Andrew Martin First Steps in Chess Strategy

ChessBase 10 Printout, Erudito , 06/01/2013 1

C45Tomczak,Jacek 2548Rusinski,Mateusz 1899

Poznan op 20th (2) 17.07.2011[Martin, Andrew]

Efforts to derail the Scotch with unusualmoves or outr ight violence have notbeen very successful. 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3

¤c6 3.d4 exd4 4.¤xd4 £h4!? [ 4...¤f6 ] [ 4...¥c5 ]

XABCDEFGHY8r+l+kvlntr(7zppzpp+pzpp'6 +n+ + +&5+ + + + %4 + sNP+ wq$3+ + + + #2PzPP+ zPPzP"1tRNvLQmKL+R![xabcdefghy

This old Steinitz move compels White tosacr i f ice a pawn i f he wants to getanywhere. The problem for Black is thatthe sacrifice is good! 5.¤b5!

[ 5.¤c3 ¥b4 6.¥e2 £xe4 7.¤db5 ¥xc3+ ( 7...¥a5 8.0-0 ) 8.¤xc3 £e5 9.0-0 ]

5...£xe4+ [ 5...¥c5!?

(Diagram)

has always seemed to me to be themos t ra t i ona l way to hand le th i s

XABCDEFGHY8r+l+k+ntr(7zppzpp+pzpp'6 +n+ + +&5+Nvl + + %4 + +P+ wq$3+ + + + #2PzPP+ zPPzP"1tRNvLQmKL+R![xabcdefghypos i t ion as Black , i f you are mugenough to come here in the first place.It might not be too bad: 6.£e2 £d8!?

( 6...¥b6 7.¥e3 ¥a5+ 8.¤d2 ¤f6÷ ) 7.¥e3 ¥xe3 8.£xe3 a6 9.¤5c3 ¤f6 10.¤d2 d6= ]

6.¥e2 ¢d8 The main issue I have withBlack's game is that it takes him so longto get his pieces cooperating togetheronce that King is stuck on d8. It really isno t wor th a l ousy pawn to have toendure White's attack.

[ 6...£e5 7.f4 ] [ 6...¥b4+ 7.¤1c3 ¥xc3+ ( 7...¥a5 8.0-0 £e5 9.¤d5 ) 8.¤xc3 ]

7.0-0 ¤f6 8.¤1c3 £e5 It isn't easy tofind a satisfactory square for the Blackqueen. Two small miniatures plus therest of this game will demonstrate why.

[ 8...£f5 leaves the Queen veryexposed: 9.¥d3 £c5 10.¥e3 £b4

11.¥g5 ¥d6 12.a3 £c5 13.¤e4 £e5 14.f4 £xb2 15.¤exd6 cxd6 16.¦b1 £a2 17.¦b3 1-0 Afromeev,V (2405)-Gusev,A (2383)/Tula 2001 ]

[ 8...£g6 9.¥d3 £h5 10.£xh5 ¤xh5 11.g4 ¤f6 12.g5 ¤g4 13.¥f4 ¥d6


( 13...d6 14.¤d5 ¥d7 15.¤bxc7 ¦c8 16.¤b5 ) 14.¥xd6 cxd6 15.¤xd6 ¦f8 16.f4 ¤e7 17.¦ae1 1-0 Gasimov,C-Talal,M/Kayseri 2010 ]

9.¦e1 a6 10.¥f3 £f5 11.¤d4 ¤xd4 12.£xd4 £xc2

[ 12...¥c5 13.£h4 h6 can be metcalmly by 14.¤d5 d6 15.b4 g5

16.£c4 ¥e6 17.bxc5 ¥xd5 18.¥xd5 ¤xd5 19.cxd6 cxd6 20.¦d1 ]

13.¥g5! Development wi l l do. ¥e7 14.¦xe7 ¢xe7 15.¦e1+XABCDEFGHY8r+l+ + tr({7+pzppmkpzpp'6p+ + sn +&5+ + + vL %4 + wQ + +$3+ sN +L+ #2PzPq+ zPPzP"1+ + tR mK !xabcdefghy

This is not difficult to understand. Blackbreaks basic opening principles andspurns developmetn in favour of pawn-grabbing. He gets wiped out as a result.

¢f8 16.¥xf6 gxf6 17.£xf6 ¦g8 18.¤d5 £c5 19.£h6+ ¦g7 20.¤f6After 4...Qh4 5 Nb5 Black's best betappears to be 5...Bc5, but there is alsothe awkward 5 Nc 3 ! Bb4 6 Be2 t oconsider. White seems to obtain anenduring initiative in this variation andtherefore I cannot recommend it.1-0

B01Obregon Rivero,Juan Carlos 2445Martinez Lopez,Ivan 2287

Capablanca Memorial op-A 46th (2)[Martin, Andrew]

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 £xd5 3.¤c3 £d8!?XABCDEFGHY8rsnlwqkvlntr(7zppzp zppzpp'6 + + + +&5+ + + + %4 + + + +$3+ sN + + #2PzPPzP zPPzP"1tR vLQmKLsNR![xabcdefghy

This sytem never recovered f rom acouple of old game from Bobby Fischer,wh e r e h e m u r d e r e d A d d i s o n a n dRobatsch , but it 's not too bad. Blackmust stick with the plan of ...c7-c6 andtry to keep it solid. 4.d4 c6

[ 4...g6 ] [ 4...¤f6 5.¥c4 ¥f5 6.£f3 ]

5.¥c4 ¤f6 6.¤f3 b5!? This is thelatest wheeze. Black pretends he isplaying the Queen's Gambi t MeranVar ia t ion and wi l l emerge f rom theswamp with the hlp of ideas such as ...Bb7,...Nbd7 and an eventual ...c6-c5!

[The older line is 6...¥f5 after whichvery critical is 7.¤e5 e6 8.g4 ¥g6

9.h4Black has to be careful here not to getcompletely destroyed , but a recentgame suggests he might still be OK


XABCDEFGHY8rsn wqkvl tr({7zpp+ +pzpp'6 +p+psnl+&5+ + sN + %4 +LzP +PzP$3+ sN + + #2PzPP+ zP +"1tR vLQmK +R!xabcdefghy ¤bd7!? 10.¤xd7 ( 10.£e2! ¥b4÷ ) 10...£xd7 11.h5 ¥e4 12.¤xe4 ¤xe4 13.¥e3 ¥e7 ( 13...0-0-0! 14.c3 ¤f6 15.£f3 h6 16.0-0-0 ¤d5 is the bestway to go, I th ink .) 14.£f3 f5

( 14...¤d6 15.¥d3 h6 16.0-0-0 0-0-0was more circumspect.) 15.gxf5 exf5

16.0-0-0 0-0-0 17.¦he1 ¥b4 18.c3 ¥d6 19.£g2 ¦de8 20.¢b1 ( 20.h6 g6 21.d5 looks very good for White.) 20...¤f6 21.h6 g6 22.¥g5 ¤e4 23.¥d3 ¤xg5 24.£xg5 £d8 25.£d2 £h4 26.¦xe8+ ¦xe8 27.¦e1 ¦xe1+ 28.£xe1 ¢d7 29.¥c4 £xh6 30.¥e6+ ¢d8 31.¥g8 £g7 32.£e6 ¢c7 33.¢c2 f4 34.¢d3 g5 35.f3 h5 36.£f7+ £xf7 37.¥xf7 g4 38.¥xh5 g3 39.¢e2 c5 40.¥g4 ¢c6 41.dxc5 ¢xc5 42.¥h3 b5 43.¢d3 ¢d5 44.¢e2 b4 45.cxb4 ¢c4 46.¥e6+ ¢xb4 47.¢f1 ¥e5 48.¢g2 ¥xb2 49.¥g8 ¢c3 ½-½ Holland,J (2133)-Crouch,C (2343)/Ascot 2011 ]

7.¥b3 e6 8.0-0 ¥e7 9.¤e5 0-0 10.¥e3 ¥b7 11.£f3 a6

[ Play has proceeded along normallines, but now I think that ...a7-a6 is a

luxury Black cannot afford. He shouldcomplete p iece development wi th

11...£c7 12.¥f4 ( 12.a4 b4 13.¤e2 ¤bd7 ) 12...¥d6 13.¦fe1 ¤bd7 14.¦ad1 and only now ...a6 when Ithink his position isn't too bad.. a6 ]

12.a4 £c7 13.£g3 ¦e8 14.f4!XABCDEFGHY8rsn +r+k+({7+lwq vlpzpp'6p+p+psn +&5+p+ sN + %4P+ zP zP +$3+LsN vL wQ #2 zPP+ +PzP"1tR + +RmK !xabcdefghy

A direct and very strong attacking plan ,which Black does not seem able tocombat. ¤d5 15.f5! ¤d7 16.fxe6 fxe6

17.¦f7 g6 18.£h3 ¤f8 19.¤xd5 exd5 20.¦af1 h5 21.¤xg6 £d6

[ 21...¤xg6 22.£xh5 ] 22.£xh5 Quite crusihing from white, butI do not think this amounts to yet anotherrefutation of 3..Qd8. Black's system isstill OK, but, as usual, he must handlethe defence with care.1-0


Fedorov,AKasparov,G

Wijk aan Zee[Martin, Andrew]

1.e4 c5 2.d3 ¤c6 3.g3 g6 4.¥g2 ¥g7 5.f4 d6 6.¤f3 ¤f6 7.0-0 0-0 8.h3

[ 8.c3 c4 ] 8...b5 9.g4

[ 9.e5 dxe5 10.¤xe5 ¤xe5 A) 11.¥xa8 ¥xh3 12.¥g2 ( 12.fxe5 £xa8 ) 12...¥xg2 13.¢xg2 ¤c6 ; B) 11.fxe5 ¤d5 12.c4 ¤c7 13.¥xa8 ¤xa8 ]

9...a5 10.f5 b4 11.£e1 [ 11.¤bd2 a4 12.¦b1 ]

11...¥a6 12.£h4 c4 13.¥h6 [ 13.¦d1 cxd3 14.cxd3 £b6+ 15.£f2 ( 15.¢h1 ¤e5 16.¤xe5 dxe5 ) 15...£xf2+ 16.¢xf2 ¦fc8 ]

13...cxd3 14.cxd3 [ 14.fxg6 hxg6 15.¤g5 dxc2 16.¤d2 ¥xf1 17.¦xf1 ¤e5 18.¥xg7 ¢xg7 19.¦xf6 ¦h8 ]

14...¥xd3 15.¦e1 ¥xh6 16.£xh6 £b6+ 17.¢h1 ¤e5 18.¤bd2

[ 18.¤g5 £f2 ] 18...¦ac8 19.¤g5 ¦c2 20.¦f1 ¥xf1 21.¦xf1 ¦fc8 22.fxg6 hxg6 23.¤b3

[ 23.¤xf7 ¢xf7 24.g5 £e3 25.£h7+ ¢e6 26.gxf6 exf6 27.£g7 £g5 ] [ 23.¦xf6 exf6 24.£h7+ ¢f8 ]

23...¦xg2 24.¢xg2 ¦c2+ 25.¢g3 £e3+0-1

B03Magem Badals,Jordi 2589Abreu Suarez,Isauro 2068

ESP-ch El Sauzal (1) 04.09.2010[Martin, Andrew]

1.e4 ¤f6 2.e5 ¤d5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 ¤b6 5.exd6

[ 5.f4 ] 5...cxd6?!

[ 5...exd6 ]

XABCDEFGHY8rsnlwqkvl tr(7zpp+ zppzpp'6 sn zp + +&5+ + + + %4 +PzP + +$3+ + + + #2PzP + zPPzP"1tRNvLQmKLsNR![xabcdefghy

This is the move Black would LIKE tomake as i t i n t roduces a p roposedcounterattack against the centre in thes t y l e o f t h e M o d e r n D e f e n c e .Unfortunately, precise move-orders forWhi te have been deve loped wh ichrender 5...cxd6 dubious. 6.¤c3 g6

7.¥e3 ¥g7 8.¦c1 0-0 9.b3!

(Diagram)

The Voronezh Var iat ion. White hasvacated the long diagonal and with 9 b3,keeps the Black Knight on b6 firmly outof play. With an absence of counterplay


XABCDEFGHY8rsnlwq trk+({7zpp+ zppvlp'6 sn zp +p+&5+ + + + %4 +PzP + +$3+PsN vL + #2P+ + zPPzP"1+ tRQmKLsNR!xabcdefghy

for Black White intends to f inish hisdevelopment quietly with Be2, Qd2 etc.Black often has a problem finding a goodsqaure for the Bishop on c8 in this linea n d i f h e c a n ' t d o s o , t h e e n t i r equeenside becomes gummed-up. ¤c6?!I'm not really sure how Black equalizesagaint 9 b3 , but I know this is not theway. 10.d5 ¤e5 11.¥e2! Precise. TheBishop on c8 is struggling. ¦e8 12.f4

¤ed7 13.¤f3 Only now, when Blackcannot play ...Bg4. ¤f6 14.0-0 e6

15.dxe6 ¥xe6 He made it into the game,but just look at the weak d pawn. 16.¥d4

¤c8 17.¤g5 a6 18.¥f3±

(Diagram)

It is positions like this that have called 5...cxd6 into question. Black has had tospend lots of time thinking about how toget the Bc8 and the Nb6 into play and hestill hasn't manged to get a satisfactoryposition. ¦b8 19.¦e1 £d7 20.¤ge4

¤xe4 21.¤xe4 £d8 22.¥xg7 ¢xg7 23.£d4+ f6 24.g4 That was just tooeasy and there are many similar games.

XABCDEFGHY8r+nwqr+k+({7+p+ +pvlp'6p+ zplsnp+&5+ + + sN %4 +PvL zP +$3+PsN +L+ #2P+ + +PzP"1+ tRQ+RmK !xabcdefghy

I t loks in the Exchange Variat ion asthough Black must stick to the solid 5...exd6, although this is not very exciting.

£b6 25.£xb6 ¤xb6 26.¤xd61-0

E90Slavin,Alexei 2417Conquest,Stuart C 2523

British Championship (6.5) 31.07.2010[Martin, Andrew]

1.d4 ¤f6 2.¤f3 g6 3.c4 d6 4.h3!?

(Diagram)

Once Black has played ..d7-d6 Whitecan get away with this extravagance. 3...Bg7 4 h3 c5 5 d5 b5!would be less wise.

¥g7 5.¤c3 ¤bd7 6.e4 e5 7.d5 ¤c5 8.£c2

[ 8.¥d3 ] [ 8.¤d2 a5 ]

8...a5 9.¥g5 [ 9.¥e3 0-0 10.g4 ¤e8 11.¦g1 ¢h8 12.0-0-0 f5 13.gxf5 gxf5 14.h4 ¤a6


XABCDEFGHY8rsnlwqkvl tr({7zppzp zpp+p'6 + zp snp+&5+ + + + %4 +PzP + +$3+ + +N+P#2PzP +PzPP+"1tRNvLQmKL+R!xabcdefghy 15.a3 f4 16.¥d2 ¤f6 17.¦e1 ¥d7 18.¦h1 ¤g4 19.¦e2 ¤c5 20.¥h3 a4 21.¢b1 ¤b3 22.¦g1 ¤h2 23.¤xh2 ¥xh3÷ Radjabov,T (2729)-Morozevich,A (2741)/Monte Carlo 2007 ]

9...¥d7XABCDEFGHY8r+ wqk+ tr(7+pzpl+pvlp'6 + zp snp+&5zp snPzp vL %4 +P+P+ +$3+ sN +N+P#2PzPQ+ zPP+"1tR + mKL+R![xabcdefghy

Play has transposed back into a normalline of the King's Indian with the smalldifference that Black has not yet castled.Conques t uses th is feature o f theposition intelligently, encouraging theWhite Queen to c2 a little earlier than

she might like. 10.¤d2 0-0N [ 10...h5 11.0-0-0 ¥h6 12.¥xh6 ¦xh6 13.h4 ¤g4 14.¤db1 £f6 15.f3 £f4+ 16.£d2 ¤f2 17.£xf4 exf4 18.¦h2 ¤xd1 19.¢xd1 f6 20.¤e2 g5 21.¤d4 ¢f7 22.¤c3 c6 23.b3 ¦hh8 24.¢d2 ¢g6 25.¦h1-+ Kostometov,S(2310)-Andreev,V/St Petersburg 1997 ]

11.¥e2 c6! With the White Queenslightly misplaced, the opening of the cf i l e shou ld be a good i dea . 12.¤b3

¤xb3 [ 12...¤a6! 13.0-0 £c7 was maybeeven better. ]

13.£xb3 £c7 14.a3 ¢h8 15.¥e3 a4Black has equalized without too manyproblems and now starts to look for theinitiative. Jamming up the queensidepawns once White has played a2-a3 is agood idea, as b2 may later come underpressure. 16.£c2

[ 16.¤xa4 ] 16...b5 17.¦c1

[ 17.cxb5 cxb5 ] 17...bxc4 18.¥xc4 c5 Black has twoideas:1) To arrange ...f7-f52) To attack b2In order to neutraize these plans Slavincorrectly offers an exchange of l ight-s q u a r e d b i s h o p s . 19.¥b5! ¥xb5

20.¤xb5 £a5+ 21.¤c3 ¤d7 22.0-0 £a6 23.¤b1 f5 24.f3 ¦ab8ƒThis highlights White's problem; theabsence of counterplay. 25.¤d2 f4

26.¥f2 ¥f6 27.¤c4 ¥e7 28.¥e1So far White is defending well, albeitgrimly ¦b5 29.¦b1 ¦fb8 30.£d2 ¥d8

(Diagram)

Now the Black plan is to exchange both


XABCDEFGHY8 tr vl + mk(7+ +n+ +p'6q+ zp +p+&5+rzpPzp + %4p+N+Pzp +$3zP + +P+P#2 zP wQ +P+"1+R+ vLRmK ![xabcdefghy

pairs of minor pieces and hit b2 for all heis worth. The pressure is mounting andeventually tells on Slavin, who is havingto find accurate defensive ideas moveafter move. 31.£c2 ¦b3 32.¥c3??

[ 32.¤d2 ¦3b7 33.¤c4= ] 32...£xc4 33.¦bc1

[He forgot that after 33.¥xe5+ ¤xe5the queen is defended. ]

33...¢g8 34.g3 ¥g5 35.£d2 £a6 36.¦c2 ¥h6 37.£e1 ¦f8 38.¦g2 £d3 39.gxf4 ¥xf4 40.£b1 ¥e3+The psychology of blunders is interesting.I think 32 Bc3?? was prompted by whathappened yesterday against Adams,where White played inexplicably badly atthe end of the game. Slavin had notrecovered and cracked under pressuretoday.N e v e r t h e l e s s , a g o o d e x a m p l e o fs u s t a i n e d p r e s s u r e f r o m S t u a r tConquest.0-1

E32Gurevich,Mikhail 2644Gelashvili,Tamaz 2520

European GP Izmir (5) 29.08.2003[Martin, Andrew]

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.£c2 0-0 5.a3 ¥xc3+ 6.£xc3 b6 7.¥g5 ¥b7 8.e3 d6 9.¤e2 ¤bd7 10.£d3 h6 11.¥h4 £e7 12.¤c3 c5 13.¦d1 ¦fd8

[ 13...cxd4 14.£xd4 ] 14.d5 ¤e5 15.£c2 ¤g6 16.¥g3 exd5!?

[ The main alternative is the immediate 16...¤h5 , when White should go for 17.¥e2 ¤xg3 18.hxg3 exd5 19.¤xd5 ¥xd5 20.¦xd5 £e6 21.0-0 ¤e7 22.¦d2 ¦d7 23.¦fd1 ¦ad8 24.£b3²Gurevich,M-Mchedlishvili,M Istanbul2003. ]

17.cxd5 ¤h5 18.¥e2 ¤xg3 19.hxg3 a6 20.a4 ¥c8 (D)XABCDEFGHY8r+ltr +k+(7+ + wqpzp '6pzp zp +nzp&5+ zpP+ + %4P+ + + +$3+ sN zP zP #2 zPQ+LzPP+"1+ +RmK +R![xabcdefghy

T h i s p o s i t i o n h a s b e e n t e s t e d i nnumerous high-level master games.Thanks to the strong d5-pawn White cango for ALL kind of plans here: kingside,queenside and centre.... I opted for the


classical... 21.0-0 f5?! [ This is a serious weakening of Black'ss t ruc ture . 21...¦e8!? 22.¦b1 £e5with the idea 23...Bf5, was preferable.

23.¥d3 ] 22.£d2!? Prepares a queenside attack(23.Rb1, 24.b4). ¥d7

[ Too slow. Black should try to attack onthe kingside with 22...£g5!? 23.¦b1

h5 A) 24.f4!? £h6 ( 24...£xg3 25.¦f3 £h4 26.¦h3 £f6 27.¦xh5± ) 25.¢f2and 26.Rh1 with attack ;

B) 24.b4 h4 25.gxh4 ¤xh4 26.g3². ]

23.¦b1 ¦dc8 (D)XABCDEFGHY8r+r+ +k+(7+ +lwq zp '6pzp zp +nzp&5+ zpP+p+ %4P+ + + +$3+ sN zP zP #2 zP wQLzPP+"1+R+ +RmK ![xabcdefghy

24.b4 Typical queenside minority attack. cxb4?!

[ 24...c4 was the best defence, butblocking the queenside would free allWhite's pieces for attack on the centreo r o n t h e k i n g s i d e : 25.¦be1!?

( 25.£d4 £e5 26.¦fd1² ) 25...b5 26.a5 ¦f8 27.¥d1 ¦ae8 28.f4with the idea 29.Bc2 and 30.g4 or 30.e4. ]

25.¦xb4 £f6 26.¦c1 ¦c5

[ 26...£d8 27.¦cb1 £f6 28.¦1b3± . ] 27.¦xb6! ¦ac8 28.¥xa6! Tacticalsupport of White's strategy. ¦8c7

[ 28...¦xc3 doesn't help: 29.¥xc8 ¦xc8 30.¦xc8+ ¥xc8 31.¦b8 £d8 ( 31...¤e7 32.£c1 £f8 33.a5+- ) 32.£c3 ¤e7 33.a5 £d7 34.a6 ¢h7 35.£a3 £a7 36.£xd6+- . ¥xa6 37.¦e8 ]

29.¦b7 ¦xb7 30.¥xb7 ¤e5 31.¥a6 h5 32.¥b5 h4 33.¥xd7 ¤xd7 34.¤e2 hxg3 35.¤xg3 g6 36.¤e2 £e5 37.¤f4 g5 38.¤e6 ¦xd5 39.¦c8+ ¢f7 40.¤xg5+ ¢f6 41.£c1 ¦c5

[ 41...¢xg5 42.f4+ . ] 42.¦xc5 ¤xc5 43.¤f3 £e4 44.£a1+ ¢g6 45.a5 £d3 46.£d4 £b1+ 47.¢h2 ¤e4 48.¤h4+ ¢f7

[ 48...¢g5 49.£g7+ ¢xh4 50.£h6+ ¢g4 51.f3# . ]

49.£d5+ ¢e8 50.¤xf5 ¤xf2 51.£e6+ ¢d8 52.£e7+ ¢c8 53.¤xd6+ ¢b8 54.£e8+ ¢c7 55.¤b5+ ¢b7 56.£d7+ ¢a6 57.£a7+ ¢xb5 58.£b6+1-0

A30Krivonosov,Oleg 2448Vaicekauskas,Gytis 2034

Plunge op 31st (2) 20.07.2011[Martin, Andrew]

I have rarely seen the Hedgehog sodemolished. Admittedly, the Black playeris hardly a household name, but themistakes he makes are instructive to all.

1.¤f3 ¤f6 2.c4 c5 3.¤c3 e6 4.g3 b6 5.¥g2 ¥b7 6.0-0 ¥e7 7.d4 cxd4 8.£xd4

[After 8.¤xd4 ¥xg2 9.¢xg2 £c8Black has a comfortable game, with


the immediate threat of ...Qxc4 and ..Qb7+ if needed. ]

8...d6 [ It's worthwhile dwelling a little on why 8...¤c6XABCDEFGHY8r+ wqk+ tr(7zpl+pvlpzpp'6 zpn+psn +&5+ + + + %4 +PwQ + +$3+ sN +NzP #2PzP +PzPLzP"1tR vL +RmK ![xabcdefghyisn't quite as reliable; after all, it looksa s i f B l a c k i s g a i n i n g a t e m p o .Maybe Black is only a little worse after

9.£f4 £b8 10.¦d1 but it is anunpleasant position to play. In generalthe Knight is better on d7 so that Blackcan cover d6 with ...Nc5 if necessaryand because the c fi le is kept half-open. Small things,but they certainlymatter. £xf4 11.¥xf4 ]

9.¦d1 a6 10.¥g5 Systems where Whiteplays with an early Bg5 have becomevery popular. The focus is the Blackpawn on d6. Whi te hopes to e f fec tfavourable simplification and leave Blackdefending weak pawns in posi t ionswhere little counterplay can be found.

¤bd7 11.¤d2!

(Diagram)

It is a paradox that with more space,

XABCDEFGHY8r+ wqk+ tr({7+l+nvlpzpp'6pzp zppsn +&5+ + + vL %4 +PwQ + +$3+ sN + zP #2PzP sNPzPLzP"1tR +R+ mK !xabcdefghy

White is determined to exchange pieces. ¤c5?N Poor for two reasons:1) When Black takes on g2 he canoccasional ly use the posit ion of theWhite King to gain counterplay.2) The Black Knight on b7 will become alousy piece.Tarrasch remarked that a Knight on b6 isalways badly placed. What would hemake of a Knight on b7?

[ 11...¥xg2 has been played manytimes: 12.¢xg2 0-0 13.¤de4 £c7

14.¦ac1 ¦fd8 15.¤xf6+ ¤xf6 16.¤e4 ¤xe4 17.¥xe7 £xe7 18.£xe4 ¦ac8 19.¦c3 h6 20.¦cd3 b5!= Krivonosov,O (2200)-Ionescu,C(2480)/Vosu 1989Typical play by Black and the freeingbreak ...b6-b5 gives equality. ]

[ 11...¥xg2 12.¢xg2 ¦c8 13.¤de4 ¦c6

(Diagram)

Another way to defend. 14.¤xf6+ ¥xf6 15.¥xf6 ¤xf6

A) 16.¤e4 ¤xe4 17.£xe4 £c7


XABCDEFGHY8 + wqk+ tr(7+ +nvlpzpp'6pzprzppsn +&5+ + + vL %4 +PwQN+ +$3+ sN + zP #2PzP +PzPKzP"1tR +R+ + ![xabcdefghy

18.a4 0-0 19.b3 g6 ( 19...a5 20.¦d4 ¦d8 21.¦ad1 h6 22.£d3 £e7 23.e4 e5 24.¦d5 £e6 25.¦b5 £e7 26.¦d5 £e6 27.£c3 ¦dc8 28.¦1d3 £e7 29.£d2 ¦d8 30.f4 exf4 31.£xf4 f6 32.h4 £e6 33.g4 £e7 34.¢h2 Plachetka,J (2379)-Petenyi ,T (2261)/Slovakia 2010)

20.¦d4 ¦b8 21.£e3 h5 22.h3 b5 23.cxb5 axb5 24.a5 b4 25.g4 ¦b5 26.£d2 ½-½ Vallejo Pons,F (2675)-Nisipeanu,L (2684)/Heviz 2008 ;

B) 16.b3 0-0 17.¦d3 £a8 18.f3 ¦b8 19.£f4 d5 20.¦ad1 ¦bc8½-½ Vadasz,L (2490)-Wockenfuss,K(2385)/Kiel 1979This is a variation where White canplay to win at absolutely no risk tohimself, but the fragments we haveseen suggest that Black should becomfotably able to keep the game inbalence. Unless of course, one plays11...Nc5. ]

12.¥xb7 ¤xb7 13.¤de4 ¤xe4I am tota l ly sure that Black missedW h i t e ' s n e x t m o v e . 14.¤xe4!S i m p l e a n d ve r y e f f e c t i ve . W h i t e

bombards d6. f6 [B l a c k c a n n o t p l a y 14...¥xg5 15.£xg7 ] [nor 14...0-0 15.¥xe7 £xe7 16.£xb6 ]

15.¥f4 d5 [ 15...e5 16.£d5 exf4 17.£xb7 ]

16.cxd5 e5 By now it is horrible.Naturally the sacrifice on e5 is crushing.

17.¥xe5! fxe5 18.£xe5 0-0 19.d6 ¥f6 20.£d5+ ¦f7XABCDEFGHY8r+ wq +k+(7+n+ +rzpp'6pzp zP vl +&5+ +Q+ + %4 + +N+ +$3+ + + zP #2PzP +PzP zP"1tR +R+ mK ![xabcdefghy

There are very few moves at Black'sdisposal. White's winning plan is to forcethrough d7 and Rc1-c8, which is more orless unstoppable. 21.¦ac1 ¢f8 22.d7

¦b8 23.h4 [ 23.¦c6! was maybe best of all,with anice tactical point: ¤a5 24.¦c8 ¦xc8

25.dxc8£ £xc8 26.£xf7+ ¢xf7 27.¤d6+ ] [ Another winning idea might have been 23.£e6 ¦e7 24.£f5 ]

23...g6 24.£e6 I enjoyed this game; abrief encounter indeed.1-0


E84Morozevich,Alexander 2762Illescas Cordoba,Miguel 2609

EU-chT (Men) 18th (7.4) 09.11.2011[Martin, Andrew]

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 ¥g7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.¥e3 a6 7.£d2 ¤c6XABCDEFGHY8r+lwq trk+(7+pzp zppvlp'6p+nzp snp+&5+ + + + %4 +PzPP+ +$3+ sN vLP+ #2PzP wQ +PzP"1tR + mKLsNR![xabcdefghy

Th is i s t he Panno Var ia t ion ; moreprovocation. Black is enticing White toplay d4-d5 when holes appear in hiscentre. If d5 isn't played, then Black canprepare either ...b7-b5, via ..Rb8, or ...e7-e5, via ...Re8. 8.¤ge2

[ 8.¥d3 e5 9.d5 ¤d4 ] [ 8.d5 ]

8...¦b8 [ 8...e5 9.d5 ¤e7 10.c5 ]

9.¦b1!? [ 9.¤c1 ]

(Diagram)

Morozevitch makes this move look like aforced win and Black will have to burnthe midnight oi l for an improvement.

XABCDEFGHY8 trlwq trk+({7+pzp zppvlp'6p+nzp snp+&5+ + + + %4 +PzPP+ +$3+ sN vLP+ #2PzP wQN+PzP"1+R+ mKL+R!xabcdefghy

Bas ic ia l l y , w i th a queens ide pawna d v a n c e i n t h e o f f i n g , W h i t e i sa t tempt ing to take over t he en t i reposition. Black thinks he must break now,or be squashed. 9...b5

[ 9...¦e8!? is the other way, allowingW h i t e h i s a d v a n c e : 10.b4 e5f ra nk l y , l o ok s t o o s l ow , de s p i t eappearances: ( 10...¤d7!?XABCDEFGHY8 trlwqr+k+(7+pzpnzppvlp'6p+nzp +p+&5+ + + + %4 zPPzPP+ +$3+ sN vLP+ #2P+ wQN+PzP"1+R+ mKL+R![xabcdefghymay be the way forward, delaying apawn break. If White advances, hebecomes a little exposed: 11.d5 ¤ce5


12.¤d4 ¤b6 13.c5 ¤bc4 14.¥xc4 ¤xc4 15.£d3 ¤xe3 16.£xe3Schnider,G (2349)-Schuetz,C (1943)/Graz 2011 when with e6! Black wouldhave serious counterplay) 11.d5 ¤d4?

( 11...¤e7 12.¤g3 a5 13.a3gives White a superior version of theClassical Variation. Usually in this typeof position, White advances on thequeenside , while Black organizes akingside pawn storm. In this particularrace, White is well ahead.) 12.¤xd4

exd4 13.¥xd4 ¤xe4XABCDEFGHY8 trlwqr+k+(7+pzp +pvlp'6p+ zp +p+&5+ +P+ + %4 zPPvLn+ +$3+ sN +P+ #2P+ wQ +PzP"1+R+ mKL+R![xabcdefghyJust does not work. 14.fxe4 £h4+

15.¢d1 ¥g4+ 16.¢c2 ¥h6 17.£f21-0 Khismatullin,D (2635)-Shvyriaev,A(2117)/Rogaska Slatina 2011 ]

10.cxb5 axb5 11.b4 ¥d7 12.d5 ¤e5 13.¤d4! Fixing c6 and getting ready fora2-a4 and then after a capture, b4-b5!Illescas continues to fight actively. e6

14.¥e2 exd5 15.exd5 ¦e8 16.0-0 ¤c4 17.¥xc4 bxc4 18.¤c6

[ 18.b5 might be possible now, but Ican see why Morozevich went for Nc6.He wants to give his Bishop the d4square. ]

18...¥xc6 19.dxc6 ¦a8 [ 19...h5 Trying for some kingside play 20.¥a7 ¦a8 21.¥d4 £c8 22.a4 £f5 23.b5 h4 24.h3 ¤h5 Perhaps theculmination of the play, but where arethe targets in White's camp? 25.¥xg7

¢xg7 26.¤d5 ¦xa4 27.¤xc7 £c5+ 28.£f2 ¦e2 29.£xc5 dxc5 30.¦a1 ¦b4 31.¦ae1 ¦d2 32.¦f2+-With no direct threats, White simplypushed the queenside to achieve awinning position. ]

[ 19...£c8 20.b5 £f5 is an echo of thelast line, minus...h7-h5. This time Blackmasses in the e f i le: 21.¥d4 ¦e6

22.a4 ¦be8XABCDEFGHY8 + +r+k+(7+ zp +pvlp'6 +Pzprsnp+&5+P+ +q+ %4P+pvL + +$3+ sN +P+ #2 + wQ +PzP"1+R+ +RmK ![xabcdefghyNow we must look for entry points forthe Black Rooks. Do they exist? 23.a5

¤h5 24.¥xg7 ¢xg7 25.£d4+ ¢g8 26.¤d5 ¦e2 27.b6 It turns out Whitecan ignore the Rook on e2 for the timebeing. £c2 28.£g4 f5 29.£g5 ¢f7

30.¦fc1 £d3 31.¤xc7 h6 32.¦d1! £c2 33.¦bc1 hxg5 34.¦xc2 ¦xc2 35.¤xe8+- These variations and thesubsequent course of the game showthat Black is in grave danger in this line


if he does not find a concrete plan.W h i t e ' s i d e a o f d om i na t i n g t h equeenside is just too easy to effect. ]

XABCDEFGHY8r+ wqr+k+(7+ zp +pvlp'6 +Pzp snp+&5+ + + + %4 zPp+ + +$3+ sN vLP+ #2P+ wQ +PzP"1+R+ +RmK ![xabcdefghy

The most crit ical moment so far,withBlack struggling to find a decent move.The problem is that whilst White has thevery clear plan of creating a queensidepassed pawn, Black's overall plan israther vague . Despite having played allthe possible active moves, he still hasvery li tt le concrete play. This can beve r i f i e d by a n exami na t i on o f t h ealternatives: 20.a4 ¤h5 21.¥d4 ¥xd4+

22.£xd4 £g5 23.f4! a nice detail,preventing...Nf4 £g4 24.b5 Revertingto the default plan. ¦e6 25.¦b2 ¦ae8

26.¦bf2 ¦e1 27.£xc4+- g5 28.¤d5 ¦8e2 29.b6 gxf4 30.¦xe2 ¦xe2 31.£xe2! £xe2 32.bxc7 That was aclassic Samisch 'squeeze 'game. Nokings ide at tack , no hero ics and nomeaningful counterplay for Black. £e8

33.c8£ £xc8 34.¤e7+1-0

D58Boensch,Uwe 2530Kuba,Guenter 2384

AUT-chT 1112 (3.5) 22.01.2012[Martin, Andrew]

The Tartakower Defence remains one ofthe most solid and reliable ways to meetthe Queen's Gambit, yet Black must notassume his path to equal i ty is thatsimple. In this coming game, Whitehardly seems to fire a shot in anger, yetoutmanouevres Black completely. 1.d4

d5 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.¤c3 ¥e7 5.¥g5 0-0 6.e3 h6

[ 6...b6 ] 7.¥h4 b6 8.¥e2 One of many moves.

[ 8.cxd5 ¤xd5 9.¥xe7 £xe7 10.¤xd5 exd5XABCDEFGHY8rsnl+ trk+(7zp zp wqpzp '6 zp + + zp&5+ +p+ + %4 + zP + +$3+ + zPN+ #2PzP + zPPzP"1tR +QmKL+R![xabcdefghyis reasonable, but capturing on d5 isbest delayed until Black has played ...Bc8-b7. The light-squared Bishop candefend on e6 now, which is a muchmore active square. 11.¦c1 ( 11.¥e2

¥e6 12.0-0 c5 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.£a4 £b7!= ) 11...¥e6 12.¥d3 ( 12.£a4 c5 13.£a3 ¦c8 14.¥e2 a5 15.0-0 £a7


16.dxc5 bxc5 17.¦c2 £b6 18.¦fc1 ¤d7= Sadzikowski,D (2380)-Gavrilov,A (2498)/Krakow 2012) 12...c5 13.b3

¤d7 14.0-0 a5 15.¥b5 ¦fc8 16.h3 g6 17.£e2 ¤f6 18.¤e5 Burmakin,V(2593)-Aranaz Murillo,A (2229)/Seville2012 when ¤e4! would maintainequality. ]

[ 8.£b3 ¥b7 9.cxd5 seems as thoughit is the right moment to take on d5, butjudge for yourself: exd5 10.¥xf6 ¥xf6

11.¦d1 White is trying to make it asdifficult as possible for Black to play ...c7-c5. c6 12.¥e2 ¤d7 13.0-0 ¦e8

14.¦fe1 ¤f8 15.e4!? ¤e6 ( 15...dxe4 16.¥c4! ¤e6 17.¤xe4± ) 16.exd5 cxd5 17.¥b5 ¦e7 18.¦e3 £d6Black is comfortable organizing hisdark-squared counterplay. 19.a4 a6

20.¥f1 ¦ae8 21.h4 g5! ( 21...¤f4µ )XABCDEFGHY8 + +r+k+(7+l+ trp+ '6pzp wqnvl zp&5+ +p+ zp %4P+ zP + zP$3+QsN tRN+ #2 zP + zPP+"1+ +R+LmK ![xabcdefghyThis is the type o f th ing tha t canhappen to White when he fails to findtargets in the Black camp. B lackmobi l izes fu l ly and then takes thein i t i a t i ve on the k ings ide . 22.hxg5

( 22.¥xa6 ¥xa6 23.¤xd5 ¢g7 24.h5 ¤f4 25.¤xe7 ¦xe7 26.¦xe7 £xe7

27.£xb6 ¥e2µ ) 22...hxg5 23.g3 ¤xd4 24.¦xd4 ( 24.¦xe7 ¤xf3+ 25.¢g2 ¦xe7 26.¢xf3 d4+ ) 24...¦xe3-+ 25.fxe3 £xg3+ 26.¥g2 ¥xd4 27.exd4 g4 28.¤h2 ¦e1+ 29.¤f1 £e3+ 0-1 Todorov,M (2226)-Kukov,V (2414)/Plovdiv 2012 ]

8...dxc4!? Black wins the battle of thetempo, but is he merey encouraging theWhite Bishop to a better square? I don'tlike this move especially and prefer thetraditional 8...Bb7

[ 8...¥b7 9.¥xf6 ¥xf6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.b4 c5 ( 11...c6 )]

9.¥xc4 ¥b7 10.0-0 ¤e4XABCDEFGHY8rsn wq trk+(7zplzp vlpzp '6 zp +p+ zp&5+ + + + %4 +LzPn+ vL$3+ sN zPN+ #2PzP + zPPzP"1tR +Q+RmK ![xabcdefghy

I g u e s s t h i s i s t h e f u r t h e r p o i n t ,encouraging simplification. Yet if Black'scounterplay depends on ...c7-c5, as it soof ten does in the or thodox QueensGambit, I am not sure that exchangingdark -squared B ishops i s t he r i gh tstrategic idea just yet. 11.¥xe7 £xe7

12.¦c1 c5 [ A simpler, but not simple position canbe reached after 12...¤d7 13.¤xe4

¥xe4 14.¥d3 ¥xd3 15.£xd3 c5 16.¦fd1² White has a solid advantage.


A) Meanwhile development with 16...¦fd8 does not equalize either: 17.£c4 ¦ac8 ( 17...¤f6 18.dxc5 £xc5 19.£xc5 bxc5 20.h3² ) 18.b4! £e8 19.dxc5 bxc5 20.b5 ; B) If Black takes on d4 he bares c6: 16...cxd4 17.¤xd4 ¤c5 18.¤c6 £b7 19.£d6 ¦fe8 20.b4± ]

13.¤xe4 ¥xe4 14.dxc5 bxc5 15.¥e2 ¦d8 16.£a4±

XABCDEFGHY8rsn tr +k+({7zp + wqpzp '6 + +p+ zp&5+ zp + + %4Q+ +l+ +$3+ + zPN+ #2PzP +LzPPzP"1+ tR +RmK !xabcdefghy

The problem is obvious: Black's pawn onc5 sticks out like a sore thumb and thereis no way to get rid of the weakness. Asin all cases invloving isolated or doubledpawns, the open f i les next to thosepawns are used to activate the pieces,but here that will not be enough to easeBlack's defensive task. Boensch is aseasoned GM and goes abou t h i sbusiness, laying gradual siege to theweak pawn. ¥d5 17.£a5 ¤d7 18.b3

¦ab8 19.¦fd1 [ 19.£xa7 ¦a8 ]

19...¦dc8 20.h3! Tidying up. There is noneed to rush. ¤b6 21.¤d2 ¦c7

[After 21...c4 22.bxc4! keeping pieceson and leaving Black with his poor

Knight on b6, is best: ( 22.¤xc4 ¤xc4 23.¥xc4 ¥xc4 24.¦xc4 ¦xc4 25.bxc4 ¦b2÷ ) 22...¥c6 23.¦b1± ]

22.e4 ¥a8 23.f3! Very solid indeed.Black is quite unable to generate anyplay whatsoever now. h5 24.¤c4 h4

[ 24...¤xc4 25.¦xc4 ¦bc8 26.¦c2 h4 27.¦cd2 successfully switches thepoint of attention to the d file ]

25.£d2 £f6 26.£e3 e5 27.£c3I l i ke t he way W h i t e manouevres ,enjoying Black's discomfort. Kuba clearlycannot think of what to do and frustrated,makes his position worse. ¤d7 28.¦d6

£e7 29.¦cd1 ¦e8 30.¤e3 With Nf5and Bb5 as the main threats, Kuba hashad enough of the massaging. A well-played and thematic game by Boensch.1-0

B01Glek,Igor V 2534Bauer,Christian 2625

SUI-chT Switzerland (7.2) 06.09.2009[Martin, Andrew]

Various pawn structures can emerge outof 1. .d5 and the coming game evenresembles one of the sharper lines of theCaro-Kann 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 £xd5

3.¤c3 £a5 4.¤f3 ¤f6 5.d4 ¥f5 6.¥d2 c6 Black needs a retreat for hisQueen.' 7.¤e4

(Diagram)

John Emms recommended this idea inhis book on the Scandianavian. Whitesimply wants to inflict doubled pawns onf6 and then play positionally with a slightedge. He argues Black won't be able to


XABCDEFGHY8rsn +kvl tr({7zpp+ zppzpp'6 +p+ sn +&5wq + +l+ %4 + zPN+ +$3+ + +N+ #2PzPPvL zPPzP"1tR +QmKL+R!xabcdefghy

f ind a permanent haven for his King.This is another relatively new perceptionabout how to tackle the Centre-Counter

£b6! I think this is best. Black attacksb2.

[ 7...£c7 ] 8.¤xf6+ gxf6 9.¥c4

[ 9.¦b1 ¤d7 10.¥c4 e6 11.0-0 0-0-0÷ ] [ 9.¥c3 e6 10.g3 ¤d7 11.¥g2 ¥b4 12.£d2 ¥xc3 13.£xc3 a5 14.¤h4 ¥g6= ]

9...e6 [ 9...£xb2 10.¦b1 ( 10.¥d3!? ¥xd3 11.cxd3 b6 12.0-0 £b5 13.£e2 £d5 ) 10...£xc2 11.£xc2 ¥xc2 12.¦xb7 ¥e4! 13.¤h4 ¤d7is surely OK for Black as well. ]

10.0-0 ¦g8 Black must endeavour tocreate tact ical chances to offset thedoubled pawns. 11.¦e1 ¤d7 12.b4

0-0-0 [ 12...¥d6 13.¦b1 0-0-0 14.¥f1 ¥g4 15.¦b3 £c7 16.g3 f5 17.c4 ¤f6 18.c5 ¥e7 19.¦a3 ¦xd4 20.£a1 ¦d5 21.¥c3 ¥xf3 22.¥xf6 ¥xf6 23.£xf6 ¥e4 24.¦xa7 ¢b8 25.¦a3 ¦dd8

½-½ Mason,D (2219)-Constantinou,P(2302)/Canterbury 2010 ]

13.a4 [ 13.c3 £c7 14.¤h4 ¥g4 15.¥e2 f5 16.g3 ¤f6 17.£a4 ¤e4 18.¥xg4 ¤xd2 19.¥h5 ¢b8 20.£a5 b6 21.£e5 ¥d6 22.£e3 ¤e4 23.¤g2 ¤f6 24.¥f3 f4 25.£d3 h5 26.a4 fxg3 27.fxg3 h4 'µ' 28.£c4 ¤d5 29.£f1 hxg3 30.h4 ¤xc3 31.¦ac1 ¥xb4 32.¦e3 ¤d5 33.¦b3 ¥a5 34.¥h5 f5 35.£e2 ¦d6 36.£e5 ¥d2 37.¦d1 ¥h6 38.a5 b5 39.a6 ¤b6 40.¦xg3 ¦xg3 41.£xg3 ¥g7 42.£g6 ¥xd4+ 43.¢h1 £e7 44.¥f3 ¢c7 45.h5 £g7 46.¤f4 £xg6 47.hxg6 ¥e5 48.¤d3 ¥g7 49.¤f4 ¤d5 50.¥xd5 exd5 51.¦g1 b4 52.¤h5 ¦d7 53.¦f1 b3 54.¦xf5 b2 55.¦f1 c5 56.¦b1 ¥d4 57.¤f4 ¢c6 58.¤e6 ¥f6 59.¢g2 c4 0-1 Gavi,S (2013)-Saptarshi,R (2389)/Ravana 2009 ]

XABCDEFGHY8 +ktr vlr+({7zpp+n+p+p'6 wqp+pzp +&5+ + +l+ %4PzPLzP + +$3+ + +N+ #2 +PvL zPPzP"1tR +QtR mK !xabcdefghy

Clearly, this looks very frightening, butBauer keeps his cool. White cannot justcrash through as he pleases. The key toa position such as this is to maintain


counterplay on the kingside.' 13...¥g4 14.a5 £c7 15.b5

[ 15.a6 b6 ] 15...¥d6 16.¢h1 ¥f4! 17.¥e3

[ 17.a6 ¥xd2 18.£xd2 ¥xf3 19.gxf3 ¢b8÷ ] [ 17.b6 axb6 18.axb6 ¤xb6 ]

17...cxb5 18.¥xb5 ¦g5!XABCDEFGHY8 +ktr + +(7zppwqn+p+p'6 + +pzp +&5zPL+ + tr %4 + zP vll+$3+ + vLN+ #2 +P+ zPPzP"1tR +QtR +K![xabcdefghy

An inspired tactical idea, which not onlyattacks the White Bishop, but preparesideas such as ...Rh5.' 19.¥f1

[ 19.¦b1 ¦h5 ] 19...¥xe3 20.¦xe3 ¦xa5 21.£e1 ¦xa1 22.£xa1 ¢b8 23.¦c3 £d6 24.¤d2 ¤b6 25.¤b3 e5 26.£a5 exd4 27.¤xd4 £xd4 28.¦d3 £xf2! 29.¦xd8+ ¢c7 30.£c5+“ £xc50-1

A52Michalik,Peter 2511Jurcik,Marian 2474

SVK-chT 1112 (5.1) 14.01.2012[Martin, Andrew]

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 ¤g4 4.¥f4!I do l ike this c lassical l ine, which issimple enough to learn and understand.

¤c6 [ Club players could easily get excellentresul ts wi th 4...g5 but of course it isvery loose. ]

5.¤f3 ¥b4+ 6.¤bd2 [ 6.¤c3 ¥xc3+ 7.bxc3 £e7 8.£d5 f6 ( 8...£a3 )]

6...£e7 7.a3 ¤gxe5 8.¤xe5 [ 8.axb4 ¤d3# ]

8...¤xe5 9.e3 ¥xd2+ [ 9...¥c5 10.b4 ]

10.£xd2 d6 11.c5!XABCDEFGHY8r+l+k+ tr({7zppzp wqpzpp'6 + zp + +&5+ zP sn + %4 + + vL +$3zP + zP + #2 zP wQ zPPzP"1tR + mKL+R!xabcdefghy

This is the move that gives Black aproblem. The early exchange of twopairs of minor pieces has simpl if iedBlack 's de fens ive task , but he hascertainly not equalized yet. 11 c5 isexcellent, opening up perspectives for


Whi te 's dark -squared B ishop. dxc5he may as well capture.

[ 11...0-0?! 12.cxd6 cxd6 13.¥e2±

XABCDEFGHY8r+l+ trk+({7zpp+ wqpzpp'6 + zp + +&5+ + sn + %4 + + vL +$3zP + zP + #2 zP wQLzPPzP"1tR + mK +R!xabcdefghysimply leads to a horr ible post ioinwhere B lack wi l l be t ied down todefending d6 for the whole game. ]

12.£d5 f6 [ 12...¤d7 13.¥xc7 ]

13.¦c1! c6 Black cannot prevent Whitefrom regaining his pawn and so aims foras stable a pawn structure as is possible.nevertheless, thanks to the strength ofthe dark-squared Bishop, White has anagging edge which is not going away.The engines show equal, but I cannotaccept that evaluation. Over the board,White is having all the fun.

[ 13...¤d7 14.¥xc7± ] 14.£xc5 £xc5 15.¦xc5 ¤d7 16.¦c4 ¤b6 17.¦e4+

[Or 17.¦c2! which was a better move,leading to: ¥f5 ( 17...¥e6 18.e4 ¦d8

19.f3 ¢f7 20.¥e2 ) 18.e4! ¥e6 ( 18...¥xe4 19.¦e2 ) 19.¥e2 ¢f7 20.f3 ¦ad8 21.¢f2 ¢g6 22.b4 h5 23.¦hc1 The issue is that Black has nowinning chances whatsoever and no

way to change t he na t u re o f t heposition. ]

17...¢f7 18.¦b4 ¦e8 19.a4 ¤d5 20.¥c4 b6

[ 20...¦d8 21.e4 ] 21.¥xd5+ cxd5 22.¢d2XABCDEFGHY8r+l+r+ +({7zp + +kzpp'6 zp + zp +&5+ +p+ + %4PtR + vL +$3+ + zP + #2 zP mK zPPzP"1+ + + +R!xabcdefghy

Maybe it's me, but I do not like choosingopening systems as Black which makelife easy for the opponent. This positionhas arisen naturally from the openingline and there is no way for Black todisturb the equilibrium. ¥d7 23.f3 ¦ac8

24.a5 b5 [ 24...bxa5 25.¦b7 ]

25.¦d4 ¥f5 26.¦c1 ¦xc1 27.¢xc1 g5 28.¥g3 ¦c8+

[ 28...¦xe3 29.¦xd5 ¥d3 30.¢d2 ] 29.¢d1 ¥e6 30.¥e1 ¦c4 31.¥c3 a6 32.¢c2 f5 33.b3 ¦c8?!

[ 33...¦xd4 should be a simple draw: 34.¥xd4 ¢e7 35.¢c3 g4 36.¢b4 ¢d6 37.f4 ¥f7= ]

34.¢b2 h5 35.h4 ¦g8? [ 35...g4 cedes squares, but isundoubtedly the right move,preservingthe pawn s t ruc tu re . B lack i s no tworse. ]


36.hxg5 ¦xg5 37.¦d2XABCDEFGHY8 + + + +({7+ + +k+ '6p+ +l+ +&5zPp+p+ptrp%4 + + + +$3+PvL zPP+ #2 mK tR +P+"1+ + + + !xabcdefghy

Now there are definitely chances forWhite, who has two penetration pointson c5 and e5 for this King to aim at. Withthe sil ly move 35 ...Rg8?, Black hasruined his pawn structure and must nowreally struggle to save this game. ¦g8

38.¥e5 ¦c8 39.¢a3 ¦c1 40.¢b4 ¢e7 41.¥b2 ¦c8 42.¥d4 ¢d6 43.¢a3 ¦g8 44.¦c2 ¦c8 45.¦xc8 ¥xc8 46.b4 h4??

[ I suppose he didnt want to be torturedif passing with 46...¢c6 as White'sKing can penetrate and will probablywin a pawn someth ing l i ke th is : ;

47.¢b2 ¢d6 48.¢c3 ¢e6 49.¥b6 ¢d6 50.¢d4 ¥d7 51.¥a7 ¥c8 52.¥b8+ ¢c6 53.¢e5 ¥d7 54.¥a7 ¢b7 55.¥c5 ¢c6 56.¢f4 ¥e8 57.¢g5 ( 57.¢xf5 )

(Diagram)

This is obviously going to be veryunpleasant for Black. ]

Some of Black's play in this ending is

XABCDEFGHY8 + +l+ +({7+ + + + '6p+k+ + +&5zPpvLp+pmKp%4 zP + + +$3+ + zPP+ #2 + + +P+"1+ + + + !xabcdefghyXABCDEFGHY8 +l+ + +(7+ + + + '6p+ mk + +&5zPp+p+p+ %4 zP vL + zp$3mK + zPP+ #2 + + +P+"1+ + + + ![xabcdefghy

beyond belief,given his rating. Commonsense should have told him not to placeh i s pawns on t he s ame c o lou red -squares as the White Bishop. 47.¢b3

¢e6 48.¢c3 ¥d7 49.¥b6 ¥e8 50.¥d8 ¢e5 51.¥xh4 d4+ Loses, as White canshortly create a second passed pawn.

[ But maybe passing doesn't workei ther anymore: 51...¥d7 52.¥g3+

¢e6 53.¢d4+- ] [ 51...¢d6 52.¥g3+ ¢c6 53.¢d4 ¥d7 54.¢e5 ¥c8 55.¥h4 ¥d7


56.¥e7 ¥c8 57.¥c5 ¥d7 58.¢f4 ¥c8 59.g4 fxg4 60.fxg4 ¢d7 61.¢e5 ¥b7 62.g5 ¢e8 63.g6+- ]

52.exd4+ ¢d5 53.¢d3 ¥d7 54.¢e3 ¢c4 55.¥e7 ¥c8 56.¥c5 ¢d5 57.¢f4 ¢e6 58.g4! fxg4 59.fxg4 ¥b7 60.¢g5 ¥e4 61.¢h6 ¢f7 62.g5 ¥d5 63.¥d6 ¥e4 64.¥e5‡ ¥d5

[ 64...¥b1 65.d5 ] 65.g6+ One is very unlikely to play sucha game at club level,which is why theBudapest can still be studied and played.I t may even work at at the top , butexclusively as a surprise. Please do bearin mind though, that games like the onewe have just seen lurk in the wings andwill not be that enjoyable for Black. ¢g8

66.¢g5 ¥e4 67.¢f61-0

B06Ohme,Melanie 2387Fridman,Daniel 2653

GER-ch 83rd Osterburg (2) 03.03.2012[Martin, Andrew]

Opinion seems to have crystallized at thehigher leve ls that 4 Be3 poses thegreatest threat to the Modern defence in2012. I am not totally convinced. Even inthe early days when Keene and Botterillwere producing groundbreaking workson these subjects it was felt that 4 Be3was interesting and natural, but nothingspecial and I see no reason to changethat opinion. Observe in this comingModern classic as Black soaks up theear l y p ressure and then t imes h i scounterplay beautifuly. 1.e4 g6 2.d4

¥g7 3.¤c3 d6 4.¥e3 a6! 5.£d2 b5 6.f3

[ 6.h4 h5 ( 6...h6 7.¤f3!? leads to aposi t ion of quick development forWhite ) 7.f3 ¤d7 8.¤h3 c5 9.¤g5

¥b7 10.0-0-0 is different to ourfeatured game because White castleslong: £a5? ( 10...cxd4 11.¥xd4 ¥xd4

12.£xd4 ¤gf6XABCDEFGHY8r+ wqk+ tr(7+l+nzpp+ '6p+ zp snp+&5+p+ + sNp%4 + wQP+ zP$3+ sN +P+ #2PzPP+ +P+"1+ mKR+L+R![xabcdefghyis not so bad for Black at all.) 11.dxc5!

¥xc3 12.£xc3 £xc3 13.bxc3 dxc5 14.¤xf7!+- Unfortunately, this winsimmedia te ly ! ¢xf7 15.¦xd7 ¥c8

16.¦d8 c4 17.¥d4 ¦h7 18.¥e2 ¥b7 19.¦xa8 ¥xa8 20.¦d1 ¥c6 21.¥b6 ¦g7 22.¥d4 ¦h7 23.¥e5 ¤f6 24.¦d8 ¦g7 25.¦c8 ¥d7 26.¦c7 ¢e6 27.f4 ¦g8 28.¦xc4 ¤g4 29.¦c5 ¢f7 30.¥d4 ¤f6 31.¦c7 ¥e6 32.¥xf6 ¢xf6 33.¦c6 ¦c8 34.¦xa6 ¦xc3 35.¥xb5 ¢f7 36.¥d3 1-0 Muzychuk,M(2490)-Rak ic,M (2270)/Gaziantep2012 ]

(Diagram)

White turns the position into what shehopes will be a replica of the Yugoslav


XABCDEFGHY8rsnlwqk+ntr({7+ zp zppvlp'6p+ zp +p+&5+p+ + + %4 + zPP+ +$3+ sN vLP+ #2PzPPwQ +PzP"1tR + mKLsNR!xabcdefghy

Attack against the Dragon. Shore up thecentre with f2-f3, blunt the Bishop on b7and then begin a kingside pawn storm inpeace. It is not quite so simple. 6...¤d7

7.h4 h6! An essential prophylacticreaction. If White plays h4-h5, Blackslides by with ...g6-g5 and slows thewhite attack. This is the type of difficultmove which average players find difficultto understand, where Black is pausing todrain some of the potential out of theopponent's game. 8.g4

[ 8.h5 g5 ] 8...h5! More bafflement and again,essential! The position has changed withWhite weakening herself slightly on thelong diagonal by playing g4 , but at thesame t ime gaining space, so Blackchallenges this gain of space and fixesthe kingside pawns. This type of reactionis no t h ing new as p ioneers o f t heModern such as Canadian GM DuncanSuttles were playing this type of move 40years ago. 9.g5 e6 Black finds a decenthome for the Knight on g8. 10.¤ge2

¤e7 11.¥g2 ¥b7 12.0-0 0-0 13.¤g3 [ 13.f4 d5 ( 13...¤b6 14.b3 d5 15.e5

¤f5 )] 13...¤b6XABCDEFGHY8r+ wq trk+(7+lzp snpvl '6psn zpp+p+&5+p+ + zPp%4 + zPP+ zP$3+ sN vLPsN #2PzPPwQ +L+"1tR + +RmK ![xabcdefghy

The first sign of counterplay appearswith the idea of ...Nc4. Now White facesthe question: where to go from here ?Sure enough she has pushed up thosepawns, but there is a distinct danger thatWhite will end up overextended if theycannot advance any further. 14.b3 c5Nice timing 15.¦ad1

[ 15.dxc5 dxc5 16.£xd8 ¦fxd8 17.¥xc5 ¥xc3 18.¥xb6 ¥xa1 19.¥xd8 ¥d4+! is the tactical point. ]

15...£c7 16.¤ce2 cxd4 17.¥xd4 e5 18.¥f2 d5!

(Diagram)

An absolutely c lass ic hypermodernmoment, if you will permit the hyperbole.Black gave White the centre, destroyed itand now takes the cent re h imse l f !Moreover, Black is now better as hisp i e c e s s p r i n g t o l i f e . 19.exd5My impression is that Ohme was feelinguncomfortable having received a dose ofher own medicine!


XABCDEFGHY8r+ + trk+(7+lwq snpvl '6psn + +p+&5+p+pzp zPp%4 + +P+ zP$3+P+ +PsN #2P+PwQNvLL+"1+ +R+RmK ![xabcdefghy [ She should probably try the confusing 19.f4!? ¦fd8 ( 19...¦ad8 20.f5 dxe4 21.£a5! ) 20.f5 ¥f8 with an unclearsituation. ]

19...¤bxd5µ 20.¤e4 ¤f5XABCDEFGHY8r+ + trk+(7+lwq +pvl '6p+ + +p+&5+p+nzpnzPp%4 + +N+ zP$3+P+ +P+ #2P+PwQNvLL+"1+ +R+RmK ![xabcdefghy

We now see that the advanced whitek i n g s i d e p a w n s a r e i n d e e d ,overextended. 21.¤c5 ¥c6 22.c4

bxc4 23.bxc4 ¤f4 Black steps into thebreach. 24.¤xf4 exf4 25.¦fe1 ¦ad8More domination of the centre. 26.£c1

¤d4

[ 26...¤e3! also seems very powerful: 27.¥xe3 ( 27.¦xd8 ¦xd8 28.£b1 ¥c3 29.¦c1 ¥d2-+ ) 27...fxe3 28.£xe3 ( 28.¤b3 ¦xd1 29.£xd1 ¦d8 30.£e2 ¦e8 31.¦d1 £f4-+ ) 28...£g3! 29.£f2 £xf2+ 30.¢xf2 ¥d4+ ]

27.¤e4 [ 27.¦d3 ¦fe8 28.¢h1 ¦xe1+ 29.£xe1 ¥xf3! 30.¥xf3 £xc5 31.£c3 £c8!-+ ]

27...¦fe8 28.¥xd4 ¦xd4 29.¦xd4 ¥xd4+ 30.¢h2 ¥xe4 A discoveredcheck on f3 might follow. 31.¦xe4 ¦xe4

32.fxe4 f3+0-1

B06Chapman,Terry P 2290Conquest,Stuart 2501


1.¤f3 [ A different move-order leads to thesame opening and a notable recentsuccess: 1.e4 g6 2.d4 ¤f6 3.e5

¤h5 4.¥e2 d6 5.¤f3 ¤c6 6.exd6 exd6 7.d5 ¤e7 8.c4 ¥g7 9.¤c3 0-0 10.0-0 ¥g4 11.¦e1 ¦e8 12.h3 ¥xf3 13.¥xf3 ¤f6 14.¥f4 ¤d7 15.¦c1 ¤e5 16.b3 a6 17.g3 ¤f5 18.¥g2 g5 19.¥xe5 ¥xe5 20.¤e4 ¤g7 21.£d2 h6 22.f4 gxf4 23.gxf4 ¥f6 24.¢h2 ¤h5 25.¦g1 ¢h7 26.¦cf1 ¦g8 27.£e2 ¤g7 28.£d3 ¢h8 29.¥f3 b5 30.¥d1 bxc4 31.bxc4 ¥h4 32.¥c2 f5 33.¦g6 ¢h7 34.¦fg1 £e7 35.¤g3 ¥xg3+ 36.£xg3 £f7 37.¥d1 ¦ae8 38.¦xh6+ 1-0 Adams,M (2728)-Carlsen,M (2826)/Khanty-Mansiysk2010 ]


1...g6 2.e4 ¤f6 3.e5 ¤h5XABCDEFGHY8rsnlwqkvl tr(7zppzppzpp+p'6 + + +p+&5+ + zP +n%4 + + + +$3+ + +N+ #2PzPPzP zPPzP"1tRNvLQmKL+R![xabcdefghy

The infamous 'North Sea ' defence,presumeably so named that if you loseas White to this audacious idea, youhave to remove all clothing and leap intothe freezing waters. 4.d4 d6 5.h3Reasonable enough.

[ 5.¥c4 is a further possibility, as is the5 Be2 of Adams-Carlsen above. Thereality is that it is not easy to refuteBlack's opening. dxe5 ( 5...d5 6.¥b3

¥g4 7.h3 ¥xf3 8.£xf3 e6 9.0-0 ¤g7 10.c3 ¤f5 11.£e2 c5 12.g4 ¤h4 13.f4 ¤c6 14.¥e3 h5 15.dxc5 hxg4 16.hxg4 £a5 17.£f2 0-0-0 18.¤d2 d4 19.cxd4± Gdanski,J (2557)-Paulsen,D (2431)/Germany 2001)

6.¤xe5 e6 7.£f3 f6 8.¤d3 £xd4 9.¥b3 e5 10.¤c3 £g4 11.£d5 £d7 12.g4 ¤g7 13.¤e4 £e7 14.g5 ¤d7 15.£xd7+ ¢xd7 16.gxf6 £e8 17.fxg7 ¥xg7 18.¥g5 £f8 19.0-0-0 ¢c6 20.¤c3÷ Hillarp Persson,T (2538)-Andersen,J (2276)/Copenhagen 2010½-½ (106) ]

[ 5.¥e2 ] 5...dxe5!N I much prefer this to 5...Nc6

as after 6 Bb5!, White has a nice edge: [ 5...¤c6 6.¥b5 ¥d7 7.¤c3 ( 7.£e2 ¤g7 8.c3 a6 9.¥c4 ¤a5 10.¥d3 d5 11.b4 ¤c6 12.¤bd2 ¥f5 13.¤b3 e6 14.a4 ¥xd3 15.£xd3 ¤f5 16.h4 h6 17.g3 ¥e7 18.h5 g5 19.¤h2 ¤b8 20.¤g4 ¤d7 21.a5 £c8 Penttinen,J-Heinola,K/Tampere 1994/EXT 1999/1-0 (48) ) 7...dxe5 8.dxe5 ¤b4 9.£e2

a6 10.¥xd7+ £xd7 11.0-0 ¤g7 12.¦d1 £c8 13.a3 ¤c6 14.¤d5 ¤e6 15.b4 ¥g7 16.¥b2 0-0 17.c4 ¦d8 18.£e4 ¦d7 19.¦d2 £e8 20.¦ad1Pulkkinen,K (2265)-Heinola,K/Helsinki1993/EXT 1999/1-0 (47) ]

6.¤xe5 [ 6.dxe5 £xd1+ 7.¢xd1 ¤c6 8.¥b5 ¥d7 9.g4 ¤g7 ]

6...¥g7 7.¥e2 c5!? Offering the Knighton h5 as bait. Chapman takes up thechallenge. 8.¥xh5 gxh5 9.£xh5 ¥e6

10.¥h6? White has been thrown by theweird and wonderful play.

[ He should just complete developmentwi th someth ing l ike 10.0-0 cxd4

11.¦e1 which is simply very unclear. ] 10...¥xh6 11.£xh6 £xd4 12.£g7 ¦f8 13.c3?!

[ 13.0-0 ¤c6 14.¦e1 £xb2 15.¤d2 ¤xe5 16.£xe5 £xe5 17.¦xe5 b6leads out of the frying pan into a lostending. ]

13...£e4+ 14.¢f1 f6?! [Amazingly, Conquest misses 14...£c2

(Diagram)

winning immediately. He candidlya d m i t t e d h i s m i s t a k e i n t h ecommentary room later; indeed hegave the impression that he hadn'teven seen this move!


XABCDEFGHY8rsn +ktr +(7zpp+ zppwQp'6 + +l+ +&5+ zp sN + %4 + + + +$3+ zP + +P#2PzPq+ zPP+"1tRN+ +K+R![xabcdefghyT h e r e i s h o p e f o r u s a l l . 15.¤a3

£xb2 ] 15.¤g4 ¤c6 Of course the dubioussymbol by 14...f6 was a bit harsh,asBlack is maintaining his advantage.Chess notation has not yet devised asymbol for a move which is 'good, butnot best'. 16.¤d2 £d3+ 17.¢e1 0-0-0

18.£h6XABCDEFGHY8 +ktr tr +({7zpp+ zp +p'6 +n+lzp wQ&5+ zp + + %4 + + +N+$3+ zPq+ +P#2PzP sN zPP+"1tR + mK +R!xabcdefghy

Frankly, Terry Chapman is doing well tostay in this game at all. It is just horriblefor White. £c2! 19.£e3 ¥f5 20.¤b3

h5 21.¤h6 ¥g6 There is no hurry.Whi te i s movebound . 22.g4 ¤e5

23.¤f5 [ 23.£e2 was more tenacious,butB l a c k w i n s n e v e r t h e l e s s : ¦h8!

24.£xc2 ( 24.¤f5 ¥xf5 25.gxf5 £xf5-+ ) 24...¥xc2 25.¤f5 hxg4 ]

23...¥xf5 24.gxf5 b6 25.¢f1 ¦d1+ 26.¦xd1 £xd1+ 27.£e1 £f3 28.¦h2 £d3+ 29.£e2 £b1+ A set of nicem a n o u e v r e s b y t h e B l a c k Q u e e nconcludes this unusual game.The North Sea Defence is still off theradar . W i l l i t s tay that way? 30.£e1

£xe1+ 31.¢xe1 ¤f3+0-1

C45Tseshkovsky,Vitaly 2577Morozevich,Alexander 2758

RUS-ch 57th Moscow (3) 17.11.2004[Martin, Andrew]

1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 exd4 4.¤xd4 ¥c5 5.¤xc6 £f6 6.£f3!?

[ 6.£d2 ] 6...£xf3 7.gxf3 bxc6

(Diagram)

A classic situation where both sideshave inherited a set of doubled pawnsright out of the opening. Black must bemore careful though! White can create apassed pawn using his kingside pawnswhereas Black cannot. Thus White'sstrategic idea is revealed. 8.¦g1! ¤e7

9.¥e3 [After 9.¦xg7 ¤g6 Black wins theexchange. ]

9...¥b6?! A waste of a move as after 10.


XABCDEFGHY8r+l+k+ntr(7zp zpp+pzpp'6 +p+ + +&5+ vl + + %4 + +P+ +$3+ + +P+ #2PzPP+ zP zP"1tRNvL mKL+R![xabcdefghy

c4 Black is forced to t rade bishopsanyhow, while c2-c4 is very useful forWhite.

[ 9...¥xe3 10.fxe3² White has long-term stable edge in this ending. ]

10.c4 ¥xe3 11.fxe3 0-0 12.f4 ¦b8 13.b3 d6 14.¤c3 f6 15.c5!An excellent move,freezing Black's pawns t r u c t u r e o n t h e q u e e n s i d e . N o wMorozevitch has static weaknesses onc6 and c7 which he cannot get rid of.Meanwhi le, Whi te gradual ly makesprogress on the other flank.

(Diagram)

. ¥e6 [ 15...dxc5 16.¤a4± ]

16.0-0-0 ¦fd8 17.¦d4 a5 hoping forRb4, but white just ignores it. 18.¥e2 f5

[ 18...¦b4 19.¦gd1± ] 19.cxd6 cxd6 20.¦gd1! A different typeof weakness has appeared on the d file.T s e s h k o v s k y i n c o m p l e t e l yunstereotyped in his decision-making ,which is a very important weapon in the

XABCDEFGHY8 trl+ trk+({7zp zp sn zpp'6 +pzp zp +&5+ zP + + %4 + +PzP +$3+PsN zP + #2P+ + + zP"1tR + mKLtR !xabcdefghy

armoury of the strong player. fxe4 [ 20...d5 21.exd5 cxd5 22.¥f3 ¦bc8 23.¢b2 ¦c5 This Black defendstemporarily, but will suffer with all theweaknesses on a5, d5 and f5. ]

21.¦xd6 ¥d5 [ 21...¦xd6 22.¦xd6 ¥d5 23.¥g4with the same scenario. ]

22.¦xd8+ ¦xd8 23.¥g4 [ 23.¥c4 was possibly more precise. ]

23...¦d6 [ 23...¦b8 24.¤a4 keeps some edge. ]

24.¤xe4 ¦g6 25.¤f2+- h5 26.¥h3±There is no reason to panic now. Whitewants a nice, easy strol l to the win,avoiding all tactics. The doubled pawnshave gone and Tseshkovsky treats us toa m a s t e r c l a s s i n t e c h n i q u e . ¥f3

27.¦d8+ ¢h7 [ 27...¢f7 28.¤d3 ¦g1+ 29.¢d2 ¤g6 30.¥f5+- ]

28.e4 [ 28.¦a8 would probably steal onemore pawn for free. ]

28...¦g1+ 29.¢d2 ¥g4 30.¦d3 [ 30.¦a8 ¥xh3 31.¤xh3 ¦g2+ 32.¢e3 ¦xh2 ( 32...¦xa2 33.¤g5+


¢g6 34.¦e8 and white wins the blackknight due to mating threats.) 33.¤g5+

¢h6 34.¦h8+ ¢g6 35.¦e8+-is possibly tactically more precise, butWhite wants none of it.XABCDEFGHY8 + +R+ +({7+ + sn zp '6 +p+ +k+&5zp + + sNp%4 + +PzP +$3+P+ mK + #2P+ + + tr"1+ + + + !xabcdefghy]

30...¤g6 31.¦g3 ¦a1 32.¤xg4 hxg4 33.¥xg4 ¦xa2+

[ 33...¤xf4 34.¢e3 g5 35.h4 gxh4 36.¥f5+ ¢h6 37.¦g4+- ]

34.¢e3 ¤f8 35.e5 ¦b2 [ 35...¦xh2 36.e6 ]

36.¢d4! ¢g8 37.h4 a4 38.bxa4 ¦b4+ 39.¢e3 ¦xa4 Even in this 3 vs 2 endingblack is quite hopeless due to immobilityof the black knight. 40.h5 ¦a3+ 41.¢f2

¦a2+ [ 41...¦xg3 42.¢xg3 g6 43.e6 gxh5 44.e7+- ]

42.¢f3 ¦a3+ 43.¢g2 ¦a4 [ 43...¦a2+ 44.¢h3 ]

44.f5 ¦a5 45.¦e3 [ 45.e6 ¤h7 46.¦e3 ¤f6 47.e7leads to the same posit ion as thegame. ]

45...¤d7 46.e6 ¤f6 47.e7 ¦a8 [ 47...¢f7 48.h6! gxh6 49.¥h5+ ¢g7

50.¦g3+ ¢h7 ( 50...¢h8 51.¦g6+- ) 51.¦g6 ¤e8 52.f6! ]

48.¥f3 ¦c8 49.¦e6 c5 50.h6! c4 51.¦d6 ¦e8

[ 51...¢h7 52.¦d8 ¦c5 53.e8£ ¤xe8 54.¦xe8 ¢xh6 unfortunately for Black,he can't eliminate the f5 pawn. 55.¥e4

c3 56.¥c2 and the pawn on f5 will winthe game. ]

52.¦d8 ¢h7 53.¦xe8 ¤xe8 54.¥h5 ¤f6 55.e8£ ¤xe8 56.¥xe8 ¢xh6

[ 56...c3 57.¥a4 ¢xh6 58.¥c2 ¢g5 59.¢g3+- ]

57.¥a4 g6 58.f6 ¢h7 59.¢g3 g5 60.¥c2+ ¢h6 61.¢g4 c3 62.¢f5 g4 63.¢f4 Experience and understandingcounts for a great deal in posit ionswhere the pawn st ructure has beendamaged. The worse pawn structuredoes not necessarily mean the worsegame! g3 64.¢xg31-0

E55Buckley,Graeme N 2380Wells,Peter K 2489

British Championship 2011 (8.9) 2.8.11[Martin, Andrew]

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.¤f3 c5 5.e3 0-0 6.¥d3 d5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.¥xc4 ¤bd7 9.a3 cxd4 10.axb4 dxc3 11.bxc3 £c7 Black gives up theBishop pair and gets easy development,with ...b6 and ...Bb7 to follow. The dark-squared Bishop is White's main trump,but i t not so easy to get this Bishopgoing. 12.¥e2

[ 12.£b3 e5 ( 12...b6 ) 13.¥e2 ¤b6 14.¦a5 ¥e6 15.£c2 ¤bd7 16.¥b2 b6 17.¦a6 ¥c4 18.¥xc4 £xc4


19.¦fa1 ¦fc8 20.¦xa7 ¦xa7 21.¦xa7 b5 22.h3 h6 23.£d1 £c6 24.¤d2 ¤b6 25.£b3 ¦c7 26.¦xc7 £xc7 27.e4 ¤e8 28.f3 ¤d6 29.¥c1 £a7 30.¢h2 £a4 31.£b1 £d1 32.£d3 ¤dc4 33.£f1 £c2 34.¤xc4 ¤xc4 35.£e1 £d3 36.¢g3 ¢h7 37.¢f2 £c2+ 38.¢g3 £d3 39.¢f2 £b1 40.h4 h5 41.¥g5 £c2+ 42.¢g1 £d3 43.¢f2 £c2+ 44.¢g1 £d3 45.¢f2 £c2+ ½-½ Wojtaszek,R (2726)-Hammer,J (2647)/Wijk aan Zee 2011/Mega2011 Update 06 ]

12...b6 [ 12...¤d5 13.c4 ( 13.¥a3 £xc3 14.£b1 £f6 15.¥d3 h6 16.b5 ¦d8 17.¥b2 £e7 18.¦a4 b6 19.¥h7+ ¢h8 20.¦h4 ¤7f6 21.¤e5 ¥d7 22.¥a3 £e8 23.¥d3 ¦ac8 24.£b2 ¢g8 25.h3 ¦c3 26.¦d1 ¦dc8 27.¦d4 ¦xd3 28.¦1xd3 ¥xb5 29.¦d2 a6 30.¤g4 ¤xg4 31.¦xg4 f6 32.¦xd5 exd5 33.£xf6 £d7 34.¦xg7+ £xg7 35.£e6+ ¢h7 36.£f5+ £g6 37.£xc8 £c6 38.£d8 £e6 39.¥b2 a5 40.£h8+ ¢g6 41.£g7+ ¢f5 42.£g4#1-0 Aronian,L (2782)-Karjakin,S (2725)/Nice 2010/CBM 135 Extra) 13...¤c3

14.£c2 ¤xe2+ 15.£xe2 b6 16.¥b2 ¥b7 ( 16...e5 17.¦fd1 f6 18.£d3 ¦f7 19.¤d2 ¤f8 20.¤e4 ¥e6 21.c5 ¦d7 22.£c3 ¦xd1+ 23.¦xd1 a5 24.¥a3 axb4 25.¥xb4 bxc5 26.£xc5 £b7 27.¤d6 £a6 28.h3 ¦b8 29.¥c3 £e2 30.¦a1 £c2 31.£c7 ¤d7 32.¦a7 h5 33.¦b7 ¦a8 34.£c6 ¦a2 35.¦xd7 ¥xd7 36.£f3 ¥e6 37.e4 ¦a6 38.¤f5 ¥xf5 39.exf5 £c1+ 40.¢h2 £f4+ 41.£xf4 exf4 42.f3 ¦d6 0-1 Kanarek,M (2405)-Macieja,B (2636)/Warsaw2011/CB07_2011) 17.¤d4 a6 18.¦fc1

¦fc8 19.f3 ¤e5 20.c5 ¤c6 21.¤xc6

£xc6 22.£c4 f6 23.¦d1 ¦d8 24.£b3 bxc5 25.bxc5 ¦d5 26.¦xd5 £xd5 27.£xd5 ¥xd5 28.¥c3 ¦c8 29.¦xa6½-½ Kashlinskaya,A (2327)-Galojan,L(2385)/Moscow 2011/CB05_2011 ]

[ 12...£xc3 ] 13.c4 Yes, the Bishop can reach b2, butWhite has potential targets on c4 and b4to look after. The position is unclear, butperhaps White is very slightly for choice.

¥b7 14.£d4!? [ 14.¥b2 a5! ( 14...¦fd8 15.¤d4 a6 16.f3 e5 17.¤f5 ¤f8 18.£b3² ) 15.bxa5 ¦xa5 16.¦xa5 bxa5 17.£a1 ¦a8² ]

XABCDEFGHY8r+ + trk+({7zplwqn+pzpp'6 zp +psn +&5+ + + + %4 zPPwQ + +$3+ + zPN+ #2 + +LzPPzP"1tR vL +RmK !xabcdefghy

Buckley provokes complications, yet itmay have been better just to settle for 14Bb2: 14...e5 15.£h4 ¦fe8 16.¥b2 ¤f8The position of the White Queen allowsBlack to gain time after a subsequent ...Ng6, and wi th i t , counterplay. 17.h3

¤g6 18.£g3 ¤e4 19.£h2

(Diagram)

An unglamorous location. a5 20.h4 f6


XABCDEFGHY8r+ +r+k+({7zplwq +pzpp'6 zp + +n+&5+ + zp + %4 zPP+n+ +$3+ + zPN+P#2 vL +LzPPwQ"1tR + +RmK !xabcdefghy

21.b5? [Opening the position up with 21.bxa5makes more sense: ¦xa5 22.h5 ¤e7

( 22...¤f8 23.h6 g6 24.£h4÷ ) 23.h6÷ ]

21...¦ad8 Now that Black has no worrieson the queenside to consider, he canlook forward to the future with the WhiteQueen still a target. 22.¤d4 ¤f4!XABCDEFGHY8 + trr+k+(7+lwq + zpp'6 zp + zp +&5zpP+ zp + %4 +PsNnsn zP$3+ + zP + #2 vL +LzPPwQ"1tR + +RmK ![xabcdefghy

A super tactical shot which immediatelygives Black almost a winning advantage.

23.¥f3

[ 23.exf4 exd4 24.¥d3 ( 24.f5 £xh2+ 25.¢xh2 ¤d2 26.¦fe1 d3 27.¥h5 ¦xe1 28.¦xe1 ¤xc4-+ ) 24...¤c5 25.£g3 ¥e4!µ ] [ 23.¥g4 £xc4 24.¦fc1 £b4 25.¥a3 £d2 26.¦c2 £d3-+ ]

23...¤d2-+ 24.¥xb7 ¤xf1 25.¦xf1 £xb7 26.¤c6 ¤e2+ 27.¢h1 ¦d2As usual when he has enough time left,Pete Wel ls i s merc i less in tac t i ca lcomplications. 28.¥a1 £d7 29.£h3

£d3 30.£f3 ¦d1 31.¦xd1 £xd1+ 32.¢h2 e4 Plus 17 to Black says DeepFritz. That is more than Graeme Buckleycan bear.0-1

C10Dourerassou,Jonathan 2412Andersson,Ulf 2581

Zuerich Jubilee op (8) 14.08.2009[Martin, Andrew]

Now comes a classic example of whatBlack is playing for in the Burn Variationand Ulf Andersson is the man to show ushow it should be done. This is a simpleenough game to understand with fewvariations. White is gradually outplayed.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.¤c3 dxe4 4.¤xe4 ¥e7

(Diagram)

Black is preparing to play ..Nd7 and ...Ngf6 and gives himself the option ofrecapturing on f6 with the Bishop. This isone of the main ideas behind the Burnvariation. 5.¤f3 ¤f6 6.¥d3 ¤bd7

[ 6...¤xe4 7.¥xe4 ] 7.¤g3 Optimistically, White keeps the


XABCDEFGHY8rsnlwqk+ntr(7zppzp vlpzpp'6 + +p+ +&5+ + + + %4 + zPN+ +$3+ + + + #2PzPP+ zPPzP"1tR vLQmKLsNR![xabcdefghy

pieces on. [ 7.¤xf6+ ¥xf6!? sees Black followingup with . . .0-0 and perhaps sl ightlysurprisingly ...Qe7!, which gives himthe freeing options of ...c5 and ...e5 alittle later on. 8.c3 ]

7...c5!XABCDEFGHY8r+lwqk+ tr(7zpp+nvlpzpp'6 + +psn +&5+ zp + + %4 + zP + +$3+ +L+NsN #2PzPP+ zPPzP"1tR vLQmK +R![xabcdefghy

With the White Knight retiring from thecentre it makes sense to play this freeingpawn break immediately. The correctt iming of . . .c7-c5 is important i f onewants to play this system successfully

and indispensable in general to giveBlack's pieces some room. 8.0-0 0-0

9.b3 b6 As White has no threats tos p e a k o f , A n d e r s s o n s e t s a b o u tdeveloping his queenside. The maincha l lenge fo r B lack in th is t ype o fposition is to find good squares for hismajor pieces further on down the line..

10.¥b2 ¥b7 11.c4 ¦e8!XABCDEFGHY8r+ wqr+k+(7zpl+nvlpzpp'6 zp +psn +&5+ zp + + %4 +PzP + +$3+P+L+NsN #2PvL + zPPzP"1tR +Q+RmK ![xabcdefghy

Modes t and t yp i c a l o f t he pa t i en tS w e d i s h G r a n d m a s t e r . B l a c kprophylactically takes the sting out of alater d4-d5, protects his Bishop andf rees up the f8 square for defenceshould that be necessary. An excellentmove! 12.£e2 £c7 13.¦ad1 ¦ad8

14.¦fe1 cxd4 15.¤xd4 ¥b4!

(Diagram)

White will be claiming a modest edgehere thanks to his ext ra space, butA n d e r s s o n i s n o w l o o k i n g f o rc o u n t e r p l a y w h i c h d i s p u t e s t h a tassessment. Thus 15...Bb4 is anotherexcellent move, pushing the White Rookto an inferior square, before retiring to f8


XABCDEFGHY8 + trr+k+(7zplwqn+pzpp'6 zp +psn +&5+ + + + %4 vlPsN + +$3+P+L+ sN #2PvL +QzPPzP"1+ +RtR mK ![xabcdefghy

for defence. It is this type of nuance thatwe frequently see in the games of strongplayers, where no details are overlooked.

16.¦f1 ¥f8 17.¥b1 a6 The pawnstructure on the queenside is important.White has a majority which Black wouldlike to restrain and therefore ...a7-a6 notonly helps with that, but denies White theuse of the b5 square. 18.¤h5 ¤xh5

19.£xh5 g6 20.£h4 ¥g7 21.¥c1Stepping out of the pin. ¥f6 22.¥g5

¥xg5 23.£xg5 ¢g7 24.¦d3White is st i l l very ambit ious, but myinstinct tells me he was runing out ofi d e a s a t t h i s p o i n t . P e r h a p s R d 3threatens to double on the d f i le orperhaps Rh3 is in the offing. Anderssondeals very easily with both points. ¤f6

25.£h4 [ 25.¦h3 threatens nothing and may beanswered with ¦xd4-+ ]

25...¥e4! 26.¦d2 £e5!

(Diagram)

Cent ra l i za t ion as the main theme.Suddenly White is uncoordinated and

XABCDEFGHY8 + trr+ +(7+ + +pmkp'6pzp +psnp+&5+ + wq + %4 +PsNl+ wQ$3+P+ + + #2P+ tR zPPzP"1+L+ +RmK ![xabcdefghy

finds himself in real difficulties. 27.£g3 [ 27.¥xe4 £xe4 28.£xe4 ¤xe4 29.¦dd1 ( 29.¦d3 e5 ) 29...¤c3 30.¦c1 ( 30.¦d2 ¦xd4 is an echo ofthe game. 31.¦xd4 ¤e2+ ) 30...¤xa2

31.¦a1 ¤b4 32.¦fd1 e5 leaves Whitea clear pawn down. ]

27...£xg3 28.hxg3 ¥xb1 29.¦xb1 ¤e4XABCDEFGHY8 + trr+ +(7+ + +pmkp'6pzp +p+p+&5+ + + + %4 +PsNn+ +$3+P+ + zP #2P+ tR zPP+"1+R+ + mK ![xabcdefghy

Astonishing. Very few shots have beenfired, but White finds himself dead lost. If30 Rd3 Black s imply plays 30. . .e5,


meanwhile if 30 Rdd1 Nc3 is a killer, with31...Rxd4 in the offing.This is a very good example to beginwith. 30.¦dd1 ¤c30-1

C22Lejarre,Ludovic 2400Franklin,Samuel Gideon 2185

Cappelle op 27th (7) 03.03.2011[Martin, Andrew]

The Centre Game is as different as canbe to the Centre-Counter and the gamehas a much more open quality to it. As istypical in the Open Game ,tactics canabound. 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.£xd4

¤c6 4.£e3!?XABCDEFGHY8r+lwqkvlntr({7zppzpp+pzpp'6 +n+ + +&5+ + + + %4 + +P+ +$3+ + wQ + #2PzPP+ zPPzP"1tRNvL mKLsNR!xabcdefghy

This is how they play i t these days.White's plan is simple ( if he can pull itoff) :1) Get the queenside developed withBd2, Nc3 and 0-0-02) Hope to launch a Kingside pawnstorm with moves such as f3,g4,h4-h5etc.

There are similarities to the Scotch, but itis not quite a Scotch. Is the White queenwell-placed or not; that is the mil l iondollar question? g6 Let's first of all see agame where Black fails to appreciate thedanger. Miniatures like the fol lowinggame have attracted a lot of attention.

5.¤c3 ¥g7 6.¥d2 ¤f6 7.0-0-0 0-0 8.¥c4

[Or 8.£g3!? d5 9.exd5 ¤xd5 10.¥g5 ¤ce7 11.¤xd5 ¤f5 12.¥xd8 ¤xg3 13.¤e7+ ¢h8 14.hxg3 ¥e6 15.¥xc7 ¦fe8 16.¥d6 ¦ad8 17.¥b5 ¦xe7 18.¥xe7 ¥xb2+ 19.¢xb2 ¦xd1 20.¥e2 1-0 Perez Mitjans,O (2457)-Gerss,M (1849)/Barcelona 2011 ]

8...¤a5?! Rather weak. When faced withplay of this type Black must be veryconcrete in his counterplay. He mustunders tand the poss ib i l i t ies o f theopponent and react accurately.

[Thus 8...¦e8! 9.¤f3 ¤a5 10.¥d3 d5! Santos,M (2365)-Perdomo,L(2389)/Sao Paolo 2011XABCDEFGHY8r+lwqr+k+(7zppzp +pvlp'6 + + snp+&5sn +p+ + %4 + +P+ +$3+ sNLwQN+ #2PzPPvL zPPzP"1+ mKR+ +R![xabcdefghyis much more to the point, with goodcounterplay. ]

9.¥e2 ¦e8 10.£f4 d6 11.g4 ¥e6


12.g5 ¤d7 13.h4XABCDEFGHY8r+ wqr+k+({7zppzpn+pvlp'6 + zpl+p+&5sn + + zP %4 + +PwQ zP$3+ sN + + #2PzPPvLLzP +"1+ mKR+ sNR!xabcdefghy

Very straightforward and very brutal. ¤c4 14.¥xc4 Eliminting the only well-placed enemy piece. ¥xc4 15.h5 b5

16.hxg6 hxg6 17.¤f3 b4 18.¤d5 c5 19.¦h7 £a5

[ 19...¢xh7 20.£xf7 ] 20.¤f6+ ¤xf6 21.¦xg7+ ¢f8 22.£xd6+ Whether 100% sound or not,this is scarcely the point. White is playinga system that can be absorbed easilyand carried out at club level without theneed for too much midnight oil. ¢xg7

23.£xf6+1-0

C99Corrales Jimenez,Fidel 2585Polgar,Judit 2699

FIDE World Cup (1.1) 28.08.2011[Martin, Andrew]

1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 a6 4.¥a4 ¤f6 5.0-0 ¥e7 6.¦e1 b5 7.¥b3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3

[ 9.d4 ¥g4 ]

9...¤a5 10.¥c2 c5 11.d4 £c7 12.¤bd2 cxd4 13.cxd4 ¤c6Polgar typically goes for an active andlogical defensive system, where firstlyBlack opens the c f i le and secondlybrings her Knight back from the edge.The choice of variation by Black here,asit has been from move nine onward, is aquestion of taste and fashion. Black'sidea isn't especially popular among thewor ld el i te in 2011 and so the bestfemale player of all time is using that toher advantage,catching her opponentoffguard. 14.a3

[ 14.d5 ¤b4 15.¥b1 a5 16.¤b3 a4is another way. ]

14...exd4 This move has to worktactically,or Black is just giving up thecentre. 15.¤b3 d3!?

[ 15...d5 16.e5 ¤e4 17.¥f4² ( 17.¥xe4 dxe4 18.¦xe4 ¥f5 19.¦f4 ¥e6 20.¤bxd4 ¤xe5= )]

XABCDEFGHY8r+l+ trk+(7+ wq vlpzpp'6p+nzp sn +&5+p+ + + %4 + +P+ +$3zPN+p+N+P#2 zPL+ zPP+"1tR vLQtR mK ![xabcdefghy

The point. Black drags a White piece tod3 and follows up with ..Ne5. 16.¥xd3

¤e5 17.¥f4 [ 17.¤bd4 is another way to cede the


Bishop, but as you will see, White hasn o u s e f o r B i s h o p s a t a l l ! ¤xd3

18.£xd3 ¤d7 ( 18...¥b7 19.¤f5 ¦fe8seems a better way to play Black'sposition. ) 19.¥f4 ¤e5 20.¥xe5! dxe5

21.¦ac1 £d6 22.¦c6 Momentum isthe key. £b8 23.¤f5 ¦a7 ( 23...¥xf5

24.exf5 f6 25.£d7 ¦e8 26.¦d1± ) 24.¦ec1 ¥f6 25.g4 ( 25.¤h6+! ¢h8 26.£e3 was stronger still.) 25...¦d7 26.£e3 ¥e7 ( 26...¦fd8 27.¦xf6 ¦d1+ 28.¢g2 ¦xc1 29.¤xg7!!gives White a winning attack.) 27.£c3

¥b7 28.¤xe5 b4 29.¤xd71-0 Guliyev,N (2521)-Beikert,G (2470)/Germany 2008 ]

17...¤xd3 18.£xd3 ¥b7Polgar activates her main trump,whichhas become the light squared Bishop.Other moves seem solid too:

[ 18...¦e8 19.¦ac1 £b6 20.¥e3 £b7 21.¥d2 ¥d8 22.£xd6 ¥b6 23.¥a5 ¥xf2+ 24.¢xf2 ¤xe4+ 25.¦xe4 £xe4 26.£d2 £g6 27.¤c5 ¥f5 28.£g5 £xg5 29.¤xg5 ¦e5 30.¤f3 ¦d5 31.¦c3 h5 32.¢g3 f6 33.¢h2 ¢f7 34.¤h4 ¥h7 35.¤b3 ¦e8 36.¥b4 g5 37.¤f3 ¥e4 38.¦c7+ ¢g6 39.¤fd4 ¦de5 40.¤c5 ¥d5 41.¥c3 h4 42.¤xa6 ¦e2 43.¤xe2 ¦xe2 44.¢g1 ¥xg2 45.¤c5 ¥xh3 46.¦c6 ¦g2+ 47.¢h1 ¦f2 48.¦d6 g4 49.¤e4 ¦f4 50.¦xf6+ ¦xf6 51.¤xf6 g3 52.¤d5 ¥d7 53.¢g1 h3 54.¥e5 h2+ 55.¢g2 ¥c6 ½-½ Anand,V (2786)-Svidler,P(2735)/Wijk aan Zee 2005 ]

[ 18...¥e6 19.¤bd4 ¥d7 20.e5 dxe5 21.¤xe5 £b7 22.¤xd7 £xd7 23.¦ad1 ¥c5 24.¥e5 ¥xd4 25.¥xd4 ¦fe8 26.£f3 ¦xe1+ 27.¦xe1 ¦e8 28.¦xe8+ ¤xe8 29.£a8 a5 30.£e4 a4 31.h4 h6 32.¥c3 f5 33.£f4 ¢h7

34.¥e5 ¢g6 35.f3 ¤f6 36.¢h2 ¤h5 37.£b4 ¢f7 38.£c5 ¤f6 39.£b6 ¤g8 40.h5 ¤e7 41.¥c3 ¢g8 42.£b8+ ¤c8 43.¢g3 ¢h7½-½ Kl imov,S (2483) -Goganov,A(2358)/St Petersburg 2008 ]

19.¦ac1 £b6 20.¤fd4 Of course thedanger to Black,as in so many RuyLopez variations,lies in White's ability toentrench a Knight on f5, menacinglyclose to the King. g6 21.¥h6 ¦fe8

22.¤f5!?XABCDEFGHY8r+ +r+k+({7+l+ vlp+p'6pwq zp snpvL&5+p+ +N+ %4 + +P+ +$3zPN+Q+ +P#2 zP + zPP+"1+ tR tR mK !xabcdefghy

Who could resist it? There is one pathfor Black now and Polgar finds it. ¤xe4!

23.¦xe4? [W h i t e h a s t o s e t t l e f o r 23.¤xe7+ ¦xe7 24.£e3 £xe3 25.¦xe3 ¥d5 26.¤d4 ¦d7 27.f3 ¤c5 28.¦d1with positional compensation, but nomore. The desire to blow Polgar off theboard overwhelms Corrales Jimenez ]

23...¥xe4 24.£xe4 gxf5 25.¦c3 ¥f6!!Could Whi te have missed the coo ldefence? I think he must have. There iscertainly no way back.

[ 25...fxe4 26.¦g3+ ¢h8 27.¥g7+ ¢g8 28.¥f6+= ]


26.¦g3+ ¢h8 27.£xf5 ¦e1+ 28.¢h2 ¥e5! The Bishop holds the fort on hisown just long enough for Polgar to bringup her defensive reserves. 29.¥f4

[ 29.f4 £g1# ] 29...¦g8 30.£xf7

[ 30.¥xe5+ dxe5 ] 30...¦xg3 31.¥xg3

[ 31.fxg3 £g1# ] 31...¥xg3+ 32.¢xg3 £d8Black emerges material ahead and withthe idea of ...Qg8+ gives White no timeto redeploy the Knight. 33.¢h2 ¦e8

34.¢g1 [ 34.¤d4 £e7! 35.£xe7 ¦xe7 36.b3 ¦e4 37.¤f5 ¦f4 38.¤xd6 ¦xf2 39.¢g3 ¦a2-+ ]

34...£e7 35.£xe7 ¦xe7 36.¢f1 ¦c7 37.¤d4 ¦c4 The Knight has no hope atall here. 38.¤e2 ¦c2 A fine game byBlack.In general the Closed Ruy is a majorbat t leground and somet imes heavygoing. If club players must defend hereas Black,pick a system and learn it well.There can be no short cuts.0-1

E97Anand,V 2811Nakamura,Hi 2758

3rd London Chess Classic (4) 06.12.11[Martin, Andrew]

Black against Anand is not everyone'sfavourite pairing. Should one try to toughit out in the Queen's Gambit Declined(which was the approach of Carlsen), orfight toe-to-toe on the cobblestones ?Nakamura decides to go for the King'sIndian and mix it up. 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6

3.¤c3 ¥g7 4.e4 d6 5.¤f3 0-0 6.¥e2 e5 7.0-0 ¤c6 8.d5 ¤e7 9.b4

[ 9.¤d2 c5 ( 9...¤e8 10.b4 f5 11.c5 )] 9...¤e8!? Either of 9...a5 or 9...Nh5 aremore common, mainly because theKnight is less active on e8 than it is oneither h5 or even f6! Black plays theopen ing too s lowly and ends up introuble.

[ 9...¤h5 ] [ 9...a5 ]

10.c5 f5 11.¤d2 ¤f6 12.a4 g5 13.¤c4

[XABCDEFGHY8r+lwq trk+(7zppzp sn vlp'6 + zp sn +&5+ zPPzppzp %4PzP +P+ +$3+ sN + + #2 + sNLzPPzP"1tR vLQ+RmK ![xabcdefghyVarious ideas have been tried here,aswe wil l see, but Anand's 13 Nc4 ismost direct and has the benef i t ofimmediately hitting g5. 13.a5 f4 14.g4

h5 15.h3 ¦f7 16.f3 ¤g6 17.¥a3 ¥f8 18.¤c4 ¦h7 19.¢g2 ¥e7 20.b5 £f8 21.b6 hxg4 22.hxg4 ¤xg4 23.fxg4 f3+ 24.¥xf3 £f4 25.¦f2 ¥xg4 26.¥c1 ¥h3+ 27.¢g1 £g3+ 28.¥g2 ¤h4 29.¤e3 ¦f8 30.¦xf8+ ¥xf8 31.¦a2 ¥xg2 32.¦xg2 ¤xg2 33.¤xg2 £xc3 34.bxa7 £xa5 35.£g4 £xa7 36.¥xg5 £a1+ 37.¢f2


¦g7 38.¢e2 £a6+ 39.¢e1 dxc5 40.¤e3 £g6 41.d6 cxd60-1 Bunzmann,D (2525)-Nataf,I (2596)/France 2007/EXT 2008 ]

[ 13.exf5 ¥xf5 14.¥b2 ¤g6 15.¤c4 ¤f4 16.¤a5 ¦b8 17.¦c1 dxc5 18.¥a3 ¤xe2+ 19.£xe2 ¤xd5 20.¤xd5 £xd5 21.¦xc5 £d3 22.£a2+ ¢h8 23.¦xc7 ¦bc8 24.¦xc8 ¦xc8 25.¤xb7 ¦c2 26.£f7 ¥g6 27.£e7 h6 28.¥c1 £c3 29.¥e3 ¥e4 30.¤d8 ¥d5 31.¤e6 ¥xe6 32.£xe6 £xb4 33.¦d1 £f8 34.h3 ¦c7 35.a5 ¦e7 36.£a6 £b8 37.¦c1 £b2 38.£c8+ ¢h7 39.£f5+ 1-0 Barileng,G(2107)-Lopez Falcon,J (2206)/Dresden2008/CBM 128 ]

[ 13.f3 ¤g6 14.¤c4 ¤f4 15.g3 ¤xe2+ 16.£xe2 f4 17.g4 ¦f7 18.¥a3 ¥f8 19.b5 h5 20.h3 ¦h7 21.¢g2 b6 22.cxb6 axb6 23.¥b4 ¥d7 24.a5 bxa5 25.¥xa5 ¦b8 26.¦ab1 £c8 27.¦h1 hxg4 28.hxg4 ¤xg4 29.¦xh7 ¢xh7 30.fxg4 ¥xg4 31.¦h1+ ¢g6 32.£f2 ¥h5 33.¢f1 ¥g7 34.¢e1 £d7 35.£a7 ¦xb5 36.¤xb5 £xb5 37.¦xh5 £xc4 38.¦h2 £xe4+ 39.¢d1 £xd5+ 40.¢e2 £a2+ 41.¢d3 £xh2 42.£xc7 e4+ 43.¢c4 £e2+ 44.¢b4 £d2+ 45.¢a4 0-1 Suhendra,A (2230)-Sudung,T/Jakarta 2011/CB14_2011 ]

13...h6? Very strange. Black accepts amain line a tempo down.

[Surely 13...f4 was better,when Blackcan hope to play ...g5-g4 and then ...h7-h5 directly. ]

14.f3 f4 15.¥a3 ¤g6 16.b5 dxc5 [ 16...¤e8 17.a5 h5 18.b6 ]

17.¥xc5 ¦f7 18.a5 h5 19.b6±F u l l s p e e d a h e a d f o r A n a n d a n dNak am ura i s o n h i s k nee s on t h e

XABCDEFGHY8r+lwq +k+({7zppzp +rvl '6 zP + snn+&5zP vLPzp zpp%4 +N+Pzp +$3+ sN +P+ #2 + +L+PzP"1tR +Q+RmK !xabcdefghy

queenside. How he survives this positionis a mystery. g4

[ 19...¥f8 20.¥f2 g4 21.bxa7 g3is the type of pawn sacrifice Black hasto consider, but White has plenty ofdefensive resources: 22.hxg3 fxg3

23.¥xg3 ¥c5+ 24.¢h1 h4 25.¥xe5 ¤xe5 26.¤xe5 ¦g7 27.f4 h3 28.g4 ¦xa7 29.g5+- ]

20.¤b5 [ 20.bxa7! was also very good: g3 21.¢h1 h4 ( 21...¤d7 22.¥g1 £g5 23.£c2 ¤h4 24.¥d3± ) 22.h3 ¥xh3 23.gxh3 £d7 24.¢g2+- Black needsto keep the h4 square vacant for aKnight. ]

20...cxb6 21.axb6 g3 22.¢h1 [ 22.¦xa7! looks hopeless for Blacknow: gxh2+ ( 22...¦b8 23.£d2 ¥f8

24.d6 h4 25.h3 ¥xh3 26.gxh3 £c8 27.¤c7 £xh3 28.¥d1 ¢h7 29.¦a2 £c8 30.¥b3 h3 31.¤xe5 ¤xe5 32.¥xf7 ¤xf7 33.£xf4 ) 23.¢h1 ¦b8 24.¥d6+- Anand was not at his bestduring the London Chess Classic. ]

22...¥f8 23.d6 a6 24.¤c7 ¦b8 25.¤a5 ¢h8 26.¥c4 ¦g7 27.¤e6!?


Tempting, as the removal of Black's light-squared Bishop usually means the endof the attack in this variation.

[ Flexible defence was possible, withthe useful 27.¦a2! ¤d7 28.¤e6 £h4

29.¥g1 ¦g8 30.¦b2+- With theKingside covered it will soon be time tocash in on all the positional trumps. ]

27...¥xe6 28.¥xe6 gxh2 29.¤c4? [ 29.¥h3! ¤d7 30.¥f2 ¤xb6 31.¦b1 ¤d7 32.¤xb7 £g5 33.¢xh2again, should add up to a win. ]

29...£e8!XABCDEFGHY8 tr +qvl mk(7+p+ + tr '6pzP zPLsnn+&5+ vL zp +p%4 +N+Pzp +$3+ + +P+ #2 + + +Pzp"1tR +Q+R+K![xabcdefghy

The game suddenly turns and Black haschances based around ...Qb5. Anand'slight-squared Bishop drifts to d5 and thisopens up the possibility of ...h4-h3 forBlack. 30.¥d5

[ 30.¥h3 £b5! ] 30...h4 31.¦f2

[ 31.¢xh2 h3 32.gxh3 ¤h4 33.¦g1 ¤xd5 34.exd5 ¦xg1 35.¥xg1 £g6 36.¦a2 ¥g7÷ ]

31...h3Now the position becomes serious forAnand and he is pushed on to thedefensive. 32.gxh3 ¦c8 33.¦a5 ¤h4

XABCDEFGHY8 tr +qvl mk(7+p+ + tr '6pzP zP snn+&5+ vLLzp + %4 +N+Pzp +$3+ + +P+p#2 + + tRPzp"1tR +Q+ +K![xabcdefghy

34.¢xh2 ¤d7 35.¥b4 ¦g3 36.£f1 £h5 37.¦a3 a5

[ 37...¤xb6! led to complications whereWhite appears to be really struggling:

38.¤xb6 ( 38.¦c3 ¤xd5 39.exd5 ¦d8µ ; 38.¥e6 ¦xc4 39.¥xc4 ¥xd6! 40.¥xd6 ¤xc4 41.¦d3 ¤xd6 42.¦xd6 ¤xf3+ 43.¦xf3 ¦xf3 44.¦d8+ ¢h7 45.¦d7+ ¢h6 46.¦d6+ ¢g5 47.£g2+ ¦g3 48.£f1 £h7-+ ) 38...¦c1 39.£xc1 ¤xf3+ 40.¦axf3 £xh3# ]

38.¥e1 ¦xc4 39.¥xc4 ¥xd6 40.¦xa5 ¥c5 41.¥e2

[ 41.¦xc5 ¤xc5 42.¥e2 ¤e6 ] 41...¥xb6 42.¦b5 ¥d4

[ There seems nothing wrong with 42...¥xf2! immediately: 43.¥xf2 ¤xf3+ 44.¥xf3 £xf3 45.¦b1 ¦g6 46.¦d1 ¤f6 47.¥h4 ¤g4+ 48.hxg4 £xg4 49.¦d8+ ¢h7 50.£h3 £g1# ]

43.¥d1 ¥xf2 44.¥xf2 ¤xf3+ 45.¥xf3 £xf3 46.¦b1 ¦g6 47.¦xb7 ¤f6 48.¦b8+ ¢h7 49.¦b7+ ¢h6Clearly Black's game-plan was very riskyindeed, but this game is an object lessoni n h o w t o p l a y a g a i n s t s t r o n g e r


opposition. There is little point in gettingground down and so to create a randomposition where anything can happen andeither side may win is the right approach.0-1

B19Jones,Gawain C 2655Chapman,Terry P 2290


1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.¤c3 dxe4 4.¤xe4 ¥f5 5.¤g3

[ 5.¤c5 ] 5...¥g6 6.h4 h6 7.¤f3 ¤d7 8.h5 ¥h7 9.¥d3 ¥xd3 10.£xd3 e6

[ 10...£c7 ] 11.¥d2 ¤gf6 12.0-0-0 ¥e7

[ If Black wants to castle on theq u e e n s i d e , t h e n 12...£c7is most accurate, as in some positionsBlack needs to play ...Bf8-d6 in onemove. ]

13.¢b1 0-0 [ 13...£c7 ]

14.¤e4 ¤xe4 15.£xe4 ¤f6 16.£e2 £d5 17.¥e3

[ 17.c4 is toothless: £e4+ 18.£xe4 ¤xe4 ]

(Diagram)

A critical position where Black must finda good move. White's plan seems to beNe5 and then g4 as quickly as possible,a n d s o B l a c k m u s t a d j s t t o t h a t .

17...b5?! [ 17...¤g4 18.¥c1 ¦fd8 19.c4 £f5+ 20.¢a1 ¦d7 21.¤h4 ¥xh4 22.¦xh4

XABCDEFGHY8r+ + trk+({7zpp+ vlpzp '6 +p+psn zp&5+ +q+ +P%4 + zP + +$3+ + vLN+ #2PzPP+QzPP+"1+K+R+ +R!xabcdefghy ¤f6 23.g4 £e4 24.¥e3 ½-½ Bok,B(2511)-Ducarmon,Q (2368)/Limburg2012/CB21_2012 (41) ¦ad8 25.f3

£e5 26.¦e1 £a5 ] [ 17...¥d6 18.g4 ¤xg4 19.¦dg1 f5 20.¥c1 ¢h7 ( 20...¦f7 21.c4 £e4+ 22.£xe4 fxe4 23.¦xg4 exf3 24.¥xh6 ¢h7 25.¥e3 ¦af8 26.¢c2 ¥f4 27.¢d3 ¥xe3 28.¢xe3 ¦f5 29.¦hg1 ¦8f7 30.¦g5 ¦xg5 31.¦xg5 ¢h6 32.¦e5 ¦f6 33.a4 a6 34.a5 ¢h7 35.b4 ¢h6 36.¢e4 ¦f7 37.b5 axb5 38.cxb5 cxb5 39.¦xb5 ¦d7 40.¦e5 ¦d6 41.¢e3 ¢h7 42.¦b5 ¦d7 43.¢d3 ¢h6 44.¢e4 ¦f7 45.¦e5 ¦d7 46.¦xe6+ ¢xh5 47.d5 g5 48.d6 g4 49.¢f4 ¦f7+ 50.¢g3 ¢g5 51.¦e7 ¦f6 52.¦e5+ 1-0 Srinath,N (2383)-A n k i t , R ( 2 4 1 2 ) / T a s h k e n t 2 0 1 2 /CB23_2012 ; 20...¥e7 21.c4 £d7

22.¤e5 ¤xe5 23.dxe5 ¢h8 ) 21.¤h4 £xd4 22.f3 ¤e5 23.¤g6 ¦fe8 24.¦d1 £c4 25.£h2 ¤f7 26.¦xd6 ¤xd6 27.£xd6 £d5 28.£g3 e5 29.¦g1 £d6 30.¤h4 £f6 31.¤xf5 ¦f8 32.£g4 ¦ae8 33.¤xg7 ¦e7 34.£e4+ ¢h8 35.¦g6 1-0 Bok,B


(2488)-Solleveld,M (2502)/Netherlands2012/CB17_2012 ]

[ 17...¦fd8! 18.¢a1 ( 18.¤e5 a5 19.f3 a4 20.a3 £b5 21.c4 £a6 22.g4 ¤d7 23.f4 ¤xe5 24.dxe5 b5 ) 18...¤g4 19.¥c1 c5 20.c4 £f5 21.¤e5 ¤xe5 22.dxe5 ¦d4 23.¦xd4 cxd4 24.¦d1 ¦d8 25.¦d3 f6 26.f4 fxe5 27.fxe5 ¦f8 28.¦f3 d3 29.¦xd3 £f1 30.£c2 ¦f2 31.¦d1 ¦xc2 32.¦xf1 ¦xg2 33.¥e3 a6 34.¢b1 ¦h2 35.¦d1 ¦xh5 36.¦d7 ¦xe5 37.¥d4 ¦e4 38.¢c2 e5 39.¥c3 ¥g5 40.c5 ¦c4 41.b4 h5 42.¢b3 ¦xc3+ 43.¢xc3 h4 44.¦xb7 h3 45.¦d7 e4 46.¦d1 h2 47.a4 ¥e3 48.c6 ¥b6 49.a5 ¥c7 50.¢d4 ¢f7 51.¢xe4 ¢e6 52.¢f3 g5 53.¢g2 ¥d6 54.b5 axb5 55.a6 1-0 Bodnaruk,A (2423)-Pustovoitova,D (2333)/St Petersburg2011/CBM 141 Extra ]

[ 17...¦fd8 ]

XABCDEFGHY8r+ + trk+(7zp + vlpzp '6 +p+psn zp&5+p+q+ +P%4 + zP + +$3+ + vLN+ #2PzPP+QzPP+"1+K+R+ +R![xabcdefghy

It seems logical to dissuade White fromplaying c2-c4, but I do not think this is apart of Gawain's plan. As we will see,this is a commonly played variation, with

many recent games. of the alternatives, Ilike 17...Rfd8! 18.¤e5 a5 This looks abit slow, but by now Black already hassome problems anticipating the Whiteattack. 19.g4 a4

[ Trying to exchange off the Knight isno t en t i re l y sa t i s fac to ry : 19...¤d7

20.¤xd7 £xd7 21.g5± ] [ but confusing chances can beobta ined af ter 19...¤e4!? 20.¦de1

( 20.¦he1 ¥b4 21.¦g1 a4 ; 20.f3 ) 20...¥b4÷ ]

20.g5 hxg5 21.h6 g6 22.h7+ ¢h8 [ 22...¤xh7 23.f4 ]

23.¥xg5 White has powered throughwithout loss of t ime and now has anexce l len t pos i t ion . Le f t t o h is owndevices he can improve the situation withQe3-f4. a3 24.b3 ¦a7 25.f3

[ 25.£e3 ] 25...¥d8 26.¤xc6!

[ 26.£e3 is equally strong. ]

XABCDEFGHY8 + vl tr mk({7tr + +p+P'6 +N+psnp+&5+p+q+ vL %4 + zP + +$3zpP+ +P+ #2P+P+Q+ +"1+K+R+ +R!xabcdefghy

A nice tactical shot, which more or lesswins. 26...£xg5

[ 26...£xc6 27.£e5 £xf3 ( 27...¢g7 28.¥h6+ ) 28.¦df1+- ]


27.¤xa7 b4 28.£e5 £xe5 29.dxe5 ¤d5 30.¤b5 ¥e7 31.¦d3! ¦b8 32.c4 bxc3 33.¤xc3 Confident play in thetechnical phase by Gawain Jones. ¤b6

34.¦d4 ¦c8 35.¤e4 ¤d5 36.¦c4 ¦d8 37.¦c6 ¥f8 38.¤g5 ¦d7 39.¦c8 ¢g7 40.¦xf8 It is not so easy to crack theC a r o - K a n n a n d s o t h i s h a s t o b econsidered a very good game by White.1-0

Andrew Martin First Steps in Chess Strategy

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