CVO_120.pdf

No. 120, April 20, 2011

OPENINGS

WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT?

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Dealing with

exchange variations

By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris

Frequency

In this issue of CVO we'll focus on some theoretical

games played in the premier league of the Russian

team competition. Of the other tournaments

Gustafsson's victory in the Thai Open drew our

attention.

WHAT’S HOT?

Score

In Motylev-Malakhov White played our suggestion in the Berlin Endgame

from CVO 115, but White's edge turned out to be only symbolic. Further

games with the Berlin Endgame that can serve as study material are

Caruana-Eljanov, Savchenko-Ponomariov and Negi-Hammer. With

his games against Short and Vallejo Pons, Gustafsson confirmed that

he handles the stuff that he discusses on his 1.e4 e5! DVDs pretty well.

Bogdanovich-Matlakov was an interesting Ruy Lopez Zaitsev.

Our Game of the Week Nepomniachtchi-Frolyanov can be added to the

collection of instructive attacking games, with several fine motives. In the

diagram position Black went for 7...b5. Below we'll have a look at the Caro-

Kann Advance Variation with 5...¤e7 and in the PGN file you'll find two

relevant games with 5...c5.

In the Semi-Slav Anti-Meran, the new main line, 6.£c2 ¥d6 7.¥d3, which

has been covered in CVO numerous times, is working nicely for White. A

recent counter-development is 6...b6!?, which we'll examine below. More

on the Queen's Gambit Accepted can also be found on p.3, while Dreev-

Movsesian & Maletin-Giri is Nimzo-Indian 4.£c2 study material.

Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

It's time to return to one of our hobbies: dealing with exchange variations. For theoretical experts ready for a great dynamic fight in one of

the main lines, an exchange variation can truly spoil their good mood. Every now and then a

pep talk is needed and this week a very decent 3 out 4 score for Black in the Slav Exchange

variation (two wins, two draws) can be reported.

WHAT’S NOT?

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

No. 120, April 20, 2011

The direct mating attack

As they say, in the Open Sicilian either White checkmates within 30 moves or Black gets the

upper hand. Nepomniachtchi nicely showed what such a direct mating attack should look

like, starting with the novelty 12.f6!. Black should play the opening more carefully.

GAME OF THE WEEK

23.£h5 no longer works, in view of 23...gxf6

24.¦xf6 ¤e6!) 21...¤xc5 22.b3 and although

White retains an edge, Black can still put up

some resistance thanks to the blockade.

21.¤f6+!

Profiting from the fact that the black ¤ no longer

protects f6.

21...¢h8

21...gxf6? hastens the end: 22.gxf6+ ¢h8

23.£g7#.

22.£h5 gxf6

22...h6 is simplest met by 23.¤g4!.

23.¦xf6 ¦g8

Black is unable to transfer defenders via the 7th

rank: 23...£e7 24.¦h6 (24.¦af1 is also good.)

24...f6 25.g6 and White wins.

24.¦xf7 ¦g7 25.¦xg7 ¢xg7

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26.g6! hxg6

26...£g8 27.¥h6+ ¢h8 28.g7+ and Black is

forced to give up his £, as well as after 26...£h8

27.¥h6+ ¢g8 (27...¢f6 28.£g5#) 28.g7.

27.£h6+ ¢g8

There ’ s no chance for the ¢ to escape: 27...¢f7

28.¦f1+ ¢e8 (28...¢e7 29.£g7+) 29.£xg6+

¢d7 30.¦f7+ ¥e7 31.¥xc5 ¦xc5 32.£e6+ ¢e8

33.¦g7 and mate on g8.

28.£xg6+ ¢h8 29.¦f1

The last piece joins the attack with the

devastating threat of 30.¦f7.

29...¥f8

Black is absolutely helpless against all threats.

29...£g8 30.£xd6 is hopeless; 29...¦c7 30.¥g5

¥e7 31.¦f7 and mate to follow.

30.¦f7 £h4 31.¥g5 and Black resigned. 1–0

Nepomniachtchi (2729) - Frolyanov (2610)

Russian Team Ch (Olginka), 17.04.2011

B90, Sicilian Najdorf, 6.h3

11...e5

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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3

a6 6.h3

Although Fischer ’ s move is less popular than

6.¥g5 and 6.¥e3, Black has to know what he

should do.

6...e6 7.g4 b5

The reigning Russian champion also has

experience with the more popular moves:

a) 7...d5 8.exd5 ¤xd5 9.¤de2 h5 (9...¥b4 is

more in the spirit of Black approach.) 10.¤xd5

exd5 11.g5 ¥e7 12.¤f4 ¥xg5 13.£xd5

¤c6 14.c3 £e7+ 15.¥e2 ¥xf4 16.¥xf4 ¥e6

17.£d3 and White gained the initiative in

Nepomniachtchi-V.Popov, Aix-les-Bains 2011.

b) 7...¥e7 8.¥g2 ¤fd7 9.0–0 (9.¥e3 ¤c6 10.£e2

is more challenging.) 9...¤c6 10.f4 0–0 11.¥e3

¤xd4 12.£xd4 b5 13.a4 bxa4 14.£xa4 ¦b8

15.¦fb1 ¥b7 16.£a5 £c8 with level chances in

Nepomniachtchi-Dominguez, Havana 2010.

8.¥g2 ¥b7 9.0–0 ¤fd7?!

It seems Black doesn ’ t have time for this move

in combination with 7...b5. A typical mistake is

9...¥e7? 10.e5! ¥xg2 11.exf6 ¥xf1 12.fxe7 £xe7

13.£xf1± Howell-Neverov, Hastings 2010. Not

good either is 9...b4?! 10.¤d5! exd5 11.exd5 ¥e7

12.g5 ¤fd7 13.¤c6 £c7 14.¤xe7 ¢xe7 15.£d4

and White has a dangerous attack for the piece,

as, for example, was seen in Svidler-Baker,

Bunratty 2009. The move 9...¤c6!? worked out

well for Black in a top encounter: 10.¤xc6 (10.

e5!? seems the critical test of Black ’ s move.)

10...¥xc6 11.¦e1 ¤d7 12.¤d5 ¥b7 13.£d4 ¤e5

14.f4 ¤c6 15.£f2 exd5 16.exd5+ ¤e7 17.a4

¢d7 18.¥e3 ¥xd5 19.¥b6 £b8 20.¦xe7+ ¥xe7

21.¥xd5 ¥h4 22.£d4 ¥f6 23.£f2 ¥h4 24.£d4

¥f6 ½–½ Carlsen-Dominguez, Biel 2008.

10.f4 ¥e7 11.f5!

Often White has to be careful with this move, as

it weakens the black squares. However, in this

particular case, Black has to move his e-pawn,

due to the clumsy placement of his pieces.

12.f6!

A new and strong move. The only previous

game went 12.¤de2 h5 13.¥f3 hxg4 14.hxg4

d5 15.¢g2 d4 16.¤d5 ¤b6 17.¤xb6 £xb6³

and Black was in full control in Golizadeh-Zhou

Jianchao, Guangzhou 2010.

12...¤xf6

The alternative 12...exd4 13.fxe7 £xe7 14.£xd4

¤e5 might have been a better option, though

after 15.a4 White retains the initiative.

13.¤f5 0–0

13...g6? loses on the spot: 14.¤xe7 £xe7

15.¥g5 ¤bd7 16.£f3.

14.g5 ¤e8 15.£g4 ¤d7 16.¥e3 ¦c8 17.¦f2!

A strong multi-purpose move. Apart from

doubling ¦s along the f-file, White protects c2

against the threat ...b4.

17...d5

17...b4 has lost its effectiveness now, in view of

18.¤d5 ¥xd5 19.exd5 when the pawn on b4 can

only become a target, while White can also build

up pressure on the kingside.

18.exd5 ¤d6

Also 18...¦c4 has some concrete drawbacks:

19.¤e4 ¥xd5 20.b3 ¦c7 21.¦d1 ¥e6 (21...¥b7

22.¦fd2 and there are too many threats.) 22.¥b6

and White wins material.

19.¤xd6 ¥xd6 20.¤e4 ¤c5?

The decisive mistake. Black should have played

20...¥c5! 21.¤xc5 (21.¥xc5 ¤xc5 22.¤f6+ ¢h8

NEPOMNIACHTCHI-FROLYANOV

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

No. 120, April 20, 2011

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 ¥f5 4.¤f3 e6 5.¥e2 ¤e7 6.0–0 c5 7.c4 ¤bc6 8.dxc5 d4 9.¥d3 ¥xd3 10.£xd3 ¤g6 11.£e4

¥xc5 12.¤bd2 £c7 13.¤b3 ¥e7 14.¦e1 ¦d8 15.¥d2 0–0 16.h4 h5 17.¦ad1 a6 18.¤c1 b5 19.cxb5 axb5 20.¤d3

In the diagram White has a dream position. The pawn on e5 is perfectly protected, while Black's kingside (h5)

is seriously weakened. The ¤ on d3 is an excellent blockading piece and so prevents any counterplay for

Black. Not surprisingly GM Motylev punished GM Maletin for his indecisive handling of the Short variation of

the Advanced Caro-Kann. The innocent looking 12...£c7 is already a first step in the wrong direction, whereas

Karpov demonstrated the right plan nine years ago. Black shouldn't fear his ¥ getting exchanged, as his d-pawn

will offer him sufficient counterplay. Ponomariov's recent efforts has brought 5...¤e7 followed by 6...c5 back on

the map, because the immediate 5...c5 can't completely satisfy Black (see CVO 92). Another theoretically relevant

game was Zhigalko-Bologan, where White opted for the main line with 8.¤a3. Bologan deviated with 11....d3 from

the recent example, Motylev-Zhou Weiqi, which ended in a quick draw, despite the fact White could have gained

a clear advantage with 13.g4!N. Bologan didn't fully equalize and suffered for a long time. Perhaps 12...£d7!? is

an improvement.

Caro-Kann, Advance

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Queen's Gambit Accepted

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.¤f3 e6 4.e3 c5 5.¥xc4 ¤f6 6.0–0 a6 7.dxc5 £xd1 8.¦xd1

¥xc5 9.¥e2 ¤bd7 10.¤d4 0–0 11.¤c3 ¤e5 12.¤b3 ¥a7 13.¥d2 ¥d7 14.¤a5

White's 7.dxc5 against the QGA might not be the most entertaining choice, but practice has shown that Black's

position is not without its dangers. In CVO 52 an excellent model game was played by GM Meier. This time GM

Vitiugov comes up with an entirely new idea on move 10! Instead of the common 10.¤bd2, the Russian GM opts

for 10.¤d4, its main point being to vacate f3 for the ¥ and thus preventing Black completing his development with

...b6/¥b7 etc. The critical position seems to have arisen in the diagram. Rublevsky decided to passively defend his

b-pawn with 14...¦ab8. Perhaps better would have been 14...b6, driving the ¤ back followed by ...b5. Normally

Black has to be careful with the advance of his b-pawn, as it gives White the possibility to open the queenside

under favorable conditions. However, in this particular case it deserves further investigation, since in the game

Black's ¦ was tied to defending for the rest of the game. Gradually Black's problems took larger proportions and

soon Rublevsky went astray. Vitiugov proves this line to be anything but boring!

Semi-Slav, Anti-Meran

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.e3 e6 5.¤f3 ¤bd7 6.£c2 b6 7.¥d3 ¥b7 8.0–0 ¥e7 9.b3 dxc4

10.¥xc4 c5 11.¦d1 cxd4N 12.exd4 ¦c8 13.£d3 0–0 14.¥b2 ¥b4 15.a3 ¥xc3 16.¥xc3 ¥e4 17.£d2 ¤d5

Dreev has not only written two nice books about his extensive experience with the Semi-Slav, it also seems like

his second Semi-Slav youth has started. The Anti-Meran with 6.£c2 is serious business, so besides the main line

6...¥d6, Dreev discusses the flexible 6...b6 in his book. This alternative way of developing the traditional problem

piece has the additional advantage of avoiding a lot of theory, and is quickly getting followers. In Kaidanov-

Shankland, White lost very quickly in a new line that was already pointed out by Dreev. In the Russian League,

Eljanov won a nice game with White against Popov in the first round, but four rounds later suffered a painful defeat

against Motylev. Whereas the main line 9...0–0 still seems to be the critical course (and very playable for Black at

the moment), the question remains where Motylev wanted to deviate from the old game Zvjaginsev-Dreev, Elista

1997, in which the tricky pawn sacrifice 9...dxc4 10.bxc4 c5 11.d5! was played. White lost that game, but 17.¤d4!

instead of the miscalculation 17.¦xd7?? looks good for him.

Slav, Exchange

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.¤c3 ¤f6 5.¥f4 ¤c6 6.e3 a6 7.¥d3 ¥g4 8.¤ge2 e6 9.¦c1 ¥xe2 10.£xe2 ¥d6 11.¥g5 h6

12.¥h4 ¥e7 13.0–0 0–0 14.¤a4 ¤d7 15.¥g3N £a5 16.£d1 ¦fc8 17.¥b1 £d8 18.a3 ¥h4 19.¥xh4 £xh4 20.¦c3 £d8

Last week I (MvD) suffered a painful defeat against the Exchange Variation of the Slav and I realised that I didn't

quite understand the deceptively simple looking positions. This week Black had a good score at grandmaster level,

which could have been even better had Svidler converted his winning position. From these games a few lessons

can be learnt: 1) Just playing standard moves is not enough; often Black has to solve some problems by concrete

calculation (e.g. 11...¦c8 12.¤c5 ¤b4! would have been correct in Driessens-Van Delft) 2) ¥f4 is a strong piece

so exchanging it with ¥d6 is a safe approach. 3) Keeping ¥c8 inside the pawn chain like Malakhov does, has the

advantage that the queenside won't be so vulnerable. 4) One can even be creative: Stevic created a Stonewall

attacking set-up. 5) Voluntarily giving up the bishop pair with ¥xe2, followed by offering an exchange of black

squared bishops is yet another approach. In the diagram position, Potkin was solid with Black and went on to win

a good game.

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

No. 120, April 20, 2011

IT'S YOUR MOVE

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LAST WEEK'S SOLUTIONS

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Van Delft-Fish, 2. Bundesliga Nord (Bremen), 2011

Inspired by the fantastic game Li Chao-Yu Yangyi, Olongapo City 2010, White went for 12.b4! which prevents

Black ’ s counter-attacking moves ¤c5 and b4 in a surprising way. The more complicated 12.e5! is also good

for White: 12...dxe5 13.fxe5 £xe5 (13...¤xe5 14.¥f4 ¥d6 (14...¤fd7 15.£e4 g6 16.£xa8 ¥b7 17.¤xe6!! fxe6

18.¥xe5+-) 15.¤cxb5 axb5 16.¤xb5 £e7 17.¥xe5²) 14.¤c6 £c5 15.£f3! ¥d6 16.¥e3 £h5 17.£xh5 ¤xh5

18.¦ad1 ¤hf6 19.¥xh7+ ¢xh7 20.¦xd6². 12...¥b7 13.a4 bxa4 14.¦xa4 ¤b6 15.¦aa1 d5 16.e5 ¤e4 17.¤xe4

dxe4 18.¥xe4 ¥xe4 19.£xe4 £c4 20.c3 ¤d5 21.¦f3 and White went on to win.

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Ris-Chatzikadis, Greek Team Championship (Crete) 2011

Black has decided to defend his pawn on d5 with his ¥, which means he is no longer able to recapture with a

pawn. Before spoiling Black's pawn structure, White undermines the unstable ¤ on e4. 14.£c1! £d6 15.£e3

¤d8 16.cxd5! Perfect timing. Black was ready to play ...c6. 16...¥xd5 17.¤fe5 ¤f6 18.f3! Since Black lacks

space it ’ s better to keep pieces on the board. 18...¢h8 19.¦ad1 ¥g8 20.£c1! Again the most useful square for

the £. White is clearly on top now and soon Black collapses. 20...¤e6 21.e3 c6 22.f4 a5 23.¦f3 ¤d7 24.d5 ¤d8

25.£a1 ¥f6 26.dxc6 ¤xc6 27.¤f2 ¤dxe5 28.¦xd6 ¤xf3+ 29.¥xf3 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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