CVO_131.pdf

No. 131, July 6, 2011

OPENINGS

WHAT'S HOT AND WHAT'S NOT?

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Winning and losing

with the Najdorf

By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris

Frequency

Young guns Caruana and Giri were succesful at the

strong new AAI grandmaster tournament in New

Delhi and the Dutch Championship respectively.

Kamsky won the World Open and we also take a look

at the Greek and Turkish Team Championships.

WHAT’S HOT?

Score

In Negi-So, White scored a quick win against the Petroff using the tricky

14.g3 from the rapid game Vallejo Pons-Gelfand, Leon 2010. After the

novelty 18.¥b2!? Black immediately went astray (see PGN). Nisipeanu-

Sanikidze was a good white win versus the Ruy Lopez Breyer Variation,

following up on the interesting Nisipeanu-Carlsen draw ten days before.

Caruana beat Negi in round 6, then Hou Yifan also beat Negi in round 7,

and finally Caruana beat Hou Yifan in round 8, making it 3-0 for White

against the Najdorf (see below). Before we conclude that the Najdorf is

not hot this week, we should mention that Giri scored a convincing 2-0

playing the Najdorf with Black. In Brandenburg-Giri the 6.h3 variation was

effectively countered and Smeets-Giri was good preparation in the 6.¥e3

¤g4 line.

In our Game of the Week , Laznicka-Sasikiran, Black won a fantastic game

with the Queen's Indian. In the diagram position Black went for 10...¦e8. In

So-Laznicka White spiced things up and won against the QGD. Nijboer drew

against Giri with Black using the Dutch Defence, while Kasimdzhanov was

more successful in taking on the Dutch Defence versus Miroshnichenko.

Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

Kamsky convincingly beat Kacheishvili in the Caro-Kann Advance Variation, with Savchenko doing the same against Arutinian. If Black

has problems in the Caro-Kann, it seems to be in the Advance Variation, as we've concluded

before in CVO. The Keres Attack is still a very dangerous weapon against the Scheveningen,

as we'll show below.

WHAT'S NOT?

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

No. 131, July 6, 2011

Attacking with the Queen's Indian

This title may sound a bit surprising, since the Queen’s Indian is above all known as a solid

opening choice. Sasikiran’s play in this game may not be 100% correct, but it’s very effective

and highly entertaining.

GAME OF THE WEEK

seem to be entirely correct. Objectively better is

20...¤c3 but White is still better.

21.fxe4 ¦xe5 22.¤xe5 ¦xe5 23.¢h1?

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White should have regrouped his forces first:

23.£d2! h6 (23...d3+ can be met by 24.¢h1)

24.e3 d3 25.¦c4 when Black doesn ’ t have

sufficient compensation for the material deficit.

23...¥xe4!

Simple and strong: by exchanging the ¥s, the

light squares are almost impossible for White to

defend.

24.¥xe4

The alternative 24.£f2 is met strongly by 24...d3

25.e3 d2 26.¦cd1 ¥xe3! with a powerful attack

for Black.

24...¦xe4 25.£d2

White couldn ’ t save the game either with 25.£f2

d3 26.£f6 dxe2 27.£xg5+ ¢f8 (27...¢h8 28.£f6+

is just a perpetual.) 28.¦fe1 ¦e5! 29.£h6+ ¢g8

and White ’ s ¢ is too exposed.

25...h6!

Black only has one pawn for the exchange, but

White ’ s kingside is seriously weakened by the

absence of the light-squared ¥.

26.¦f2 ¤b4

Bringing the last piece into play.

27.¦cf1 ¦e7 28.¦f6 £d5+ 29.¦1f3

29.e4 £xe4+ 30.£g2 doesn ’ t help either,

because of 30...£xg2+ 31.¢xg2 ¤d5 and Black

regains the exchange, retaining a winning ending.

29...g4 30.¦6f5 gxf3! and White resigned,

because of 31.¦xd5 fxe2! 32.¦d8+ ¢h7 33.£e1

¤c2 and after queening the e-pawn, Black

remains a full piece up. 0–1

Laznicka,V (2681) - Sasikiran,K (2676)

AAI (New Delhi), 30.06.2011

E15, Queen's Indian, 4.g3 ¥a6 5.b3

a) 14.dxc5 ¤xc5 15.¤b5 ¤e6 16.¤d3 ¦c8!

17.¤xa7 ¦xc1 18.¥xc1 £a8 19.¤b5 £xa2 with

equality in Onischuk-Jakovenko, Poikovsky

2008.

b) 14.e3!? ¤c7 (14...h6!? is worth considering

now the ¥ doesn ’ t have many squares available.)

15.¤d3 ¤e6 16.dxc5 bxc5 17.¥e5 ¦c8 18.¤f4

¤xf4 19.gxf4 and White was better in Shomoev-

Predojevic, Moscow 2009, due to the pressure

on Black ’ s centre (d5).

14...¤e4 15.dxc5

Van Wely-Timman, London 2007 continued

15.a4 ¥f8 16.h4 f6 17.¤d3 £d7 18.¢h2 ¦ad8

19.¥h3 £f7 20.f3 ¤d6 21.¤xa7 c4 22.bxc4

dxc4 23.¤b2 ¤b4 24.¥xd6 ¥xd6 25.¤xc4 ¥b8

26.¤b5 ¤a2 27.¦c2 ¤b4 28.¦c1 ¤a2 29.¦c2

¤b4 30.e4 ¤xc2 31.£xc2 and White had nice

compensation for the exchange.

15...¥xc5

Other recaptures are clearly inferior: 15...¤axc5?

16.¥xe4 dxe4 17.£c2 followed by 18.¦fd1. 15...

bxc5? 16.¥xe4 dxe4 17.¤c4 and the d6–square

has become vulnerable.

16.¤d3 £d7 17.a4 ¦e7

A novelty. One previous game went 17...d4 18.b4

¤xb4 19.¤xb4 ¥xb4 20.¦c7 £d5 21.£xd4 £xd4

22.¤xd4 ¥a6 23.¤b5 ¥c5 and a draw was soon

agreed in Fridman-Miroshnichenko, Eforie Nord

2009, although after 24.¥e3! White seems to

retain some pressure.

18.£e1

With the idea of playing 19.b4, chasing away the

¥.

18...g5

Generally speaking, Black has to compensate for

his weakness on d5 with active piece play, but

it ’ s clear such moves also have their drawbacks.

19.¥e5

After 19.¥xe4?! ¦xe4 20.¥xg5 ¦ae8 Black ’ s

activity compensates.

19...d4 20.f3 ¦ae8?!

Initiating an exchange sacrifice, which doesn ’ t

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 b6 4.g3 ¥a6 5.b3

In the last couple of years this move hasn ’ t been

played as much as before. According to current

theory more challenging are 5.£c2 (CVO 63);

and 5.£a4 (CVO 93).

5...d5

By far the most common move is 5...¥b4+ see

e.g. CVO 64.

6.¥g2 ¥b4+

6...dxc4 has a dubious reputation, because of

7.¤e5 ¥b4+ 8.¢f1! and practice has confirmed

that White retains an advantage.

7.¥d2 ¥e7 8.cxd5 exd5 9.¤c3 0–0 10.0–0 ¦e8

11.¦c1

In another recent game in this line, White chose a

different direction with 11.¦e1 ¥b7 12.£c2 ¤bd7

13.¥f4 a6 14.¦ad1 ¥b4 15.¤e5 h6 16.¤d3 ¥e7

17.¥c1 ¤e4 18.¥b2 ¤df6 19.e3 ¦c8 with about

equal chances in L'Ami-Wang Hao, Wijk aan

Zee 2011.

11...¥b7

Vacating a6 for the ¤. In case of 11...¤bd7?!

then 12.¤e5! is unpleasant.

12.¥f4 ¤a6 13.¤e5 c5

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In 1997 GM Avrukh evaluated this position as

very comfortable for Black and even gave Black's

last move an exclamation mark. Matters aren't

that simple, however...

14.¤b5

This move has been seen most frequently.

Alternatives are:

LAZNICKA - SASIKIRAN

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

No. 131, July 6, 2011

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST

Sicilian, English Attack

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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 a6 6.¥e3 e6 7.f3 b5 8.£d2 ¤bd7 9.g4 h6 10.0–0–0 ¤e5 11.£f2 b4 12.¤ce2

¤c4 13.¤g3 £c7 14.¥xc4 £xc4 15.¢b1 g6 16.h4 e5 17.¤b3 ¥e6 18.h5 g5 19.¤f5 ¥xf5 20.gxf5 ¦c8 21.¦d3 ¥e7 22.a3

Caruana beat Negi in what seems to be one of the most important lines in the 6.¥e3 e6 7.f3 Najdorf. 11.£f2!? is

a novelty in a position where quite a few moves have been tested before. You may remember our Game of the

Week in CVO 46, Carlsen-Ponomariov, Moscow 2009, in which 11.£e1?! was played. We analysed 11.a3!? which

is still critical today. The gambit 11.f4 may be a bit too much because Black retains the powerful dark-squared ¥.

That brings us to the point that 13...¤xe3 14.£xe3 £b6 is a critical alternative. In the diagram position Negi lost

track with 22...d5, whereas 22...0–0 may be not so easy to crack. Shortly before the first time control Caruana

could have won much more quickly, but ended up having to fight for 98 moves, winning a remarkable ¢£¦¥¤ vs

¢££ endgame. Hou Hifan beat Negi with 6.¥e2 leading to an old Scheveningen line known from the Karpov-

Kasparov matches (Black should be fine there). Finally, Hou Yifan tested Topalov's 8...b4 line and got a more or

less acceptable position, but after the first inaccuracy Caruana took control and converted in great style.

Scheveningen, Keres Attack

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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 e6 6.g4 h6 7.h4 ¤c6 8.¦g1 h5 9.gxh5 ¤xh5 10.¥g5 ¤f6 11.£d2

£b6 12.¤b3 a6 13.¥e2 ¥d7 14.h5 ¤xh5 15.¦h1 g6 16.0–0–0 £xf2 17.e5 £f5 18.exd6 £xg5 19.£xg5 ¥h6 20.£xh6

¦xh6 21.¤a4 ¤e5 22.¤b6 ¦d8 23.¤a5 ¥c6 24.¤xc6 ¤xc6 25.c4 ¤e5 26.c5 ¢f8 27.¦h4 ¢g7 28.¦e4 ¤d7

In the wine tournament in Naujac sur Mer, I (MvD) managed to beat grandmaster Thal Abergel with the Keres

Attack. The old main line in fact leads to a sharp endgame, while 8...d5 is probably the most critical line (see

CVO 115). White sacrifices three pawns in a row, but accepting the third one with 17...¤xe5 leads to trouble after

18.¤d4!. Instead, Black returns the pawn to be able to exchange queens. Since the Scheveningen came as a

complete surprise I couldn't remember 23.¤c5! ¥c6 and now the novelty 24.¦h3! which we recommended in CVO

115. Black should have started pushing his pawns with 25/26...f5 or 28...¤c6 29.¥f3 g5, while 28...f6 would have

allowed the strong positional exchange sacrifice 29.¦xe5! fxe5 30.¥f3. In the diagram postion I played 29.¦c4?

and won anyway thanks to a nice breakthrough combination, but correct would have been the amazing 29.¤xd7

¤g3 30.¥xa6!! and even though all the pieces are hanging, the far-advanced white pawns will decide the game.

Semi-Slav, Botvinnik

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.¤c3 e6 5.¥g5 h6 6.¥h4 dxc4 7.e4 b5 8.e5 g5 9.¤xg5 hxg5 10.¥xg5 ¤bd7

11.g3 ¥b7 12.¥g2 £b6 13.exf6 0–0–0 14.0–0 c5 15.d5 b4 16.¤a4 £a6 17.a3 ¥xd5 18.¥xd5 ¤e5 19.axb4 ¦xd5

20.£e2 cxb4 21.¤c3 £d6 22.¤xd5 £xd5 23.f3 ¤d3 24.¥e3 ¥c5 25.¥xc5 £xc5+ 26.¢g2 ¦d8 27.¦a6

The Botvinnik Variation still attracts the interest of the Dutch GMs Smeets and Van Wely. Even though they

suffer from time to time remembering all the nuances, objectively speaking Black seems to be doing fine in these

Wild West complications. The World Open was livened up by another theoretically relevant encounter between

Harikrishna and Van Wely. In the line with 16.¤a4 £a6, Black opted for 21...£d6!?, probably inspired by the recent

game Vachier Lagrave-Solodovnichenko, where White made no impression with 22.¦xa7. Instead, the Indian GM

took the exchange and introduced the novelty 27.¦xa6. After 27...¦d5 28.£e4 ¢b7 29.¦fa1, Van Wely made a

serious blunder with 29...¢b8 which runs into 30.£h7! followed by taking on a7, when the ensuing endgame is

hopeless for Black. Better was 29...£f2 when the resulting lines finally end up in a draw. As in the game Vachier

Lagrave-Solodovnichenko, White's ¦s can't create a mating net and hence a draw is the best White can achieve.

Dutch Defence

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1.d4 f5 2.¤f3 ¤f6 3.g3 g6 4.¥g2 ¥g7 5.0–0 0–0 6.b3 d6 7.¥b2 ¤e4 8.¤bd2 ¤c6 9.¦e1

During the Dutch Championship my eye (RR) was caught as live commentator by the game Giri-Nijboer. A

few weeks before I had played the same line against Nijboer and after 9.¤e1 he came up with the interesting

9...¤g5. Critical is 10.¤c4 with mutual chances. In a well-known position, Giri went into a 20–minute think before

unleashing the interesting novelty 9.¦e1!? aiming to open the centre with e2–e4 after the exchange of ¤s. When

Nijboer decided to take on d2 I simply couldn't believe my eyes. Black voluntarily exchanges his strongest piece

on e4 and moreover accelerates the process of White playing e2–e4. After a logical sequence, when £s were

traded, Black ended up in a clearly worse endgame, as he was unable to compensate for his structural weakness

on e5 with active piece play. It was just a miracle that Nijboer ultimately survived after Giri let his advantage slip.

After the game Nijboer called his 9th move a grave error and agreed with my suggestion of 9...e6 as a serious

improvement for Black.

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

No. 131, July 6, 2011

IT'S YOUR MOVE

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LAST WEEK'S SOLUTIONS

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So-Sasikiran, AAI (New Delhi) 2011

Both sides have located their forces in the centre. White has a pleasant space advantage, but how should he

increase the pressure on Black's position? 21.b4! So rightly starts to advance his queenside in order to open

up Black ’ s pawn formation in front of his ¢. 21...¤d7 22.a4! ¢a8 23.¢a2 g6 24.¤b3 f5 25.exf5 exf5 26.a5!

Within a few moves Black ’ s position has become more unpleasant. 26...¤e5 27.axb6 £xb6 28.¥e3 £c7 29.¥f1!

Removing the ¥s from the e-file. 29...¦cd8 30.¥g1! One more time. ¥s operate perfectly from a long distance.

30...¢b8 31.b5 ¤d7 32.bxa6 ¥xa6 33.c5 ¥xf1 34.cxd6 £b7 35.¤a5 £a6 36.¦b1+ ¥b5 37.¦xb5+ £xb5

38.¦b1 1–0

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Salgado Lopez-Smirin, Gyorgy Marx Memorial (Paks) 2011

White has incautiously taken the pawn on g7, after which Black developed active piece play. With such a powerful

¥ on a7, the following strike is quite obvious. 18...¦xg3+! 19.hxg3 £xg3+ 20.¥g2 ¦g8 21.£h2 ¥c6! This had

to be foreseen. Now White is forced to play 22.£xg3 ¦xg3 23.¤d5 ¥xd5 24.¦xd5 ¤xd5 25.¢h1 ¦g5 when he

is just a pawn down in this ending. 26.¤d2 ¤f4 27.¥f3 f5 28.¤c4 ¤h3 29.¤d6+ ¢c7 30.¤xb7 ¤xf2+ 31.¢h2

e5 32.¤a5 e4 33.¥e2 f4 0–1

www.chessvibes.com/openings

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