The Latest Developments - December 2003
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Hi everyone, and welcome to my end-of-year update! TonyK |
Note that Michael Stevenson has kindly provided a couple more book Reviews for your delectation.
To download the December '03 Flank Openings games directly in PGN form click here: 
English Opening
1...e5
[A20]: In the following Keres System position I recommend 8 e3 in my book:
            
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However, in Horvath,J - Rabiega,R the Hungarian GM preferred 8 e4 and won in nice fashion.
1...c5
[A30]: We have covered the following trendy 7 Re1 Hedgehog position many times over the years:
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and in Naumann,A - Stefansson,H Black played the best move 13...Rfe8 to which White tried the sharp sacrifice 14 Nd5!?. But is it any good?
[A31]: Doettling,F - Atalik,S starts 1 Nf3 c5 2 c4 Nf6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 and now Black played the unusual 4...a6!?:
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and White failed to gain any real advantage.
[A33]: Romero Holmes,A - Karjakin,S features an idea of Korchnoi which seems to score very well for White, and this is no exception as the young prodigy is completely lost after only ten moves!
[A35]: The game Vaganian,R - Kalinitschew,S begins 1 Nf3 c5 2 c4 Nc6 3 Nc3 e5 4 e3 f5!?:
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and Black equalises quite easily, but White's opening innovation on move twelve seems inferior to the established move.
1...Nf6 & others
[A16]: A few weeks ago in the Austrian league (played in the beautiful town of Graz) I reached the following position, expecting 5...d6
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so it was a surprise when my opponent produced 5...c6 intending ...d5. Now, I didn't really want to play 6 d4 d5 7 cxd5 cxd5 8 0-0 Nc6 9 Ne5 which was the battleground of many Karpov-Kasparov games, and has a rather boring reputation, but what else? After a little think I played 6 e4!?, and went on to win. Have a look at Kosten,A - Schwarz,M to get the low-down on this move.
[A18]: Do you remember that Ivanchuk innovation in the Mikenas Attack from last month? Well, Black has already hit back! See Bruzon,L - Zarnicki,P.
Réti
[A14]: In the following position:
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Black plays 10...a4, and White normally replies 11 d4. However, in the game Chuchelov,V - Rogozenko,D White actually captured the a4-pawn by 11 Nxa4. Look at the game to see whether this was any good!
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