The Latest Theory - April '04
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Don't forget to hop over to my latest E-mailbag! TonyK |
Hi everyone, welcome to another update!To download the April '04 Flank Openings games directly in PGN form click here: 
English Opening
1...e5
[A21]: Harvey Williamson wrote to me at the end of March: «I have 3 games of interest below, the first 2 are me playing correspondence games as Black in the English. What do you think of 3...Na6!? with the idea of a later ...Nc5 - is ...Na6 a good move? or an interesting novelty?»
Well, I think that 3...Na6!? really is an interesting novelty:
            
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so much so, that I decided to annotate the games, so have a look at Cook,R - Williamson,H.
1...c5
[A31]: Kasparov,G - Carlsen,M is only a blitz game, and the youngster gets mown-down rather easily, but it is always interesting to see Kasparov play the English, and who knows, perhaps his opponent will become one of his biggest rivals in the years to come?
[A33]: In the Four Knights with 6 Ndb5 and 7 Bf4, after a serious of forced moves the following position is reached:
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And here Yannik Pelletier has been trying the unusual 11 0-0-0!? recently, but without great success, see Pelletier,Y - Macieja,B.
[A34]: Akopian,V - Ruck,R features another tussle between these two players in the Rubinstein mainline that follows 1 c4 c5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 g3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 Bg2 Nc6 6 Nc3 Nc7 7 d3 e5 8 Nd2 Bd7 9 0-0 Be7 10 Nc4 f6 11 f4:
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but rather than repeat the previous game (where I thought that Black was doing well), Black later chose to deviate. Unfortunately, his new move appears to be weak and he lost quickly.
Later, White plays a novel exchange sac to reach a sharp and unclear ending. A wild game replete with tactics!
[A34]: In Bu Xiangzhi - Miezis,N Black decided against playing the Grünfeld Defence in the opening, and was splattered!
[A37]: In the crucial French League battle between Monaco and Clichy, inventive young French GM Christian Bauer surprised me in a mainline Symmetric by trying the move 5...b6!?:
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and I didn't find the best line, which is contained in the notes to Kosten,A - Bauer,C.
1...Nf6 & others
[A16]: In Lautier,J - Taddei,B we have a look at the following position:
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where Black attempts to enter a King's Indian position where he is obliged to capture on d4, but hopes that by delaying ...d6 he will be able to force through ...d5 more quickly.
[A17]: More Nimzo-English fun with 4 g4 in Agrest,E - Ivanchuk,V, Black replying by short castling, and then, instead of my preferred 6 Qc2, White trying Vaisser's 6 Rg1!?:
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but White's subsequent play doesn't convince, perhaps he had an off-day, and Black won easily.
Réti
[A04]: After last month's disaster for Dolmatov, it seems that Dutch Defence player's will have to find an antidote to 2 d3, and find it quick!
In Sandner,G - Rechel,B Black tries another line, which is certainly playable, but overlooks a check and has to resign a few moves later!
[A11]: After 1 c4 c6 2 g3 d5, should White continue 3 Bg2 (instead of 3 Nf3, controlling e5):
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Black can play 3...e5!?, but is it too loosening? I think the answer is no, providing Black plays as in the note to move six of Al Hadarani,H - Soon Wei Yee.
e-mails
Please feel free to share any of your thoughts with me, whatever they are, suggestions, criticisms (just the polite ones, please), etc. Drop me a line at the Flank Openings Forum, or subscribers can write directly to tonykosten@chesspublishing.com
Till next month, Tony K