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December 2000

Winawer

Fort Knox

Rubinstein

Tarrasch 3...Be7

Tarrasch 3...Nf6: 5 f4

Tarrasch 3...c5

Welcome to this month's French Update.

As you will see, there have been many interesting new ideas in the 3 Nd2 and 3 Nc3 mainlines.

Winawer

Last time I described Anand as the French Public Enemy Number One, and once again we shall see him in his familiar cloak and dagger role. This time his victim is the French stalwart Lputian, who in his game with the Indian Grandmaster [perhaps World Champion by the time you read this...] avoids his usual 5...Ba5 variation in the Winawer. I guess this was due to the 'Terminator' treatment Anand has inflicted on both Lputian and Khalifman in that line.

Instead Lputian engages him in the main battlefield in the 7...0-0 Winawer. Black makes a promising looking exchange sacrifice, but as you may recall from his games with Khalifman, Anand is very good at defending and then exploiting his extra material in such situations. In fact I would say that Anand is the player in the World you should least speculate against, as I can't ever remember him being mated by a direct attack as White. Of course, his match against Shirov may prove me wrong...

In any case, have a look at Anand - Lputian which seems to be a theoretically important game.

Next up is the Winawer 'positional' mainline with 7 Nf3. It generates positions which are extremely hard to handle properly as either colour, as some difficult strategical decisions have to be made. In particular, it isn't easy to assess who will profit the most if lines in various sectors of the board are opened. Thus White can be happily going about his business of preparing the strategically appealing f4-f5 advance, and then suddenly find that Black's pieces are infiltrating along the diagonals and files he himself has opened and using them to attack his king! Or in some cases Black attacks his opponent's centre with the eminently logical f7-f6, only to discover that after exf6 he has merely given himself a weak pawn on e6 and opened up a deadly square on f4 for White's dark squared bishop. Often the advance f4-f5 by White or the stab f7-f6 by Black are strategically and tactically sound, but it is by no means easy to spot the exceptions or even to keep control if the basic idea is correct.
In the game given here Nick De Firmian is outplayed as White by Stefan Kindermann. Both are strong Grandmasters, but Black's life time of experience in the French really gives him the edge in the specific situation that arises. Have a look at De Firmian-Kindermann.

Winawer

Fort Knox

Rubinstein

Tarrasch 3...Be7

Tarrasch 3...Nf6: 5 f4

Tarrasch 3...c5

Fort Knox

A little natural history: an giant sea turtle is invincible and can hope to live for a couple of hundred years once it reaches adulthood. However, it is extremely vunerable to all sorts of predators, even the tiniest crab, when it is still immature. I was reminded of this when I saw the debacle in the Fort Knox which I have included here. There is a phase around moves 6- 10 in which Black has to play carefully. If he gets it right, he will reach the middlegame with no worries, and, like the sea turtle, will be well protected in his solid shell. However, if Black gets it wrong he can be annihilated. Have a look at the sacrifice in Antal - Varga.

Winawer

Fort Knox

Rubinstein

Tarrasch 3...Be7

Tarrasch 3...Nf6: 5 f4

Tarrasch 3...c5

Rubinstein

Recently White has been causing devotees of the Rubinstein a lot of irritation with 5 g3!?










This looks unpretentious but in fact it isn't easy to find a convincing way to neutralise the pressure that will be exerted on b7 after Bg2. In Catalan Style, White interferes with Black's development by making it harder for him to bring out the queen's bishop. The latest victim was Speelman against the rampant Macieja at the recent FIDE World Championships. Jon Speelman hardly ever loses in these type of positions, so the result must be taken very seriously. Check out Macieja - Speelman.

Winawer

Fort Knox

Rubinstein

Tarrasch 3...Be7

Tarrasch 3...Nf6: 5 f4

Tarrasch 3...c5

Tarrasch 3...Be7

This remains the cutting edge of theory in the Tarrasch. Indeed, no other line in the whole of the French is undergoing such a rigorous scrutiny in top class chess.

Firstly, there has been another tussle between Rublevsky and Lputian in the 4 Ngf3 mainline. The young Russian Grandmaster playing White tries to improve on their earlier game- in which he was lucky to draw- with a surprising knight retreat. Nonetheless, the 3...Be7 maestro Lputian rises to the occasion and finds a way to neutralise White's attack with an exchange sacrifice. Have a look at Rublevsky - Lputian No.2 which confirms once again that White has the wrong knight on f3!

However, despite Rublevsky's interesting attempt in the game above, the crux of the matter is still the position in the following diagram which is reached after the moves 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 Be7 4 Bd3 c5 5 dxc5 Nf6 6 Qe2 Nc6 7 Ngf3.










At the Chess Olympiad Alexander Morozevich persevered with 7...Nb4 against the Italian Godena, despite his terrible loss to Adams in this line- you can get the full story of that debacle on the 3...Be7 subpage. As you would expect of a 2700+ player, the Russian Super Star had an improvement ready. Although his opponent was the first to diverge, it is easy to guess from the evidence what idea he had in mind. Have a look at Godena - Morozevich. which may put the ball back into White's court as far as finding an advantage in this line goes- bring on the Game Adams-Morozevich No. 4!!

At the Olympiad the Ukrainian Ponomariov also entered this line against Morozevich, but he didn't try to hold onto the pawn on c5. Instead he was satisfied to maintain a slight positional advantage, but Black's tactical invention allowed him to hold the balance. You can see Ponomariov - Morozevich.

Winawer

Fort Knox

Rubinstein

Tarrasch 3...Be7

Tarrasch 3...Nf6: 5 f4

Tarrasch 3...c5

Tarrasch 3...Nf6: 5 f4

The two games given here feature an almost identical pawn structure, but one is the stuff of dreams for Black while the other becomes an absolute nightmare. And it all comes down to a single tempo, which I guess explains David Bronstein's maxim that the most powerful weapon in chess is the next move. On the Tarrach 3...Nf6: 5 f4 subpage I describe the variation in question as ' A bomb proof shelter' for Black.

In the first game it proves exactly that: White is unable to break through Black's blockade on the kingside and meanwhile he is being worn down on the light squares on the queenside. This was a significant victory for the system- take a look at Friedman - Stellwagen.

However, things are very different in the second game. I don't know what Luke McShane is attacking Black's shelter with, it must be the chess equivalent of nuclear weapons, as he scores a second impressive victory- the first can already be found on the subpage. Of course, when it comes to a defeat we must always look for errors in the loser's play, no matter how well the victor played. Incidentally, I believe that is why losing a game of chess is always so painful- it is because at root a defeat is always self inflicted. In this case Black enters the set up without taking sufficient precautions to ensure that he can maintain a solid kingside. Once he has presented McShane with a target he succumbs to a tactical battering. Have a look at McShane - Brynell.

Winawer

Fort Knox

Rubinstein

Tarrasch 3...Be7

Tarrasch 3...Nf6: 5 f4

Tarrasch 3...c5

Tarrasch 3...c5

Finally we look at a recent game in which White employs what I describe on the Tarrasch 3...c5 subpage as a ' A tricky sideline: 7 Qe2!? Nf6 8 Nb3 Nc6 9 Bg5'. It is instructive to see how after making three inaccuracies within the space of four moves in the early middlegame Black ends up in a horrible endgame. It reminds us that it is important not only to know the theory but also to have a grasp of the important positional factors in the positions that might arise. Have a look at Qin Kanying-Maric.

Now I'll say goodbye and Happy New Year -- see you again in 2001!

Regards Neil

Winawer

Fort Knox

Rubinstein

Tarrasch 3...Be7

Tarrasch 3...Nf6: 5 f4

Tarrasch 3...c5

Emailbag

Thanks to everyone who has emailed me over the last month. I'll try to deal with some of the queries next month. Meanwhile keep on talking to me!

Best Wishes,

Neil McDonald.

Winawer

Fort Knox

Rubinstein

Tarrasch 3...Be7

Tarrasch 3...Nf6: 5 f4

Tarrasch 3...c5