What's New- June '01
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Classical 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7 Welcome to this month's French update. |
Firstly, can you imagine an opening system in which Black plays ...c7-c5, ...a7-a6, ...Qb6 and then ...Qa7 all in the space of the first nine moves? It sounds bizarre when you think about these moves in the abstract, but it looks pretty normal when Radjabov plays them in the Classical 4 e5 game given below. This is a good example of modern chess- a Grandmaster of the 1920s would never play like this. If someone did, Tarrasch would have protested loudly at this neglect of the laws of development and I think maybe even Nimzowitsch would have needed some convincing.
Relying on general principles in the opening phase of the game is very much second best to knowing what has been tried and tested in the past and whether or not it worked in those games. In many opening systems the position is so complicated that often it is a case of trial and error in finding the best move. Therefore it better that some GM- preferably a World Champion- did the experimenting for you in a game you know about, rather than you try to find the correct move yourself. That is why opening novelties can make even the best players go completely wrong- some positions are at the very edge, or perhaps even beyond, the boundaries of what can be worked out during a game. So if Kasparov surprises a 2750 player in a double edged opening line whether or not they survive can be down to no more than a lucky guess!
It is this complexity that has kept chess alive and saved it from the draw death predicted in the 1920s- an absolute understanding of chess is just beyond the reach of the human intellect, but just close enough to keep us all trying to grasp it.
Still I expect you want to see some games and there is a lot of great French action to report.
Advance
One of the most common positions in the Advance these days is reached after the moves
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.a3 Nh6 7.b4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Bb2
            
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You can find a discussion of all the earlier moves on the 'Advance: White aims for b2-b4' subpage- look for the second diagram from the top. Here I just want to think about the line 9...Bd7 10 g4. Now Black has an important choice. Firstly, he could play 10...Nh6 when 11.Rg1 f6! 12.exf6 gxf6 13.Nc3 Nf7 proved OK for Black in Short-Lputian-see NM70. Instead Shirov tried the alternative 11 h3!? against Sadvakasov at the recent SuperGM tournament in Astana.
This game is an amazing demonstration of Shirov's ability to generate dynamic play in return for material. Black shouldn't have lost, but this game is a graphic reminder of Tarrasch's dictum that if one piece stands badly the whole game stands badly- so you see that despite what I say above general principles can be useful! Here Black's knight on h6 remains stranded for the whole of the middlegame struggle. I suspect Sadvakasov overpressed because it was the last round and he hadn't won any games- no one likes to go through a whole tournament without a win. Have a look at Shirov-Sadvakasov, JUN01/03.
Black's alternative after 10 g4 is 10...Nfe7. This looks at first glance obviously the better retreat- the knight stays actively in the centre. In fact things aren't so clear cut as compared to the 10...Nh6 line White doesn't have to spend a tempo on defending the g4 pawn. Therefore the immediate 11 Nc3! with ideas of Na4 and Nc5 gives White chances for the initiative on the queenside. A hard battle lies ahead. As an illustrative game, I've selected a recent clash in which White waits too long to start active play with Nc3. The result is that his light squares collapse before he can develop any compensating initiative. You will also find references to more successful attempts by White in the game Ancheyta-Nogueiras, JUN01/04.
Advance 4 Qg4
Next up is a spirited attacking display by White in the offbeat gambit line 4 Qg4. Black responds in the same manner as in NM51 and achieves a good position before going seriously astray. OK, it's not sound but White still deserves great credit for the way he kept his much stronger opponent under continuous pressure- after all, how often does a player rated 2168 beat a GM rated 2493? Have a look at the wild game Gelfenboim-Schlosser, JUN01/02.
Whether you are tempted to try 4 Qg4 as White or want to know how to defend against it as Black, you would do well to recall the so called antidote to this line already given in NM86. If you can find an improvement on this game then think what a great surprise weapon 4 Qg4 would be in your tournament games- it's particularly nice that that it comes as early as the fourth move as Black has little opportunity to sidestep it.
Classical 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7
Winawer Mainline 7 Qg4 0-0
The Rustemov System is revisited in our next game. I must admit this game confuses me. Black is the strong Russian Grandmaster Shulman but he plays a move that has been given as losing both on the website and in my book on the Winawer. However, rather than playing the supposedly winning reply, White- no less than Nigel Short- plays a different move and loses in 24 moves! Any ideas why Short was afraid and Shulman brave? Have a look at Short-Shulman, JUN01/07 and if you think you know email me the answer or write it in Chesspub.exe!
Classical 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7
Winawer Mainline 'Declined' 5...Ba5
The Israeli Grandmaster Emil Sutovsky won the gold medal at the European Championship in Macedonia- his deep preparation and aggressive style was ideal for the size and strength of the event. If you enter the mainline of an opening and have the reputation of being a strong theorist, you may find that your opponent plays an inferior move just to dodge what you may- or may not!- have prepared. In the game given here Jacimovic avoids the critical lines but soon runs into deep trouble. Have a look at Sutovsky-Jacimovic, JUN01/05.
Meanwhile after 5...Ba5 Subscriber Karl Tillotson asks if Black should be concerned about 6 dxc5. Now 6...Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Ne7 8.Qg4 would transpose to the lines discussed in the Sutovsky game above which are given via the usual sequence of moves 6.Qg4 Ne7 7.dxc5 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3.
However after 6 dxc5 White isn't immediately attacking g7, so Black can delay Ne7 in favour of [6...Bxc3+ 7.bxc3] Qc7!? when White's attacking idea with Qg4 has been ruled out as 8 Qg4 fails to 8....Qxe5+. Therefore White would have to settle for 8 Nf3 when Black held the draw after 8...Nd7 9.Bb5 Ne7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Bxd7 Bxd7 12.Be3 Nf5 in Short-Hug, Garmisch 1994- the extra pawn is pretty meaningless.
It isn't clear that Black does best by taking up the option to play Qc7, but I guess most players of White would prefer not to have to bother analysing it and so settle for 6 Qg4.
Classical 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7
Tarrasch 3...Nf6
-transposing from 3...c5
Our first game in the Tarrasch is from a simul by Kasparov against the Faroe Islands. Rodgaard had the chance to transpose to a variation of the 3...Be7 Tarrasch. I wish he had taken it- I would have loved to see what the World No1 had prepared against this line as it has proved consistently good for Black in tournaments- see for example the next game given below.
However, the present game raises a very interesting question: why after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 does the sequence 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Qxf6 give Black interesting counterplay whereas the similar looking 5.Ngf3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Bd3 f6 8.exf6 Qxf6 is much worse for him? You can find the answer in the analysis to this game- as usual even in a simul' Kasparov has done his homework and finds a hole in his opponent's repertoire.
At a more basic level, Black's demise reminds us that tactics always come before strategy. Have a look at Kasparov-Rodgaard, JUN01/06.
Classical 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7
Tarrasch 3...c5 4 exd5 Qxd5
Recent games indicate that the 2600+ club have agreed that Black is OK in the 'long' mainline. Therefore White is looking for other ways to attack Black's opening system. Last month we looked at Kasparov's new idea against Gelfand; this month another method has come to the fore at the European Championship and at the Karpov Tournament. [Incidentally, it strikes me as curious to have a 'Memorial' tournament to Karpov while he is still very much alive and kicking.]
I like Rublevsky's attacking set up. It all depends on a very subtle decision: when Black attacks the h2 pawn with his queen and bishop, should White respond with h2-h3 or should he move his king? You can see for yourself by looking at the references in Rublevsky-Morovic, JUN01/10.
Classical 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7
Tarrasch 3...Be7
We have seen a lot of games recently under the heading 'White has the Wrong Knight on f3!' on the 3...Be7 subpage. This bold statement has by no means proved an exaggeration- White has suffered a lot of sharp defeats and narrow escapes here and as far as I can recall not a single memorable win. In the previous games given on the website Black concentrated on beginning his counterplay on the queenside; in the example given here from the European Championship Volkov, a former Russian Champion, scores a convincing win with more direct play on the kingside. Take a look at Rublevsky-Volkov, JUN01/01.
Classical 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7
Classical 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7
Here I have been very impressed with the way the young Ruslan Ponomariov outplayed Psakhis. Psakhis is always exceptionally hard to beat and to add to this adopts the highly solid 5...Nbd7 variation. Yet he still finds himself put into a positional straitjacket by the young Ukranian after a seemingly innocuous reply- it is no wonder that Ponomariov already has the nickname among East Europeans of the 'little Karpov'!
Looking at chess history, it seems to me that as knowledge advances the title of World Champion is swapped backwards and forwards between players with either predominately strategical or tactical styles. Thus the 'father of positional play' Steinitz was beaten by the practical Lasker, who in turn lost to the maestro of technique Capablanca who was then himself downed by the combinative Alekhine. After Alekhine's death the heavyweight positional player Botvinnik emerged as the dominant force.
Parallels in our modern age could be drawn with the styles of Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand. If the World is due another great positional World Champion then maybe it will be the young Ponomariov. Take a look at Ponomariov-Psakhis, JUN01/08.
Classical 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7
Classical 4 e5
Another potential Superstar is Teimour Radjabov. For such a young player, he has his repertoire sorted out nicely. I like the way he handles the Classical in this month's game- the black queen proves well placed on a7 directing the attack against the key point on d4. Black is soon pressing for the win, but the result is an unusual draw by repetition. Have a look at Berg-Radjabov, JUN01/09.
Classical 4 Bg5 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Nbd7
Well that's the end for this month. Now go out there and win some games with the French!
Neil