0

16.h4 ¥b7 17.h5 ¦ac8 18.¥d3 ¤xe5 19.fxe5 £xe5 20.¤bd2 f5 21.¤f3 £c7 22.¤eg5 ¥d5

Vladimir Potkin is one of the world's top seconds, but at the European Championship he's proven himself to be a

great player in his own right by dominating the first part of the tournament. In the main line of the English Attack

vs the Taimanov Black has been suffering after 11.£e1, but Potkin is one of the few people to have wondered:

why not grab the pair of bishops with 14...¤xe3? People kept repeating each other by playing 14...0–0, but

after 15.¥c5 White can comfortably play for an edge. When White pushes his h-pawn up the board as quickly

as possible, as indeed happened in Ter Sahakyan-Potkin, Black suddenly sacrifices the ¤ on e5 for great

compensation. The calm retreat 21...£c7 by Potkin was the first new move and quickly led to a strong attack for

Black with a nice ¦ sacrifice. In the correspondence game Corbat-Pfiffner, 2008, Black immediately increased

the investment up to a ¦ with 21...£d5 22.¤c3 ¦xc3!? getting a brilliant pawn steam roller in the endgame. White

should probably stick to 17.¤d6, as in Mamedov-Geller.

Ragozin

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1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 d5 4.¤c3 ¥b4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.¥g5 h6 7.¥h4 c5 8.e3 g5 9.¥g3 c4

10.¥e2 ¤e4 11.¦c1 £a5 12.¤e5 ¤c6 13.0–0 ¥xc3 14.bxc3 ¤xc3 15.¦xc3 £xc3 16.¥h5 0–0

The Ragozin is one of those openings where players keep on finding potential hidden resources for both sides. In

CVO 97 we covered Kramnik's investigation of the main line with the useful inclusion of ...h6. Instead of Aronian's

8.dxc5, more principled is 8.e3 which more or less forces Black to proceed with 8...g5 to justify the advance

of his h-pawn. In the blindfold section Topalov came up with the interesting refinement 12.¤e5!? over 12.0–0

which was seen in Riazantsev-Onischuk, Poikovsky 2010, but couldn't really impress, despite all the tactical

skirmishes. In the diagram position Topalov opted for 17.£f3, after which Aronian immediately went wrong with

17...¤d8, allowing the £ to invade on f6. He should instead have opted for 17...¢g7!, covering the f6 square,

when it's not evident whether White can really hope for an advantage at all. Apparently Nielsen had come to the

same conclusion, and he deviated four days later with 17.¥xf7. Subsequent play deserves further investigation,

but it seems White doesn't have sufficient attacking potential for more than a draw.

Grünfeld, Exchange

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1.c4 ¤f6 2.d4 g6 3.¤c3 d5 4.cxd5 ¤xd5 5.e4 ¤xc3 6.bxc3 ¥g7 7.¥e3 c5 8.£d2 £a5 9.¦c1 0–0 10.¤f3 ¦d8 11.d5 e6

12.¥g5 f6 13.¥e3 ¤c6 14.¥d3 exd5 15.exd5 c4 16.¥xc4 ¥e6 17.¦d1 ¤e7 18.dxe6 ¦xd2 19.¦xd2 £xc3 20.¥b3

Memorizing one's own analysis is one of the most important tasks of a professional player nowadays. In

Lupulescu-Bukavshin, the black player might have fallen into a variation which was fairly unknown to him, or

perhaps one he knew well but where he'd forgotten all the nuances. In the diagram position the talented Russian

went astray with 20...£a1?, which was strongly met by 21.¥d1! When entering that line you have to see that

after 21...¤f5 22.0–0, 22...¤xe3 isn't possible, because of the surprising 23.e7! Due to White's powerful e-pawn

and the discoordination of Black's pieces, White is clearly on top. It's worth going through the rest of the game,

where the Romanian GM shows the strength of the cooperation of White's pieces. Five rounds later in Pashikian-

Cornette, Black chose the correct 20...£c1!, which was already played once before in Potkin-Svidler. However,

White could then have claimed an edge had he played 26.¦d1. Hence Cornette's improvement, 22...£b4!, is

important for the evaluation of the line, as now 23.¦d7 allows Black to play 23...£b5! leading to a repetition of

moves. In analysis, I (RR) failed to improve on White's play.

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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not?

No. 117, March 30, 2011

IT'S YOUR MOVE

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LAST WEEK'S SOLUTIONS

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Ivanchuk-Carlsen, Amber Blindfold (Monaco) 2011

How to defend the pawn on h2? Ivanchuk had no trouble with that and played the cool 13.¢h1! ¤c6 The

refutation of 13...¥xh2 is surprisingly brutal: 14.f4 ¥g3 15.e5 ¤e4 and now the killer 16.¤d5! exd5 17.cxd5 ¤c5

18.d6 £c8 19.¤f5 regaining the piece with complete domination. 13...¥f4 may be relatively best. 14.¤db5!

and Carlsen could have safely resigned here. 14...axb5 15.¤xb5 ¥xh2 16.¤xc7 ¥xc7 17.c5 bxc5 18.¦xc5

d5 19.¦xc6 ¥xc6 20.£c1 ¥e5 21.f4 ¥xb2 22.£xb2 ¤xe4 23.¦c1 ¦ab8 24.£e5 ¥e8 25.¥d3 ¦b3 26.¥d4 f6

27.£xe6+ ¥f7 28.£a6 h5 29.¦c7 1–0

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Gashimov-Topalov, Amber Rapid (Monaco) 2011

Black's last move 8...h6 is a serious mistake. Instead he should have played 8...dxc4 like Gelfand did last year.

Now Black gets into trouble after 9.¤xd5! ¤xd5 9...¥xd2 10.¤xf6+ wins a pawn. 10.cxd5 ¥xd2 11.¤xd2 cxd5

12.£b3! A double attack on b7 and e4. Black is unable to avoid the loss of a pawn. 12...¥e6 13.£xb7 ¤d7

14.£a6 ¤c5 15.£a3 £b6 16.¦fc1 ¦ac8 17.¦c3 d4 18.¦c2 ¤a6 19.¦ac1 ¦xc2 20.¦xc2 ¤b4 21.¦c1 ¤xa2

22.¤c4 ¤xc1 23.¤xb6 axb6 24.£a4 ¦d8 25.¥f3 ¥h3 26.¥g2 ¤xe2+ 27.¢f1 ¥xg2+ 28.¢xg2 e4 29.£d1 exd3

30.¢f1 g5 31.¢e1 ¤c3 32.£xd3 ¦e8+ 33.¢f1 ¤e2 34.£xe2 ¦xe2 35.¢xe2 ¢f8 36.¢d3 ¢e7 37.¢xd4 ¢d6

38.g4 f6 39.¢c4 ¢c6 40.b3 b5+ 41.¢b4 ¢b6 42.h3 ¢c6 43.¢a5 ¢c5 44.b4+ ¢c4 45.f3 1–0

www.chessvibes.com/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! Why not subscribe

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