CVO_171.pdf

openings

171 | April 11 n 2012

what’s hot and what’s not?

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Power play

from White

By IM Robert Ris

Deizisau and Philadelphia are strong Opens held annually

at Easter. We also take a look at the inal rounds of the

Chinese Championship and the irst round of the Russian

Team Championship.

Frequency

what's hot?

Score

White has been doing very well against the Sicilian. Svidler quickly won

against Timofeev's Taimanov (without a6), while Motylev defeated Geller

in the Brazilian Variation. Shirov neutralized Black's aggressive attempts

on the kingside and easily brought home the full point. Moreover, Ivan

Popov surprisingly defeated Morozevich in a Najdorf with 6.¥e2, but that

was partly because of a terrible blunder by the latter.

In our Game of the Week Dominguez demolishes French expert

Ibragimov with the Advanced Variation. With some nice prophylaxis he

prevents any counterplay for Black, before launching a decisive attack

on the black ¢. Bacrot played two interesting 1.e4 e5 games with Black.

He introduced a good novelty against the Scotch, but against the Italian

he seemed to mix up two variations (see below).

With the white pieces Bacrot won a good game against Rapport in the

Semi-Slav (Meran), but Kacheishvili was less successful in the Anti-

Moscow Variation. A typical exchange sacrifice enabled Shabalov to

hold on easily. Bu Xiangzhi was involved in two theoretically important

encounters in the Slav with 6.¤e5 (see below). Wang Yue suffered a

painful defeat against Lu Shanglei in a tricky line of the Anti-Grünfeld,

which can also be found below.

Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

Djukic's play in the King's Indian Defence with 9.¤d2 won't attract any followers. Black didn't seek active counterplay at all and gave

Berkes a free hand to exert pressure on Black's weaknesses. The game actually recalls another game in the same variation between

Kasimdzhanov and Mamedov, which was covered in CVO 132. When studying the variation with 9.¤d2

you should have a closer look at Nakamura's games!

what’s not?

1 of 4

openings what’s hot and what’s not?

171 | April 11 n 2012

French prophylaxis

After Dominguez neutralized Black’s attempts to generate counterplay on the queenside, he

quickly shifted attention to the other side of the board and decided the game in his favor. A

true model game!

game of the week

Dominguez - Ibragimov

Dominguez,L (2730) - Ibragimov,I (2539)

Russia Team Ch (Loo, Sochi), 09.04.2012

C02, French, Advance

initiative on the kingside in Blees-Gurevich,

Gent 1997.

10...a5

Not 10...¤fxd4? 11.¤fxd4 ¤xd4 12.¥e3 ¥c5

13.b4 and White wins material. With the text

move Black gains control over the b4–square.

11.¥xf5 exf5

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12.¤e3!

Dominguez chooses a healthy positional

plan. Alternatives allow Black to generate

counterplay on the kingside: 12.¥e3 ¤d8

13.¦b1 h6 14.h4 ¥e7 15.h5 ¤e6 16.g3 g5

17.hxg6 fxg6 and Black was slightly better in

Jonkman-Gurevich, Vlissingen 1997; 12.¦b1

h6 13.h4 ¥e7 14.h5 ¥e6 15.¤fe1 g5 16.hxg6

fxg6 17.¤d3 g5 with mutual chances in

Kositsin-Chebotarev, Sochi 2005.

12...¥e6 13.g3 ¥e7 14.¤g2 h6 15.h4 0–0?!

The French expert deviates from an earlier

game where Black decided to place his ¢

on the other side of the board with 15...0–0–0

16.a3 in Alarcon-Cordova, Lima 2006, and

now Black could have seized the initiative

by means of 16...g5! 17.hxg5 hxg5 18.¥xg5

¥xg5 19.¤xg5 ¤xd4 with rather unclear play.

Instead of 16.a3 it looks more logical to play

16.h5!, not allowing Black to get the upper

hand on the kingside.

16.¤f4 ¦fc8 17.¦e1 ¦c7 18.¦e2!

An excellent move. The ¦ protects the § on b2

and thus enables the ¥ to develop to e3. Black

won't be able to generate active counterplay

on the queenside after White ' s last move.

18...¦ac8 19.¥e3 ¤b4 20.¤e1!

Another useful move, preventing Black from

invading on c2.

20...£b5 21.a3 ¤a6 22.¤ed3 a4 23.¦d2 ¥f8

24.g4!

White has placed his pieces optimally and

now the time has come to open the kingside.

24...¥d7

In case of 24...fxg4 Black collapses after

25.¤xe6 fxe6 26.£xg4 when he has problems

defending both e6 and h6, while after 26...¢f7

27.¢h2 White obtains a powerful attack on the

g-file. 24...g6 25.h5! g5 26.¤xe6 fxe6 27.f4!

also looks pretty dangerous for Black.

25.g5 hxg5

25...¦c6 can be met strongly by 26.e6! ¥xe6

27.gxh6 when White manages to break through.

26.hxg5 g6 27.£f3 ¥e6 28.¢g2!

White has succeeded in opening the h-file

and his plan now is pretty straightforward.

Black seems absolutely helpless.

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28...¦c4

28...¦c2 doesn ' t really help, e.g. 29.¦h1

¦xd2 30.¥xd2 ¥g7 31.¤xe6 fxe6 32.¤f4 and

Black ' s position falls apart, as 32...¢f7 fails to

33.¤xg6!.

29.¦h1 ¤c7 30.¦dd1!

The ¦ has done its job on d2 and will now be

transferred to the kingside. Note that the ¤ is

wonderfully placed on d3, protecting b2 and

also ready to join the actions on the kingside.

30...¥g7 31.¦h4 £d7 32.¦dh1 £d8 33.£g3

¤b5 34.¦h7 ¤xd4 35.£h4! and Black

resigned, in view of 35...¢f8 36.¦xg7! ¢xg7

37.£h6+ ¢g8 38.£h8#. 1–0

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5

Although the Advanced Variation isn ' t as

popular as White ' s main options of 3.¤c3

and; 3.¤d2 it still enjoys some popularity,

as in recent years players like Grischuk and

Movsesian have successfully employed it as

White.

3...c5 4.c3 ¤c6 5.¤f3 ¤ge7

More common are 5...£b6 and 5...¥d7 but in

certain cases these moves transpose to the

current game.

6.¤a3 cxd4 7.cxd4 ¤f5 8.¤c2 £b6 9.¥d3!

The ¥ is more active here. In an earlier game

Ibragimov faced 9.¥e2 though after 9...¥b4+

10.¢f1 ¥e7 11.g3 ¥d7 12.¥d2 0–0 13.h4 f6

14.g4 ¤fxd4 15.¤cxd4 fxe5 16.¤xc6 bxc6

the position was rather unclear in Nakamura-

Ibragimov, San Diego 2004.

9...¥d7

Black can also play 9...¥b4+ 10.¢f1 ¥e7

11.h4 (11.g3 ¥d7 12.¢g2 ¦c8 13.¥xf5 exf5

14.b3 0–0 15.¥g5 ¥xg5 16.¤xg5 f4! 17.gxf4

¤e7 is a clear illustration of how quickly things

can go wrong for White, even though the game

Short-Vaganian, Montpellier 1985, ultimately

ended in a draw.) 11...h5 12.g3 a5 13.¢g2 ¥d7

14.¥xf5 exf5 15.¥g5 ¥xg5 16.¤xg5 f4 17.£f3±

and White ' s position was clearly preferable

in Malaniuk-Lputian, Kiev 1986, or 9...¥e7

10.0–0 ¥d7 was seen in Zhigalko,A-Vitiugov,

Warsaw rapid 2008, and now it would have

been strong to play 11.g4! ¤h6 (11...¤h4? can

be met by 12.¤xh4 ¥xh4 13.g5 and the ¥ is

trapped.) 12.h3 with a pleasant edge for White,

since Black has some problems undermining

White ' s centre.

10.0–0

There ' s no need for the immediate 10.¥xf5

exf5 11.0–0 h6 12.a3 a5 13.¦e1 ¥e6 14.h4

¥e7 15.g3 £d8 16.h5 g5 17.hxg6 fxg6 18.¢g2

g5 19.¦h1 ¢d7! and Black quickly seized the

2 of 4

openings what’s hot and what’s not?

171 | April 11 n 2012

this week’s harvest

1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 exd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤xc6 bxc6 6.e5 £e7 7.£e2 ¤d5 8.c4 ¤b6 9.¤c3

¥b7 10.¥f4 g6 11.£e3 ¥g7 12.¥d3 0–0 13.0–0 ¥a6 14.b3 d6 15.¦ae1 ¤d7 16.£f3 dxe5 17.£xc6

£c5 18.£xd7 exf4 19.¤d5 ¦ad8 20.£h3 ¥b7 21.¥xg6 fxg6 22.¤e7+ ¢h8 23.¤xg6+ ¢g8

At the beginning of 2011 the Scotch temporarily came back into fashion. After Kramnik won a fantastic game

against Shirov, the Mieses Variation with 9...¥b7 became one of Black's main weapons for dealing with the

opening. White has tried several moves, but a clear conclusion can't yet be drawn. Little attention has been paid

to 10.¥f4, Nepomniachtchi's pick against Kramnik, as throughout the game White was struggling for his life.

However, his 11.h4 seems to be asking too much from White's position and instead 11.£e3 appears to make

more sense, intending to develop the king's ¥. Indeed, Black usually has to fight for activity to compensate

for his structural weaknesses. A model game from White's perspective is Yu Yangyi-Moradiabadi, so Black

needed to come up with an improvement upon that game. Bacrot's 15...¤d7 looks like an equalizer, though

the evaluation of 18.£xa6 is critical. Black generally strives for equality in the Mieses Variation and it wouldn't

surprise me if new paths are soon chosen by Black.

Scotch, Mieses

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Giuoco Piano (Italian)

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1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥c4 ¥c5 4.0–0 ¤f6 5.d3 0–0 6.¤bd2 d5 7.exd5 ¤xd5 8.¦e1 ¤f6 9.h3 a6 10.¤xe5

The Italian Opening has become a serious alternative for 1.e4 players wanting to avoid the lengthy variations

of the Ruy Lopez. White has been trying various subtle move-orders to catch Black out in the opening. One of

those possibilities is 6.¤bd2 which was employed successfully by Radjabov in his encounter with Harikrishna

(CVO 133). Instead of 6...d6, Bacrot has given preference to the more active 6...d5 lately. Although he's suffered

some painful defeats against Radjabov and Giri he keeps faith in his own pet line, and probably rightly so. This

week another loss could be added to that list, which was probably caused by the fact the Frenchman mixed up

his home analysis. In the diagram position he went for 10...¥xf2? which leads to an inferior position after 11.¢xf2

£d4 12.¢g3! Instead, 10...£d4! seems absolutely unproblematic for Black and it would be interesting to know

what Shanava had in mind after that, as 11.¤xc6? can be met strongly by 11...£xf2 12.¢h1 ¥g4! .

Slav, 6.¤e5

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.¤c3 dxc4 5.a4 ¥f5 6.¤e5 ¤bd7 7.¤xc4 ¤b6 8.¤e5 a5 9.f3 ¤fd7 10.e4 ¤xe5 11.exf5 ¤ed7

12.d5 g6 13.dxc6 bxc6 14.£d4 ¦g8 15.£e4 gxf5 16.£xf5 ¦g6 17.¥d2 e6 18.£c2 ¤c4 19.¥xc4 £h4+ 20.g3 £xc4 21.0–0–0

When Chinese players face each other we can predict seeing some theoretically relevant games in the Slav.

Over the last couple of years Wang Yue and Bu Xiangzhi have made some important contributions, especially in

the variation with 7...¤b6. In CVO 20 and 76 we covered the consequences of 11.dxe5!? which enjoyed some

popularity due to the efforts of Vallejo and Topalov. The interesting alternative 11.exf5 leads to more double-

edged play and was seen twice during the Chinese Championship. Wang Yue managed to win with White

against Bu Xiangzhi, but that was mainly because the latter blundered. In the diagram his position is absolutely

OK after 21...¤c5!? Li Shilong attempted to improve upon that game with 17.¥g5 though after 17...¤e5!? Bu

was doing fine anyway. White's 20.h5? is a terrible blunder, which was duly met by the tactical strike 20...¤xf3!

In the PGN file I've added some extra variations which I analysed a while ago, though these two new games

didn't change my opinion: Black is fine after 11.exf5.

Anti-Grünfeld

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1.¤f3 ¤f6 2.d4 g6 3.c4 ¥g7 4.¤c3 d5 5.cxd5 ¤xd5 6.£b3 ¤b6 7.e4 ¥g4 8.¥e3 ¥xf3

9.gxf3 ¥xd4 10.¦d1 e5 11.h4 £e7 12.h5 ¤c6 13.hxg6 fxg6 14.¥h3 a6 15.¢e2 ¤a5 16.£c2

The Anti-Grünfeld is a popular choice for dealing with this dynamic opening and has often been experienced

as unpleasant from Black's perspective. This week Lu Shanglei introduced a sharp new idea in a less explored

line. Instead of White's main option of 7.¥f4, which was covered in Topalov-Kamsky (CVO 123), he went for

7.e4 that has the drawback of leaving the § on d4 vulnerable. However, with 10.¦d1!? White deviated from the

game Fressinet-So (10.0–0–0), where Black could get rid of the pin along the d-file by taking on e3 with check.

Initially Wang Yue seemed to have dealt with the novelty quite well, but in the diagram position he committed a

serious error with 16...0–0? allowing the ¤ to jump to d5, when suddenly the ¥ on h3 creeps into Black's camp.

Necessary is 16...¦d8! when White's still got to prove he has something for the slight material investment. The

position remains quite complex, but if you're well-prepared you can easily surprise Black in this line.

3 of 4

openings what’s hot and what’s not?

171 | April 11 n 2012

it’s your move

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last week’s solutions

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Jakovenko-Kobalia, European Championship (Plovdiv), 2012

The pawn structure is reminiscent of a Chebanenko Slav. Just when it seems Black is doing alright, White comes

up with a typical strike. 22.¤xd5! cxd5 23.£xb5 ¦e4?! The text doesn ’ t seem to be Black ’ s best option, though

it ’ s hard to point out an improvement, as e.g. 23...¦b8 doesn ’ t really help, in view of 24.£a6 followed by pushing

the b-pawn. 24.¦a1 h6 24...¥xd4? can be met by 25.¤xd4 ¦xd4 26.¦a8+ ¢g7 (26...¤f8 27.£e8) 27.¥c3.

25.c6 ¤b6 26.¦a6 ¤c8 27.£b7 ¦e7 28.¦a8 Also good would have been 28.£xc7! ¦xc7 29.b5 ¤d6 30.¦a8+

¦c8 (30...¥f8 31.¥a5) 31.¦xc8+ ¤xc8 32.¥b4! when Black has a hard time dealing with White ’ s passed pawns.

28...£xb7 29.cxb7 ¦xb7 30.¦xc8+ and White went on to convert his extra material without any problems.

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Giri-Zontakh, European Championship (Plovdiv), 2012

Black is about to complete his development with ...¥b7 next move. With some powerful moves Giri prevents his

opponent from doing so and seizes the initiative. 13.b4! ¤a4 After 13...¤a6 14.a3 the ¤ on a6 remains out of

play. 14.e4! ¤c7 15.e5 £xd2 In case of 15...¤d5 White wins at least a § by means of 16.¤d6. 16.¤bxd2 ¤d5

17.¤d6 and even though the £s have been traded off, White retains a huge advantage because of the control

over the c-file and the well-placed ¤ on d6. 17...¦b8 The alternative 17...¥d7 18.¥xd5 exd5 19.¦c7 ¥e6 20.¤f3

clearly favors White as well. 18.¥xd5 exd5 19.¦c7 a5 20.bxa5 bxa5 21.¤b3 ¥h3 22.¤xa5 ¦b2 23.¤c6 h5

24.¤e7+ ¢h7 25.¤xd5 ¦fb8 26.¤xf7 1–0

openings

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