What's New (June 2004 update)
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Hi Everyone! This month we take a look at games in the Nimzo Indian, Modern Benoni and Queen's Indian 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.
To download the June '04 Nimzo and Benoni games directly in PGN form, click here: 
Nimzo Indian Classical Variation (4 e3)
There wasn't that much action in the Nimzo-Indian this month, but I very much liked Black's play in the encounter Korchnoi - Beliavsky, Paks 2004. The game began 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 0-0 5 Nge2 (In general this move is regarded as not as dangerous against 4...0-0, as it is against both 4...c5 and 4...b6. Nevertheless, there are still Grandmasters who are willing to play this line for White, notably Mikhail Gurevich and Alexander Graf, while Ruslan Ponomariov has also tried it recently) 5...d5 6 a3 Be7 7 Ng3
            
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and here Beliavsky played the unusual-looking 7...a5!?. This move is new - I can't find a single example of it in my database. The idea is that Black wants to play ...c7-c5, but after dxc5, ...Bxc5 he wants to prevent White from gaining time with b2-b4. It seems a little strange but it works to perfection in this game!
Modern Benoni: Flick-Knife Attack
After the moves 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 e6 4 Nc3 exd5 5 cxd5 d6 6 e4 g6 7 f4 Bg7 8 Bb5+ we've spent lots of energy looking at the critical 8...Nbd7, but of course Black's isn't forced to go down these crazy lines. The second option for Black is to play the 'safer' 8...Nfd7, as in the recent game Harikrishna - Xu Jun, FIDE World Ch., Tripoli 2004. White certainly has a theoretical edge in this line, but Black's position is still very playable. The game continued 9 a4 0-0 10 Nf3 Na6 11 0-0 Nc7 12 Bd3
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and here Xu Jun continued with 12...b6 (12...a6 is sharper - see Ovod-Stellwagen Groningen 1999 in ChessPub, ECO code A67).
Modern Benoni: Old Classical Variation
The Old Classical Variation isn't seen much these days due to the immense popularity of the Modern Classical, but every now and again there is a rare sighting. One such occurrence was the game Grinev - Truskavetsky, Alushta 2004: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 c5 4 d5 exd5 5 cxd5 d6 6 Nc3 g6 7 e4 Bg7 8 Be2 0-0 9 0-0 Re8 10 Nd2 Na6
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and here White opted for 11 Re1 instead of the super-solid 11 f3. This game isn't that important in a theoretical sense, but it does perfectly illustrate the counterattacking possibilities for Black if White makes even the tiniest of errors.
Queen's Indian 4 g3
Lots of action in the Queen's Indian this month, beginning with the line 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 g3 Ba6 5 Qb3
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This way of defending the c4-pawn has become quite popular amongst the world's elite over the past couple of years. Before this, 5 Qa4 was the main way to protect the pawn with the queen, although 5 b3 still remains White's most popular move. In the game Van Wely-Leko, Moscow 2004, the Hungarian GM tried the slightly unusual 5...Bb7 and he was rewarded handsomely with a very decisive win. In Halkias - Mastrovasilis, Antalya 2004 Black opted instead for the tried and tested 5...Nc6. Following 6 Nbd2 d5 7 Bg2 Bb7 8 cxd5 exd5 9 Ne5! Black greedily snatched a pawn with 9...Nxd4? and was duly punished by some powerful play.
Next up it's the game Bologan - Paragua, FIDE World Ch., Tripoli 2004, which began 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 g3 Bb7 (the old main line) 5 Bg2 Be7 6 0-0 0-0 7 Re1
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Kramnik has shown a particular liking for this move, although he more often arrives at this type of position with the move-order 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 b6 3 g3 Bb7 4 Bg2 e6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Nc3 0-0 7 Re1 d5 8 cxd5 exd5 9 d4. Now Black played 7...c5?!, which was met by a typically strong response by White: 8 d5! exd5 9 Nh4!, Bologan going on to win in impressive fashion.
Queen's Indian/Nimzo Indian Hybrid
Finally this month there's the game Gelfand - Vallejo Pons, Moscow 2004: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 Nc3 Bb4 (of course this position could also be reached via the Nimzo-Indian move order 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Nf3 b6) 5 Bg5 Bb7 6 e3 h6 7 Bh4 g5 (Black's most ambitious way of playing the position) 8 Bg3 Ne4 9 Nd2!?
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This pawn sacrifice was originally played by Kasparov, but nowadays it's not seen that much (9 Qc2, protecting c3, is the main move). At first Gelfand manages to demonstrate good compensation for the pawn but then he loses control very quickly in the ensuing complications.
Until next time,
John Emms