What's New- September '00
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Welcome to my final Daring Defences update. This month I'm bidding farewell to the English Defence, Budapest, Benko, Blumenfeld and Old Indian. However, you will be pleased to know they are returning home to the safe hands of Jon Tisdall. Next month I shall be concentrating exclusively on the Dutch and Grunfeld. See you then! Best Wishes, Neil McDonald. |
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English Defence
I've learnt over the last few months that the idea of blocking in the bishop on b7 with d4-d5 is one of the most dangerous responses to Black's opening system. However, White has to spend a little time preparing this move, as an immediate lunge in the centre allows Black to show the dynamism in his set up- see for example Crouch - Plaskett MAY00, which I gave previously. Black faces much harder problems in the line I subsequently featured in Kveinys - Miezis JUL00.
In fact, this line is still claiming victims. For example, in the recent zonal tournament in Spain, one of the heroes of our opening suffered a rather drastic drubbing. Have a look at Piket - Plaskett which was a complete nightmare for Black.
Fortunately, it is far from being all doom and gloom for Black. The approach of delaying Nf6, which I gave in Snape - Summerscale AUG00 looks reasonable. A more radical method was seen in a recent game by Nigel Short, who adopted the so called hippopotamus set up. In the true spirit of the English Defence, White was granted a space advantage but was then hit by some flanking blows. Have a look at the curious game Xu Jun-Short.
Budapest
It soon became clear to me that 3 dxe5 Ng4 4 e4 doesn't cause Black any trouble. On the contrary, he almost always achieves a comfortable game and can look for the advantage. See for example Bacrot - Shirov MAY00. Another recent game is added this month. Black adopts a different plan to that I recommended in earlier updates, but still wins quickly. Have a look at Traks - Bashkite for the details.
Another idea is the combination of 4 e3 with Nh3 in the mainline. This aims to bring the knight to d5 which is often the most desirable outpost for a white knight. The drawback is that White has less influence over the e5 square than after the usual Nf3. Also, the whole scheme feels a bit illogical- the queen's knight can get to d5 in two moves, so why play the king's knight there in three moves? In the game offered here Black wins easily. As in the previous example, White is over ambitious in Catta Preta-Limp.
The mainline Budapest leads to some hard struggles. I noticed that facing the Budapest in a recent tournament the Italian player Voltolini, rated 2279, beat a 2508 and then lost to 2154! I've given the second of these games here as it illustrates Black's attacking possibilities. Have a look at Voltolini - Facchetti.
Incidentally, this is the way Black should play against 4 Bf4 rather than the line discussed earlier in Gerard - Dupre Guegan AUG00.
Old Indian
Black often begins 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 d6 3 Nc3 e5, but for some reason I was slightly surprised to find that there are a lot more supporters of the move order 1 d4 d6 2 c4 e5. Now it just seems like common sense, as in the second move order after 3 d5 you have the option of f7-f5 while if 3 dxe5 dxe5 4 Qxd8+ Kxd8 5 Nf3 you can support the centre with f7-f6. There is great value in not committing the knight to f6 too soon.
This month I've analysed some games in both these lines:
Have a look at Carneiro - Oratovsky, in which after 3 d5 a5 it soon becomes clear that White is unsure of himself in this type of centre. Also after 3 d5 f5 in Schoen - Adasiak White is unable to emerge from the opening with a decent position and is soon facing defeat. You will find some other disasters for White in the notes, so this line is looking very good for Black!
In Utnasunov - Balashov we revisit the 3 dxe5 dxe5 4 Qxd8+ Kxd8 variation. Black wins in seemingly effortless style.
The conclusion I've come to is that the Old Indian is a great way to force opponents into unfamiliar opening territory, which means a lot of wins, as players blunder much more often when they aren't sure what they are supposed to be doing! The only problem might be if an evil person plays 1 d4 d6 2 e4- are you ready for this?
Benko
Firstly, the related Blumenfeld Gambit hasn't shown its face much in recent games. However, via a Benko move order its spirit lives on. In particular, the idea of setting up a big centre at the cost of a pawn is occasionally seen in the 4 cxb5 a6 5 b6 Benko mainline. You may recall the game Pedersen - Mikhalevski AUG00 given earlier. It seems to me that once lines with the oft dreaded Bg5 have been sidestepped there are more takers of the Blumenfeld. This month I've added a kind of Benko/Blumenfeld hybrid. I'm doubtful of it's soundness, but that isn't really the point in the Daring Defences, is it? Black wins against a 2291 by confusing him with potential tactical threats, which I'm sure most subscribers would call a successful day at the office. Have a look at Hochstrasser - Abbasifar .
In the mainline Benko, a lot of attention over the past few months has focussed on the 4 cxb5 a6 5 b6 line as mentioned above. In particular, the variation with 5...e6 has been undergoing a lot of scrutiny. A very important game was played at the recent Spanish Zonal Tournament. White scored a convincing win, but have a look at my suggested improvement in the analysis. You can find it in Parker - Claesen.
Also in this variation, White has tried to put pressure on Black with a pawn sacrifice. In the game included here White succeeded in developing a lot of threats against the black king. See what you think of Khurtsidze - Cramling and the analysis appended to it.
Finally, to end my coverage of the Benko I give a lightweight game which features Reshevsky's move 4 f3. This is very unusual, but not as bad as it appears in the game! It is a useful reminder about how much care has to be taken on choosing the best squares for the pieces. White makes a lame knight move and then spends the rest of the game regretting it. Have a look at Henriques - Gonzalez Gil.