CVO_032.pdf

No. 32, August 12, 2009

OPENINGS

WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT?

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The classical 1.e4 e5

continues to be hot

By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris

Frequency

The ifth Grand Prix tournament in Jermuk has started,

with Aronian as the big favourite playing on home

ground. While tonight the 18th Netherlands-England

soccer match is on TV, the Staunton Memorial is also

becoming a tradition.

WHAT’S HOT?

Score

Last week ’ s 1.e4 e5 trend is firmly established this week. With Jermuk and

Staunton combined, in 15 out of 21 cases Black replied to 1.e4 with 1...

e5. The Petroff is in good shape again after some problems earlier this

year, which was shown by Smeets against Adams. At the Kavala Open,

Melkumyan followed his famous countrymen with a tense Marshall win

over Banikas. Leko won against Inarkiev ’ s Anti-Marshall. Nigel Short

typically looked for new ways and won games with the Italian and 5.¤c3

in the Ruy Lopez. And so did Cheparinov, who beat Jakovenko with the

Spanish Four Knights.

The Sicilian is having mixed results for Black. The world ’ s youngest

grandmaster is having fun with the Taimanov, as our Game of the Week

shows. In the diagram position Giri played the modern 9...h5!? with which

he beat Nijboer in a nice game earlier this summer. Smeets beat Jones in

the 9.0-0-0 Dragon (see PGN file).

Just like last week there ’ s not so much news from the 1.d4 front. Aronian

won a long game with the Catalan against Alekseev. Sandipan used a

flashy exhange sacrifice to beat Bartel in the Dutch.

Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

Being White is not very hot this week! Overall on grandmaster level White scored less than 50%, which is quite rare. Opening theory

develops with ups and downs and apparently Black is currently doing fine in most openings. Remarkably the Slav with 4...dxc4 was not

played at all and the Semi-Slav only a few times. Instead Black did good business with

the Grünfeld, King’s Indian and even the Queen’s Indian. The final position of Jakovenko-

Kamsky makes it very visual why the Chebanenko Slav is currently not hot (see PGN file).

WHAT’S NOT?

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

No. 32, August 12, 2009

Modern treatment of the Taimanov

Anish Giri is based in the Netherlands and is one of the quickest rising stars of the moment.

This summer he consistently played the Sicilian Taimanov, centered around the modern 9...

h5!? idea, which slows down the typical English attack.

GAME OF THE WEEK

Sutovsky, E (2675) - Giri, A (2518)

Jubilee Zürich Open, August 10, 2009

B48, Sicilian Taimanov, 9...h5

although Black has no problems here either.

20...£a6 21.¤c4 d5! 22.exd5 exd5 23.¤e5

¤xe5 24.fxe5 b3

24...£xd3+ 25.¢a1 a3 (25...b3 26.¦hd1) 26.b3

with an unclear game, since Black can ’ t bring

any other pieces into play.

25.a3

25.¦c3 is met by 25...¥b4.

25...£xd3+ 26.¢a1 ¥xa3!

Strong and forced, as otherwise Black ’ s attack

would have come to a halt.

27.¦c3

The alternatives are not better: 27.bxa3? b2+

28.¢xb2 ¦b8+ 29.¥b6 £b3+; 27.¤f4 ¥xb2+

28.£xb2 (28.¢xb2? a3+) 28...£xe3 29.¤xd5

a3! 30.¤xe3 axb2+ 31.¢xb2 ¥e6µ.

27...¥xb2+ 28.¢xb2 a3+ 29.¢a1

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29...¥a6?!

A fantastic concept, but not the best move. Had

Black played 29...£e4! 30.¦f1 b2+ 31.¢a2 0–0

the game would have most likely turned out in

his favour.

30.¦xd3 ¥xd3 31.¦d1

Now White accepts the draw. Instead he

could have continued with 31.¥d4 0–0 (31...

b2+ 32.¥xb2 axb2+ 33.¢xb2 0–0 34.¢c3

and the white king seems to escape from the

checks.) 32.£e3 b2+ 33.¢a2 ¥c4+ 34.¢b1

¦fb8 35.¢c2! ¦a6 36.¤c3 a2 37.¤xa2 ¦xa2

38.¦b1 and White manages to eliminate the last

dangerous pawn.

31...b2+ 32.¢a2 ¥c4+ 33.¢b1 ¥d3+ 34.¢a2

¥c4+ 35.¢b1 ¥d3+ ½–½

Macieja, Chotowa 2009.

11...¤e5 12.h3 b5 13.¥d3

Incorrect is 13.f4?! allowing Black to bounce

back with 13...b4!

13...b4 14.¤ce2

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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 e6 3.¤c3 ¤c6 4.d4 cxd4

5.¤xd4 £c7 6.¥e3 a6 7.£d2 ¤f6 8.0–0–0 ¥e7

8...¥b4 putting immediate pressure on the

centre is still Black ’ s main option.

9.f3 h5

This trendy line, mainly employed by Polish

GM Macieja and recently also adopted in a

few games by Giri, has become a serious

alternative to 9...0–0 where for the moment

the game Karjakin-Morozevich, Wijk aan Zee

2009 has put the line in question.

10.£f2

After 10.¥d3 b5 11.¢b1 ¤e5 12.¦he1 ¥b7

13.£f2 d6 14.¤b3 ¤fd7 15.¥d4 b4 16.¤e2 a5

17.f4 a4 18.¤d2 ¤xd3 19.cxd3 ¥a6 20.£f3

¤c5 Black quickly generated counterplay in

Balogh-Macieja, Warsaw 2008. White has

two interesting alternatives which we have

mentioned before in CVO:

a) 10.¥g5!? d6 11.h4 ¥d7 (Now the game

has transposed to a critical position from the

Sicilian Rauzer.) 12.f4!? (12.¢b1 and 12.¤xc6

are common here.) 12...b5 13.¥xb5! axb5

14.¤dxb5 £b8 15.¤xd6+ ¥xd6 16.£xd6 £xd6

17.¦xd6 ¤a7 18.a4 ¤c8 19.¦d4 ¤g4 20.¦hd1

¦a7 21.¤b5 ¦b7 22.¦xd7 1–0 Corrales

Jimenez-Quezada Perez, Havana 2009.

b) 10.¤xc6!? bxc6 11.h3 h4 (11...¦b8!?)

12.¥f4 e5 13.¥g5 ¦b8 14.¥c4 ¦b4 15.¥b3 a5

16.a3 ¦xb3?! 17.cxb3 0–0 18.f4± was recently

seen in Cheparinov-Cramling, Zafra 2009, but

obviously Black ’ s play can be improved.

10...d6 11.¢b1

11.h3 b5 12.¤xc6 £xc6 13.¥d3 h4! (The

immediate push 13...b4?! 14.¤e2 e5 fails

to 15.g4! ¥e6 16.¢b1 hxg4 17.hxg4 ¦xh1

18.¦xh1 d5 19.¤g3± and this is clearly not

what Black was hoping when playing 9...h5;

Vachier Lagrave-Macieja, Germany 2008.)

14.¢b1 b4 15.¤e2 e5 16.¥g5 ¤d7 17.¥xe7

¢xe7 18.£e3 £c5 19.£d2 ¤f6 20.¦hf1 ¥e6

21.f4 a5 and Black is doing fine; Kanarek-

14...h4

Considering Black ’ s strategy to slow down

White ’ s pawn storm, this move makes more

sense than opening the centre, like Giri did in

a previous game: 14...d5 15.¥f4 ¥d6 16.£g3

(16.¥b5+!?) 16...0–0 17.£g5 (17.exd5!? ¤xd5

18.¥e4 ¥b7 19.¤f5) 17...¥b7 18.¤g3? ¤h7

19.£xh5 ¤xd3 and White resigned in Kuipers-

Giri, Utrecht 2009 as the knight is hanging on

g3.

15.¤b3 ¤fd7 16.f4?!

The only previously game with this position

continued 16.¤ed4 ¥b7 17.f4 ¤xd3 18.cxd3

a5 19.¦c1 £d8 20.f5 e5 21.¤c6 ¥xc6 22.¦xc6

0–0 and Black didn ’ t have much to fear in Van

den Doel-Macieja, Wolvega 2008.

16...¤xd3 17.cxd3 a5 18.¦c1 £b7 19.g4

With hindsight it ’ s easy to criticize this move,

as in no possible way White will be able to

launch an attack on the kingside from this

position.

19...a4 20.¤d2

20.¤bd4!? ¤c5 21.¦hd1 £a6 22.£f3 ¥b7

(22...¤xd3? 23.¦c6) 23.¥f2 looks like a better

way of dealing with the weakness on d3,

SUTOVSKY - GIRI

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

No. 32, August 12, 2009

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Petroff, 9.cxd5

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1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤f6 3.¤xe5 d6 4.¤f3 ¤xe4 5.d4 d5 6.¥d3 ¤c6 7.0–0 ¥e7 8.c4

¤b4 9.cxd5 ¤xd3 10.£xd3 £xd5 11.¦e1 ¥f5 12.¤e5 0–0–0 13.£f3 g6 14.g4 ¥b4

While the Petroff Defence is considered to be one of Black ’ s main drawing weapons against 1.e4, it doesn ’t

necessarily mean that White isn ’ t risking anything. During the last edition of the Corus Chess Tournament,

Adams tried the relatively unexplorered 12.g4, but didn ’ t yield much from it. This time the Englishman deviated

from that game and the reigning Dutch Champion, seemingly well-prepared, came up with an interesting and

probably strong novelty. Instead of 14...¥h4, which leads to a drawish ending, Smeets introduced 14...¥b4,

disturbing White ’ s development. Adams immediately went wrong with 15.¦e2 missing Black ’ s strong answer

15...¥xg4! After the improvement 15.¦e3 Black has to play very accurately, as so many pieces are hanging

and there are various threats, but the overall conclusion might be that this line has simply been refuted now.

White ’ s aim to undermine the position of the knight on e4 can ’ t be realized without paying a high prize for it. The

weaknesses of the pawns on d4 and g4 and the undeveloped queenside turned out to be fatal.

Two Knights, 8.¥d3

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1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥c4 ¤f6 4.¤g5 d5 5.exd5 ¤a5 6.¥b5+ 7.dxc6 bxc6 8.¥d3

It ’ s not everyone ’ s cup of tea to try to crack the Marshall Attack and notoriously former World Championship

contender Nigel Short has many sidelines up his sleeve to worry 1.e4 e5 players. One of these is 8.¥d3!? against

the Two Knights Defence. To start with, Aronian preferred 3...¥c5 against Ivanchuk in Jermuk and White mostly

plays 4.d3 these days. Black has tricky alternatives with 5...¤d4!? and 5...b5!?. 8.£f3 is another option and the

main line runs 8.¥e2 h6 9.¤f3 e4 10.¤e5 ¥c5! 11.c3 ¥d6 12.d4 exd3 13.¤xd3 and now 13...0–0! 14.0–0 ¦e8!

“and it was suprisingly difficult for White to move” according to L ’ Ami on his third match game against Stellwagen,

Maastricht Complete Chess 2008. In the diagram position Ivan Sokolov went wrong with 8...h6?! and never really

got into the game against Short. At the Britisch Championship this week Howell succesfully surprised Conquest

with 8...¤d5 9.¤e4 f5 10.¤g3 £f6 11.¥e2 h5!? sacrificing a second pawn. Good old Keres preferred 10...¤f4

in this line.

Four Knights, 11.¥d2

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1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.¥b5 ¥b4 5.0–0 0–0 6.d3 d6 7.¥g5 ¥xc3 8.bxc3 £e7 9.¦e1 ¤d8 10.d4 ¤e6 11.¥d2

Marin observes that historically speaking the Four Knights “was a necessary link during the transistion from the

slightly one-sided romantic openings to the more complex Ruz Lopez”. Even though it is no longer considered to

be critical, Cheparinov showed in his game against Jakovenko that there is still room for creativity in an opening

like the Spanish Four Knights. On move four Black has a rich choice between the classical 4...¥b4, Rubinstein ’ s

4...¤d4 and tricky moves like 4...¥c5!? and 4...¥d6!?. With 7...¥xc3 and 8...£e7 Black initiates the classical plan

of transferring the ¤ to e6. In previous games Jakovenko chose 8...¥d7. Instead of the main move 11.¥c1 which

has been thoroughly examined by Marin in Beating the Open Games , Cheparinov introduced the new setup

11.¥d2 ¦d8 12.¥d3 keeping the tension in the centre. Maybe Black should have prevented ¤h4 with 12...¤d7.

The critical alternative in the game seems to be 29...dxc2! after which Black seems to have decent chances to

save the ending.

Dutch, 3.¤c3 g6 4.h4

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1.d4 f5 2.c4 ¤f6 3.¤c3 g6 4.h4 d6 5.h5 ¤xh5 6.¦xh5 gxh5 7.e4 £d7 8.¤h3 ¢d8

The Dutch defence is a rare guest nowadays in GM games. Only optimistic players like for example Nijboer

and Bartel still play it on a regular bases. Considering the current move order, 3...g6 has a dubious reputation,

because of 4.h4 followed by the exchange sacrifice, already pointed out twenty years ago by the young Piket. It ’ s

interesting to see that a gifted tactician like Bartel keeps faith in Black ’ s resources. In Kavala he came up with an

original idea to switch queen and king, while all other pieces (except the knight) are still on their initial squares.

His 12...¤c6 was a serious mistake and after 13.e5! Black ’ s position was completely paralysed. Instead, it was

absolutely necessary to open up the position with 12...fxe4, with a complete unclear situation. In the game Bartel

couldn ’ t do any better than sacrificing the piece on e6. With precise play his Indian opponent convincingly scored

the full point and so practice still has to show whether Black can stay alive with 12...fxe4 or should return to the

safer 3...d6.

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

No. 32, August 12, 2009

OPENING EXPERT

Who: Michal Krasenkow

Born: November 14, 1963

Nationality: Poland

Rating: 2631

Expertise: White: KID with 6.h3. Black: Sveshnikov, Modern-system and Grünfeld.

Why:

In recent years the younger generation in Poland has overshadowed

Krasenkow’s results. The former number one in his country still plays a

very attractive kind of chess, always with the intention to play for a win

without taking too crazy risks. His style can be described as positionally

dynamic, as in his games you can find plenty of games where he makes

more pawn moves than the average player of his calibre. Playing with

Black he loves to play counterattacking openings like the Sveshnikov and

Grünfeld. In both openings Black aims to grind down White’s pawn centre

with pieces as well as by dynamic pawn breaks. On the White side of

the board he is the leading expert on the h3 system in the King’s-Indian.

He perfectly understands all ins and outs of this system, in which White

mainly anticipates with prophylactical moves.

Krasenkow ’ s game against the Ukrainian

Andrey Vovk is one of his masterpieces in this

line and played an important role to win the

Vlissingen tournament.

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 ¥g7 4.e4 d6 5.¤f3 0–0

6.h3

Played in over 70 games by Krasenkow himself,

with an outstanding performance of 84%!

6...e5 7.d5 a5 8.¥g5 ¤a6 9.¥e2 £e8 10.¤d2

¤d7 11.a3 f6 12.¥h4 ¤b6 13.b3 ¥h6 14.¦b1

¤c5 15.0–0

A logical new move. In a previous game Shirov

got a comfortable position after the overhasty

15.b4?! axb4 16.axb4 ¤ca4 17.¤b5 £d8

18.£b3 ¢g7 19.¦d1 c6 20.¤a3 c5 21.b5 ¤d7

22.¤ab1 £a5 23.¦c1 £b4³ Legky-Shirov,

France 1995.

15...f5?!

In fact this move only weakens Black ’ s position.

Better would have been 15...¥d7!? with the idea

to meet 16.b4 with 16...axb4 17.axb4 ¤ba4.

16.b4 axb4 17.axb4 ¤ca4 18.¤b5 £d7

19.£c2!

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Simple chess: preparing the standard queenside

break c5.

19...c5

If 19...c6?! 20.¤xd6. The move played in the

game seems to stop White ’ s ambitions, but...

20.¤b3! cxb4 21.c5 dxc5 22.¤xc5 £g7

23.¦xb4 ¤xc5 24.£xc5

White has succeeded in opening up the

queenside, while Black ’ s pieces lacking any form

of coordination.

24...¤d7 25.£c3 ¤f6 26.¥xf6

Krasenkow keeps the position as clean as

possible and tries to avoid any complications.

26...£xf6 27.d6 ¥d7 28.¤c7 ¦ad8 29.¦xb7

£xd6

29...¥c8 30.¤d5 £xd6 31.¦b6 and Black

collapses.

30.¦d1 £c6 31.¥c4+ ¢h8 32.¤e6! £xc4

32...¥xe6 33.£xe5+ and wins as the bishop can ’ t

interfere at g7.

33.£xe5+ ¢g8 34.¤xd8 ¦xd8 35.£e7

The rest is easy.

35...£c8 36.¦bxd7 ¦xd7 37.£xd7 £xd7

38.¦xd7 fxe4 39.¦e7 ¥g7 40.¦xe4 ¥f6 41.f4

¢f7 42.g4 ¥d8 43.¢g2 ¥f6 44.¢f3 ¥d8 45.¦d4

¥f6 46.¦d7+ ¢g8 47.¢e4 ¥b2 48.¢d5 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:

€ 25 a year (that’s less than € 0.50 per issue!). More info can be found at www.chessvibes.com/openings .

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