May '00 Update
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Welcome to this month's update, which has been dominated by some great games at the Sarajevo 2000 tournament. The French really seems to be enjoying a surge of popularity at the highest level. |
King's Indian Attack
Looking at the King's Indian Attack section on the website, you would think it was a forced win for White! Month after month a quiet massacre has been taking place: we see Black endlessly slaughtered by the likes of Morozevich and Fedorov. So it's about time things were balanced a bit with some big guns playing Black, don't you think?
So I've been trawling through recent games seeing what works and what doesn't.
And the best advice I can give Black is: don't even dream of fianchettoing your queen's bishop or castling queenside! Hold back on ...d5. Instead, play ...c5, fianchetto your king's bishop on g7 and castle kingside. Then time the advance e5 carefully to free your other bishop and also stop White gaining a space advantage in the centre.
I think this move ...e5 is psychologically difficult for Black- if he wanted to play it, he would have done it on move one! But don't forget that the idea of 1...e6 was to stop your opponent launching an attack on f7 with Bc4. As soon as White plays 2 d3 or 2 Qe2, the white bishop is boxed in, it can't go to c4, so why not go ...e5 even if it takes two steps?
My final survival kit for Black features four classy wins.
Firstly, Lev Psakhis, who is full of great French games, shows how effective the plan of ...e5 can be against passive play. White is unable to find a promising strategy and so lashes out wildly in Malisov - Psakhis, after which Black wins with great ease.
A French via the Sicilian is Ansell - Nunn. Again, Black is marvellously patient, just establishing his centre and waiting for White to weaken himself. When he does the result is a smooth positional victory.
The next example Kekic - Jurkovic shows how effective the queen's bishop can be on the kingside rather than the queenside. White's response is a well known inaccuracy- at least it is well known to me, as I fell for the same positional trap about 10 years ago! Control of the d4 square is key to Black's victory in all these games. Or perhaps the key to victory is, with all respect to the White players in these games, the fact that Black is mostly 100 or more Elo points stronger than his opponent.
Lastly, White can opt for a Closed Sicilian style treatment with Nc3 and Be3, when he is ready to force through d4. Then Black can perservere with his plan of e5, or he change track with Nd4. In Jurkovic - Pavasovic he chooses the latter option, though you will find both approaches discussed in the notes to the game.
So does this plan work against all white move orders? Let's see. If 2 Qe2, then Black has to avoid getting tricked into a mainline Sicilian, e.g. 1 e4 e6 2 Nf3 c5?? 3 d4! when I hope your subscription to the Fed's site is up to date! However, don't panic as 2...d5 is fine here, when 3 d3?! dxe4 4 dxe4 Qxd1+ equalises. Otherwise, an early Qe2 probably helps Black as White's control over d4 is weaker than usual.
The Classical
This month we concentrate on the line 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 gxf6. This has proved extraordinarily popular at the Sarajevo tournament, in which Morozevich, Gurevich and Topalov have all defended Black's position.
The game Topalov - Morozevich suggests that 7 Qd2 is less precise than 7 Nf3 and should enable Black to comfortably equalise. Therefore the crux of the matter is the position after 7 Nf3 a6. White now has three options with which to test Black's set up.
Firstly, 8 g3 is featured in Kasparov - Gurevich. White improves considerably on a game Polgar - Morozevich already given on the website. Although Kasparov could have achieved a big advantage, I still believe that with accurate play Black's position should be solid enough to withstand any pressure.
The next game examines 8 c4. This is a magical performance from Shirov. Black makes a positional misjudgment in allowing White to advance a passed pawn to the seventh rank. Then White is probably winning, but it takes some wonderful play to prove it. I'm sure you'll enjoy looking at Shirov - Topalov.
Finally, a game from the New York Open tests White's plan of 8 Qd2 and a quick queen intrusion on h6. As in the earlier game Sutovsky - Morozevich, already given here, Wedberg - Nielsen proves this is just a poor idea.
Winawer
The game Shirov-Short from the Sarajevo tournament features a highly unusual way for White to take on the 6...Qc7 system in the mainline. It appears harmless, but Black soon finds himself in a total bind. Is this because of Shirov's wizardry, Short's indifferent form or does the idea genuinely contain some poison? You can check the analysis in NM124.
The other game analyses the early divergence 4 exd5 exd5 5 Bd3. This seems a better try for advantage than the similar structured French Exchange as the black bishop isn't particularly well placed on b4. In fact the variation can be surprisingly dangerous if Black is careless, and has been used with great effect by some notable players in recent games. It's well worth looking at Dvoirys - Bauer.
Tarrasch
Finally 3...Be7 bites the dust. The British GM Jim Plaskett has his pet method of taking on the French which involves dragging his opponent out of familiar territory. We have already seen him in action against 3...Nf6 in the game Plaskett - Knott. Now in the game Plaskett - Short it is the turn of Nigel Short to get the 'Queen's Gambit' treatment. Once again, Black is forced into an IQP position which Plaskett handles in direct, attacking style. His reward is an absolutely crushing win. All French players beware!
Next is a lightweight game in the 3...c5 4 cxd5 Qxd5 variation. One of the advantages of playing a sharp theoretical line is that your opponent might simply forget his theory, in which case you could gain a painless victory. This is what happens in Zaw Win Lay-Khalifman. White gives up a piece and then plays a move which has long been known to be losing. Without even breaking sweat the FIDE World Champion has another 5 rating points in the bank. Although White's blunder deprived us of what could have been a very interesting theoretical game, it is nice to know that the line still has the confidence of top players.
The Advance
If White plays the a3 and b4 variation, he has to decide whether he wants to put his queen's bishop on b2 or e3. We have already seen that Bb2 leads to an interesting struggle, for example in Short - Lputian. For a long time the alternative Be3 was thought to give White some edge, but this opinion was disputed in a couple of recent games. So is Be3 still a decent try for advantage? Click on Otero - Nogueiras to see if you like it.
The next game is a very sharp tussle from the Sarajevo tournament. Mikhail Gurevich, who always seems to win against the Advance, escapes from White's typical slight plus with a very interesting sacrifice. This is enough to upset his opponent who commits hari-kiri in trying to prove that he still has the advantage. Have a look at Movsesian - Gurevich.