A28: English
The basic position of the variation analysed by GM Zoltan Ribli
arises after the moves 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.e3 Bb4
5.Qc2 Bxc3 6.Qxc3 Qe7 7.a3 d5 8.d4
The position in our first diagram bears some resemblance to a
Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2 variation. Here White also has the bishop
pair, but in return Black has a lead in development.
From the position in the diagram, 8...Nxd4 can be played, but
the move is only of independent value, if, after 9.Nxd4, Black
tries the intermediate move 9...Ne4?! (see Vokac,M -
Keitlinghaus,L 0-1). White had a big surprise and played
10.Qd3?, whereupon Black reached a winning position after
10...Nc5 11.Qd1 exd4 12.b4 dxe3 13.Bxe3 Ne4 14.Qxd5 Nxf2!. But
instead of 10.Qd3? White must play 10.Qc2 exd4 11.cxd5 dxe3
12.Bxe3, after which he has the better chances because of his
bishop pair. The main continuation is 8...exd4, which is
followed by 9.Nxd4.
The GM’s conclusion: This variation with 4.e3 Bb4 and 5...Bxc3,
6...Qe7, 7...d5 leads to asymmetric play, in which White has the
bishop pair and Black rapid development. Usually – when both
sides play precisely – the position is level. From the strategic
point of view, if White can keep his bishop pair on the board
and set up a strong pawn centre with f3-e4, he will have the
better chances (Ivanchuk - Karjakin, Wijk aan Zee 2006), whereas
for Black it is usually a good idea to exchange light-squared
bishops. In my opinion, the variation 9...Ne5!? also represents
a very interesting possibility for Black, after which he can
complicate the position.
The database provided by Ribli contains 22 games, all annotated
by the author.
B10: Caro-Kann
The normal reply to the Caro-Kann after 1.e4 c6 is 2.d4 d5. Then
White usually chooses 3.Nc3 or 3.exd5 cxd5 4.c4 or 3.e5, which
all lead to deeply analysed variations. But not every chess
player has the time or the inclination to get into such
complicated analysis and variations. So a way to avoid this is
sought...
In his contribution Jerzy Konikowski suggests an interesting
continuation after 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 cxd5, namely the move
4.Ne5!?.
At first glance, the variation does not seem particularly
ambitious. But the available material very clearly shows that
White has very good prospects of taking the initiative into his
own hands.
Konikowski writes: “I hope that with these efforts, I will do a
little publicity for this original variation and gain for it new
fans, which will enable the plan which is presented here to be
enriched by new experiences with the line.”
The attached database contains seven surveys and 31 key games.
B33: Sveshnikov Sicilian
The basic position of the variation examined by GM Dorian
Rogozenko arises after the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4
4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Nd5 Be7
10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c3 Rb8 12.Nc2 Bg5
In the positions after 11.c3 White has two major methods to
fight for the advantage: the pawn advances a2-a4 and h2-h4. The
first one is designed to open the a-file and secure square c4
for the bishop. The advance of the h-pawn is usually made either
to prevent the opponent’s bishop from coming to g5 (when the
bishop is still on f6), or to send it from g5 to h6, thus
preventing a possible transfer of the bishop to b6 (via d8).
Black’s set-up 11...Rb8 and 12...Bg5 is very ambitious: it tries
to fight against both above-mentioned plans from White. With the
rook on b8 Black prepares himself for the advance a2-a4, while
placing the bishop on g5 before castling short neutralizes the
idea of h2-h4.
Rogozenko’s conclusion: If not considering 13.Be2, in the
variation examined White's first important decision comes on
move 16, when he must choose to recapture on b4 either with the
knight or with the pawn. The last years of praxis have taught
Black players how to neutralize the opponent's slight advantage
after 16.Nxb4.
In Volokitin,A - Van Wely,L 1-0 White succeeded in squeezing a
full point practically out of nothing, but from the opening
point of view this is irrelevant, since the position was equal
at some point.
The recent game Anand,V - Van Wely,L 1-0 might represent a new
tendency for the future: White tries to achieve an advantage in
another type of positions, arising after 16.cxb4. In my opinion
this will be just a temporary phenomenon, since Black has enough
defensive resources to hold the balance.
The database contains 48 games, most annotated, 34 by the author
himself.
C10: French Defence
The line which GM Alexander Finkel has chosen for the survey has
for the last couple of years been, is beyond any doubt, one of
the most popular ways to meet the Rubinstein Variation. The main
reason for the dramatic rise in its popularity is closely
related to the fact that it is becoming more and more difficult
to pose Black serious problems in the variations which were
considered rather promising ones until recently.
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Ngf6 6.Nxf6 Nxf6
7.c3 c5.
The main idea behind 7.c3 is to put pressure on Blacks position
by bringing the knight to e5, bishop to e3 and the queen to a4.
If Black decides to capture on d4, White’s bishop is perfectly
placed on d4. The main drawback of this line is that it leads to
forced play with numerous exchanges of the pieces, so in most of
the cases White’s initiative fades away as his most active
pieces are being traded.
I would not say this line is more promising for White than any
other, but there are two factors which obviously contribute to
its popularity: 1) it leads to very interesting piece play on a
very early stage of the game; 2) there is not much theory at the
moment, so there is a lot of room for creativity and some new
ideas!
At the end of his investigation Finkel comes to the following
conclusion: “I think Black can be quite optimistic as I did not
manage to find a single line in which White has a clear way to
advantage. In my opinion White should look for the advantage in
the line 8.Be3 Qc7 9.Ne5 a6 10.Qa4+ Nd7 11.0-0-0 cxd4 12.Nxd7
Qxd7 13.Qxd4. Another reasonable possibility for Black after
8.Be3 is 8...cxd4 9.Bxd4 Bd6!?, which seems to lead to an
unclear position. The main line after 8.Ne5 appears to be rather
harmless for Black as after 8...a6 9.Qa4 Bd7 10.Bxd7 Qxd7
11.Qxd7 Kxd7 12.dxc5 Bxc5 Black does not seem to experience any
problems.”
The content of the database: on the CD you will find 98 games in
this line. Most of the games have been played during the last
couple of years. On the white side you will find such strong
players as Topalov, Anand, Adams, Polgar, Grischuk, Bologan and
many others who have used this variation occasionally.
As usual, on the black side you will find quite a few experts in
the French Defence: Bareev, Akopian, Milov, Vaganian, Lobron,
Nogueiras. There are 27 annotated games, 15 of them exclusively
for this database; and a very deep opening key designed
especially for the database, to make the learning process more
efficient.
C40: Elephant Gambit (Part 7)
The following position was the starting point for Peter
Leisebein’s investigations in previous ChessBase magazines: 1.e4
e5 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 Bd6
Firstly, Black cautiously protects his e-pawn and puts one of
his “elephants” (bishops) on a good square! The Maroczy
Variation has shown itself to be quite playable in recent years.
But Black has an even sharper possibility, by which he burns all
his bridges. Hand to hand fighting is what ensues: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3
d5 3.exd5 e4!? (Advance Variation).
If White now moves his knight away, Black's strategy is in full
swing, so there is the compulsory queen move: 4.Qe2! Nf6
Naturally the far advanced black pawn is doomed, White can even
successfully challenge it on his next move. He can do so in two
different ways, which lead to the two most important variations:
5.Nc3 and 5.d3! In this article Leisebein looks at the former,
the next time he will turn his attention to the line which is
much more dangerous for Black (namely 5.d3!).
5.Nc3, the natural developing move for White, is quite playable.
White would like to get rid of the annoying pawn by attacking it
with a piece. But this runs into a few tactical possibilities
which are open to Black! White’s difficulty is that he often has
problems getting his queen or his king off the e-file! The game
Breitenstein,E - Leisebein,P 0-1 is a most instructive example.
But things do not have to be as bad as that. In general Black’s
initiative is offset by the two pawns. If White returns material,
he can level the game. Leisebein writes: “In the last three
years I have played 25 games in this line and never lost.” His
Openings Report shows that White has little success with this
method. Things would be just great for Black, if White did not
have a much sharper line up his sleeve (next report)!
The report contains 88 games, 26 with annotations by the author.
E35: Nimzo-Indian
GM Michael Roiz looks at the Classical System: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6
3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 c5 8.dxc5
Roiz: “Nowadays 5...exd5 has been regaining some of its
popularity! In fact, many strong GMs like Topalov, Short,
Aronian, Van Wely and others often use it against 4.Qc2. The
resulting positions may be very sharp, so I can recommend this
system for players with an aggressive style.”
In the above position Black has two main options: 8...Nc6 and
8...g5 9.Bg3 Ne4 (9...Nc6 transposes to the first line. “The
8...Nc6 variation is playable, but after 11.Nf3 Qa5 12.Nd2
players of the black pieces should check 12...Nxc5!? properly (because
other continuations are probably not acceptable). In the main
line 8...g5 9.Bg3 Ne4 10.e3 Qa5 11.Nge2 Bf5 12.Be5 0-0 13.Nd4
white has serious problems with getting any advantage after
13...Nxc3.”
There are 91 selected games in this database; 25 of them have
been annotated by the author specially for this article. Some
are very important for the theory of the variation. The database
includes almost the latest games – up to December 2005. There is
also a solid opening key, specially developed for this
opening.Statistics for this database: Out of 91 games White won
36 games = 40%, there were 37 draws = 40%, and Black won 18
games = 20%.
E92 Gligoric Variation 9.Bc1
The main position of the database, provided by GM Avrukh Boris,
arises after the following moves: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7
4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 Ng4 8.Bg5 f6 9.Bc1!?
Recently 9.Bc1 has become a fashionable continuation. For this
article the author has chosen the most critical continuation
9...exd4 10.Nxd4 f5. “In my opinion,” he writes, “this idea is
critical for the assessment of the whole 9.Bc1-line. Black
simply wants to use his extra tempo (White still needs to castle)
in order to create good counterplay. This idea was first
introduced in the Van der Sterren-Kamsky 1994 game and later on
it was played permanently by such good experts in the King's
Indian as Radjabov and Bologan. On the other side, White has its
own supporters in Ivanchuk, Volkov, Kruppa and Popov.”
The GM’s conclusion: “It seems that at the moment Black is doing
quite well in this variation, however I believe White has enough
resources not to give up, especially after 11.h3. I predict that
we will see more games in the near future. We shall await them
with interest.”
This database contains all the fresh material up to the 10th of
March 2006. There are 43 games, 18 of them were annotated by the
author especially for this issue. There is also a deep opening
key developed especially for this database.
