CVO_083.pdf

No. 83, August 4, 2010

OPENINGS

WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT?

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Beating the

Czech Benoni

By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris

Frequency

Caruana won the tournament in Biel in the blitz

tiebreak. The Magistral de San Juan in Pamplona was

a shared victory for Wojtaszek and Fressinet, while

Morozevich was out of shape. We also had a look at

the games of the Wch Correspondence Final.

WHAT’S HOT?

Score

N.Kosintseva is becoming more and more of an 1.e4 expert, as can be

judged from her win against Open Lopez expert Mikhalevski. At the World

Championship of Correspondence Chess every third game was a Najdorf.

Black drew with the trendy 9...h5 Taimanov in Negi-Vachier Lagrave, but we

suspect White was better along the way. In both Morozevich-Zvjagintsev

(French Steinitz) and Kurnosov-Lopez Martinez (Caro-Kann) Black

deviated from the well throdden paths and got acceptable play (see PGN).

Wojtaszek did good business with the QGD: with White he beat Morozevich

after a long positional struggle and with Black against co-winner Fressinet

he showed that the isolated pawn on d5 is not really a weakness. Below

we'll have a look at Adams' interesting handling of the Catalan with Black.

With 1.d4 Morozevich wasn't able to achieve much either, as can been

seen in his Grünfeld game against Kurnosov below. Vachier-Lagrave

beat Rodshtein's Grünfeld using the Fianchetto Variation. Giri had mixed

experience with openings that avoid the two most frequently played first

moves. With White he beat So with 1.c4, but with Black he lost against

Nguyen Ngoc Trong Son's 1.¤f3.

Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

The Czech Benoni (1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5) doesn't have a terribly good reputation, but it can be a clever way of avoiding theory and/

or tactical complications. The positionally oriented player may be happy to take the black side of this opening. In the Game of the Week

Wojtaszek-Lopez Martinez the Czech Benoni was completely taken apart though. In the

diagram position Black went for the somewhat suspicious 7...g6.

WHAT’S NOT?

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

No. 83, August 4, 2010

A strategical masterpiece by Wojtaszek

Radoslav Wojtaszek has become known with the big public because of his work as World

Champion Anand's second. This very job seems to have pushed him to the next level, as can

be seen from the current game against Lopez Martinez, which is a real strategical masterpiece.

The right recapture. After 21.¥xf4?! ¥f6

followed by 22...£e7 Black consolidates his

position.

21...¥xh4 22.¢d1 ¥g3?

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The main defender of the black squares wil

soon be eliminated. 22...¥f6 would have made

White's task harder, though after 23.¢c2 White

is still better.

23.¢c2 h4 24.¤d3 ¤c7 25.a4!

Finishing all Black ’ s hopes for counterplay.

25...¤a6 26.¥f3 £e7 27.¤e2 ¤b6 28.£c3+ f6

In case of 28...£f6 29.£xf6+ ¢xf6 White

has 30.¥d2! ¤b4+ 31.¤xb4 axb4 32.a5!

disconnecting Black ’ s ¦s: 32...¦xa5 33.¤xg3

and wins.

29.¦bg1 ¤b4+ 30.¢d2!

30.¤xb4?! axb4 would unnecessarily

complicate things, as White has to reckon with

all sorts of sacrifices on a4.

30...¤a2 31.£a1 ¤b4 32.¤xg3 hxg3 33.¦xg3

¤xd3

33...¥xa4? fails to 34.f5! (not 34.bxa4? ¤xc4+

35.¢e2 ¤xe3) 34...¥e8 35.fxg6 (threatening

¤f4-e6) 35...¤xd3 36.¦xh8 ¢xh8 37.£h1+

¢g8 38.g7+-.

34.¢xd3 ¢f7?

More stubborn would have been 34...¥e8

though after 35.¦xh8 ¢xh8 36.¥d2!

Black ’ s position will soon fall apart as well.

35.¦xh8 ¦xh8 36.£g1 ¦h6 37.¦xg6!

and here Black resigned, in view of 37...¦xg6

38.¥h5 when White is a pawn up and has a

winning position.

1–0

GAME OF THE WEEK

Wojtaszek, R (2663) - Lopez Martinez, J (2543)

San Juan (Pamplona), 31.07.2010

A56, Czech Benoni

Gheorghiu, Skopje 1970. An interesting

alternative is 8.¥h6 ¤g4 9.¥d2 h5 10.f3 ¤gf6

and now instead of 11.£c2 h4, White better

plays 11.h4!? with similar play as in the game.

8...h5 9.g3 ¢f8 10.f3!

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White has successfully restricted Black's

possibilities on the kingside. Black's space

disadvantage makes it much harder for him

to regroupe his pieces. The senseless 10.¥d2

was played once before in Van Hoolandt-

Ermenkov, Turin 2006.

10...¢g7 11.¥e3 ¤e8 12.£d2 ¤c7 13.a3 ¤a6

14.¦b1 ¤b6 15.b3!

Now it becomes obvious that Black can hardly

create any play on the queenside either. Also

playable is 15.b4 but since Black ’ s ¤s are out

of play on the queenside, there is no need to

force matters on that wing.

15...¥d7 16.¤g1!

The closed character of the position enables

White to slowly improve the position of his

pieces before taking concrete measures.

16...¤c8 17.¤h3 ¤c7 18.¤f2 a5 19.f4!

The consequences of this pawn sacrifice don ’ t

require deep calculation, as Black ’ s pieces are

awkwardly placed.

19...¤e8

Probably Black didn ’ t feel ready for the

immediate pawn grab: 19...exf4 20.gxf4 ¥xh4

21.e5! with a powerful initiative.

20.¥e2 exf4 21.gxf4!

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5

The Czech Benoni is a rare guest at this level.

Black has a slightly passive position, but he

has his strategical trumps as well.

4.¤c3 d6 5.e4 ¥e7 6.¥d3 ¤bd7 7.¤ge2

Rather than fianchettoing the ¥, this kind of

setup seems to be White's most promising.

The pawn structure on the kingside remains

flexible. This game proves that once the

position becomes open, the ¥ is better off on

d3, while on g2 its range would have been

limited.

7...g6?!

Judging from subsequent play, we have to

condemn this move. Alternatives:

a) The provocative 7...¤h5?! can be met by

8.g4!. The following example illustrates the

dangers for Black: 8...¤hf6 9.¤g3 g6 10.¥h6

¥f8 11.¥e3 h5 12.g5 h4 13.¤ge2 ¤h5 14.¦g1

¥e7 15.£d2 a6 16.0–0–0 0–0 17.¦g4 b5 18.¦xh4

bxc4 19.¥b1! ¦e8 20.¦xh5! gxh5 21.¤g3

Vallejo Pons-Graf, Benidorm rapid 2003.

b) 7...a6 8.0–0 (8.¤g3 h5 9.¤f5 ¥f8 10.¥g5 g6

11.¤e3 h4 12.g3 ¥h6 13.¥xh6 ¦xh6 14.£d2

¦h8 and since the black-squared ¥s have

been traded, Black was doing fine in Zhao

Jun-Nisipeanu, Khanty-Mansiysk 2007.) 8...

h5 9.a3 h4 10.b4 ¤h5 11.¥c2 ¥g5 12.¥a4

£f6?! 13.bxc5 dxc5 14.¦b1 ¦b8 15.¥xg5 £xg5

16.£c1 £xc1 17.¤xc1 ¤hf6 18.¤d3± Dreev-

Can, Budva 2009.

c) 7...h5!? 8.f3 (Serious attention deserves

8.h4!? Compared with the game, Black still has

the g-pawn on its initial square which gives

him the additional option to go for ¤f8-g6.) 8...

h4 9.¥e3 g6 10.£d2 ¢f8 11.a3 ¢g7 12.b4 a6

13.¤a4 b6 14.¦b1 ¤h7 15.bxc5 bxc5 16.0–0

¥g5 with level chances in Zhao Xue-Aronian,

Beersheba 2005.

8.h4

Premature is 8.f3?! ¤h5 9.¥e3 ¥g5 with a

comfortable game for Black in Reshevsky-

WOJTASZEK-LOPEZ MARTINEZ

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

No. 83, August 4, 2010

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Najdorf, 6.¥e3 e5

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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 a6 6.¥e3 ¤g4 7.¥c1 ¤f6 8.f3 e5 9.¤b3 ¥e7 10.¥e3 ¥e6 11.£d2 0–0 12.

0–0–0 ¤bd7 13.g4 b5 14.g5 b4 15.¤e2 ¤e8 16.f4 a5 17.f5 a4 18.¤bd4 exd4 19.¤xd4 b3 20.¢b1 bxc2+ 21.¤xc2 ¥b3

22.axb3 axb3 23.¤a3 ¤e5 24.h4 ¦a4 25.¦h3 £a8 26.£d5 ¦xa3 27.bxa3 £xa3 28.£d2 £a8 29.¥d4 £xe4+ 30.¢b2

Note that the move numbers are two higher than usual because of the repetition of moves initiated with 7.¥c1.

The position after 24...¦a4 can be considered the current main line of chess, if you would go by either the latest

Correspondence World Championship or the Rybka 3 book. Before moving on to 8...e5, we should mention

the interesting novelty 18.¦hf1!? (Van Oosterom-Murray) in the 8...e6 line we discussed in CVO 72. In Van

Oosterom-Vrkoc it was shown that 17...¥xb3 has not yet been refuted either. The line 18.fxe6 axb3 19.exf7 ¦xf7

20.¢b1 bxc2 21.¢xc2 ¤b6 22.£xb4 obviously cannot be anything for White, as was shown in two identical

games at the Corr Wch. In the critical position after 24...¦a4 the Rybka 3 book examines no less than five

different options for White. Remarkably all five games we added (including Quesada Perez-Andriasian) ended

in a draw, so we can speak of a delicate dynamic balance.

Grivas Sicilian

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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 £b6 5.¤b3 ¤f6 6.¤c3 e6 7.£e2 ¥b4 8.¥d2 0–0 9.a3 ¥e7 10.0–0–0 d5 11.e5 ¤d7

12.f4 ¤c5 13.¤xc5 £xc5 14.h4 ¥d7 15.¥e1 ¦fc8 16.¤a4 ¤d4 17.¤xc5 ¤xe2+ 18.¥xe2 ¥xc5 19.¦f1 a5 20.¥f2 b6 21.g4

4...£b6 may be refered to as the Grivas Sicilian since Greek GM Efstratios Grivas played it countless times

and published a book about it in 2005. 7.£e2!? is a nice attacking line against it, with the idea of castling

queenside as quickly as possible. One shouldn't worry about ¥f1, since that piece is perfectly fine there for

the time being and will later move to either d3 or h3. On the prophylactic 10...£c7!? White may consider the

counter-prophylactic 11.¢b1!?. The idea is that after ...d6 one continues with the standard attacking move g4

and in the isolated d-pawn positions that appear after ...d5 exd5 one may prefer to have the pawn on g3. In

Van Delft-Neverov Black deviated with 12...¤c5 from the model attacking game Ootes-Siebrecht, Wijk aan Zee

2009 (a game not available in Megabase/TWIC, but which I (MvD) downloaded from the tournament site). The

queens were exchanged, but surprisingly enough I soon got a dangerous attack anyway by simply pushing my

kingside pawns.

Catalan, 4...¥b4+, 5...¥d6

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1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.¤f3 ¥b4+ 5.¥d2 ¥d6 6.¥g2 c6 7.£c2 ¤bd7 8.0–0 0–0 9.¦d1

£e7 10.¥g5 h6 11.¥xf6 ¤xf6 12.¤bd2 e5 13.dxe5 ¥xe5 14.cxd5 ¤xd5 15.¤xe5 £xe5

Instead of the common 5...¥e7, with 5...¥d6!? Black has another retreat of his ¥ worth considering. On d6 the ¥

is a bit more active, as Black's idea is to carry out the liberating ...e5 with the help of ...£e7. The diagram position

offers Black equal chances as his position doesn't show any weaknesses. White's chances lie on the kingside (he

has a pawn majority there), but the immediate push of the pawns has clear drawbacks as well. Adams perfectly

anticipated and exchanged one pair of rooks. Although his kingside got weakened by 22.f6, the central files were

controlled by the £ and ¦. By 29.¦d1? White committed a horrible blunder, which abruptly ended the game. An

interesting idea for White is 9.¥f4, preventing ...e5 and leaving Black with a bad ¥ on c8. Matters turn out not

to be that simple, and the weakened pawn structure gives Black hopes for counterplay as well. After studying

games of GMs Adams, Ponomariov and Turov, this line can be included in a solid black repertoire.

Grünfeld, Russian System

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1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 d5 4.¤f3 ¥g7 5.£b3 dxc4 6.£xc4 0–0 7.e4 a6 8.e5 b5 9.£b3 ¤fd7 10.e6 fxe6

11.¥e3 ¤f6 12.a4 bxa4 13.¦xa4 ¤c6 14.¥c4 ¦b8 15.¥xe6+ ¢h8 16.£c4 ¥xe6 17.£xe6 £d6 18.¤g5 ¤d8

Nowadays, with the help of the special move order 4.£b3, the early £ sortie attracts new fans against the

Grünfeld. The fashionable 8.¥e2 seems to have been put under control by Svidler's 11...¤bd7 and hence White

players are having a fresh look at the more aggressive 8.e5 again. In Morozevich-Kurnosov Black slightly

improved on current theory by 18...¤d8!?, whereas in two earlier games after 18...¦xb2 Black had to suffer a

bit. On move 22 Moro called it a day, as after 22.g3 £b4! £s will be traded when there doesn't remain much to

play for. A few months ago GM Zdenko Kozul, an expert in this field, instead chose 15.£c2?!, but after 15...¤b4!

Black's dynamic chances outweighed his structural weaknesses. A true model game for Grünfeld players. The

same can be said about the game Shabalov-Kamsky where Black opted for 12...b4!?. By immediately returning

the pawn, Black accelerates completing his development. His wonderful position was ruined by the one-move

blunder 21...£g3?, dropping the ¥ on b7. The Hungarian system (...a6) is definitely in good shape these days.

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

No. 83, August 4, 2010

IT'S YOUR MOVE

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LAST WEEK'S SOLUTIONS

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Van Delft-Monsma, Open Dutch Ch (Dieren) 2010

22.¦g1! 22.h7+ ¢xh7 23.¤f4 ¥e8! 24.¤xe6 £f5 25.¤xd8 ¦xd8 is still a bit stubborn.; 22.¤f4! ¤e7 (22...£f7

23.¦g1 ¤e7 24.¤xh5 wins for White.) 23.h7+ ¢h8 24.¤xh5! gxh5 25.¥g5! may be the most killing line of all. You

can safely consider yourself a grandmaster of attack if you found this line. 22.¢d2 cannot be bad either, bringing

the other rook into play. 22...¢h7 23.¤f4 ¤e7 24.¤xh5! Again this typical sacrifice to open the roads to Black ’ s

¢. 24...gxh5 25.¦g7+ ¢h8 26.¥g5 ¤g8 27.¥xd8 27.£xh5 ¥e8 28.£h4 ¦d7 29.¦xd7 ¥xd7 30.h7! also wins.

27...¦xd8 28.£xh5 £f4 29.h7?? I should have sticked with my first intention 29.¦g4 £f5 30.£xf5 exf5 31.¦g6

with a winning ending. 29...¤h6 30.¦xd7 ¦f8! This unpleasant surprise keeps Black in the game. 31.f3 £e3+

32.¢d1 ¤f5 33.¦f7 ¦xf7 34.£xf7 £g1+ 35.¢d2 £e3+ 36.¢d1 £g1+ 37.¢d2 £e3+ 38.¢d1 ½–½

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Wang Yue-Wei Yi, Chinese Team Ch (Shanghai) 2010

20.c5! With this positional exchange sacrifice White keeps a strong initiative. 20...¥xd4 In case of 20...¤d7

White can simply retreat with 21.¦dd1 and c4 is no longer hanging. 21.¤xd4 ¤d7 22.c6! bxc6 22...¤b6 is met

by 23.¤b5! £b8 (23...£e7 24.¥a3; 23...£d8 24.cxb7) 24.c7 trapping the £. 23.¤xc6 ¢h8 24.£d2 Threatening

25.£xh6. 24...¢h7 25.¥a3 ¥a6 25...¦e8 26.¥d6. 26.¥d6 £c8 27.¥xf8 and Black resigned as both 27...¤xf8

(and 27...£xf8 28.£xd7) 28.¤e7 lose more material. 1–0

www.chessvibes.com/openings

ChessVibes Openings is a weekly PDF magazine that covers the latest news on chess openings. Which openings are hot in top level chess?

Which are not? Editors IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris keep you updated once a week! Singles issues cost € 1. You can subscribe too:

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