What's New (April 2004 update)
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Hi Everyone! This month we take a look at games in the Nimzo Indian, Modern Benoni, Queen's Indian and 'weird' Benoni from tournaments that have taken place in the past month.Remember, if you have any opinions, ideas or questions, please either make yourself heard at the Forum (the link above on the right) or subscribers can email me at JohnEmms@ChessPublishing.com.
Whilst on the subject, many thanks to the reader who pointed out a massive improvement for White in the game Bareev-Van Wely from the March update. It seems like White is winning easily with the very strong 17 Qe5! in the diagram position:
            
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for example:
a) 17...Bd6 18 Nxg7+ Kd7 19 Qe6+ Kc7 20 Bxf6 and 20...e3 doesn't lead anywhere after either 21 Rd1 or 21Rg1
b) Fritz suggests 17...Qb6, but then White has, amongst others, 18 Bxf6 gxf6 19 Qxf6, answering 19...Rg8 with 20 Rg1!.
To download the April '04 Nimzo and Benoni games directly in PGN form, click here: 
Nimzo Indian Classical Variation (4 Qc2)
Many thanks go to Phil Adams for supplying me notes to an amazing game he played in one of the main lines of the Classical Nimzo. The game D.Anderton-P.Adams, correspondence 1999 began with the moves 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qc2 0-0 5 a3 Bxc3+ 6 Qxc3 b6 7 Bg5 Bb7
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So far on this website we've concentrated on the main moves 8 f3 and 8 e3, but Anderton plays 8 Nf3, which has also become quite popular in the last few years. White's plan is to play an early Nd2, controlling the crucial e4-square. Watch out for an incredibly original end to the game.
Next up are two games where White plays the uncompromising 4 Qc2 0-0 5 e4. Firstly we have the game Pataki-P.Horvath, Budapest with 5...d5 6 e5 Ne4 7 Bd3 c5 8 a3 Bxc3+ 9 bxc3 cxd4 10 cxd4 Qa5+ 11 Kf1 Nc6 12 Ne2:
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We've already looked at a couple of games from this position before. White has lost castling rights but aside from that his position is reasonably good: he has the bishop pair, good presence in the centre and threatens to annoy Black with f2-f3. However, in this encounter he soon makes a mistake, giving Black the advantage.
Even sharper is the game Erdos - Berczes, Budapest 2004: 5...c5 6 e5 cxd4 7 a3 Qa5!? 8 axb4 Qxa1 9 exf6 dxc3 10 fxg7 Re8 11 bxc3
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This is a critical position for the assessment of this line. Black has many possibilities here but it's unclear which is best. In this game he plays 11...a5!?, trying to activate the rook on a8 and giving the queen extra retreat squares.
Modern Benoni: 7...a6: A novelty on move eight!
I don't often take blitz games seriously, but the encounter Epishin - Gofshtein, Internet (blitz) 2004 is worthy of inclusion due to a very interesting novelty by White as early as move eight: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 e6 4 Nc3 exd5 5 cxd5 d6 6 e4 g6 7 Nf3 a6
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We've seen this move a lot on this website. I would say it's now nearly as popular as the traditional 7...Bg7. Normally White responds with 8 a4, 8 h3 or 8 Bf4, but on this occasion Epishin plays the strange-looking 8 Qe2!?. I can't find any previous examples of this move, but it's really not bad at all. White's crude idea is to exploit Black's lagging development with a very quick e4-e5.
Modern Benoni Mikenas Attack
In Nguyen Chi Minh-Sandner, Bundesliga 2003/04, White played 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5 4 d5 exd5 5 cxd5 d6 6 e4 g6 7 f4 Bg7 8 e5 (the Mikenas Attack) 8...Nfd7 9 Nb5 dxe5 10 Nd6+ Ke7 11 Nxc8+ Qxc8 12 Nf3 Re8 13 Be2!?
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An intriguing attempt to breathe some new life into this variation, (the main line runs 13 fxe5 Nxe5 14 Bb5 Nbd7 15 Nxe5 Kf8! 16 0-0 Rxe5 - see Grahn-El Kher, Copenhagen 2002 in ChessPub, ECO code A66).
Queen's Indian 4 Nc3 Bb4 5 Bg5
The game Kiss - Meszaros, Budapest 2004 begins 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 Nc3 Bb4 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bh4 Bb7 7 e3 g5 8 Bg3 Ne4 9 Qc2 (9 Nd2!? is the old pawn sacrifice favoured by Kasparov, but it's not seen much these days) 9...Bxc3+ 10 bxc3 Nxg3 11 hxg3
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11 hxg3 isn't as ambitious as 11 fxg3!?, where White gains lots of compensation for his ugly pawn structure with attacking chances down the f-file. But it's still a very playable move, although Black's position looks pretty sound.
Weird Benoni: 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 c5 3 d5 b5!?
Finally this month, a good old-fashioned hack attack in the game Konopka - Vavra, Czech League 2004: After 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 c5 3 d5 e6 White is not obliged to enter the Modern Benoni with 4 c4. With 4 Nc3 White hopes to get a small edge after the typical continuation 4...exd5 5 Nxd5 Nxd5 6 Qxd5. This is not bad for Black, but a bit dull and it's very difficult to generate counterplay. With this in mind, Vavra opts for something a little more ambitious with 4...b5!?
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offering a pawn sacrifice for control of the centre. This gambit can be compared to the Blumenfeld (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 c5 4 d5 b5!?).
Till next time,
John Emms