Welcome to the May 2004 French Update.
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Neil McDonald |
I hope your chess is going well. You have come to the right place whether you are looking for sharp, modern ideas in the opening or want to keep everything solid and under control.To download the May '04 French games directly in PGN form, click here: 
French Advance
A line Carlsen hasn't studied yet.
3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Nge7 7.Na3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nf5 9.Nc2 Qa5+!?
            
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The first game features the Norwegian wunderkind Magnus Carlsen, who in recent tournaments has been holding his own against players of around 2600 level. This was one of the youngster's less successful games as Curt Hansen managed to find a variation that he apparently hasn't studied yet. Incidentally, I would recommend this line of play to anyone looking for a solid way to avoid mainline theory in the Advance, whether or not they are playing a ferocious 13 year old. Check out Carlsen - Hansen.
Tarrasch 3.Nd2 Be7
Some important blitz games.
In the contentious mainline 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bd3 c5 7.c3 Nc6 8.0-0 the moves 8...a5 and 8...g5 were tested in some high powered games at the recent ACP Blitz tournaments. You can't normally expect to learn much from blitz games, but when there are thousands of dollars at stake plus a lot of prestige I don't think anyone would hold back on strong opening ideas they had discovered. In any case I have focused on the games of the young Russian Grandmaster Timofeev who has a lot of experience in these lines. You can see the conclusions by clicking on Timofeev - Moreno Carnero
Tarrasch 3.Nd2 Nf6
An old idea put back into retirement.
Here White has tried to resuscitate an old move in the sharp exchange sacrifice variation variation 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Nf3 Bd6 11.0-0 0-0 12.Bf4 Bxf4 13.Nxf4 Ne4 14.Ne2 Rxf3!? 15.gxf3 Ng5:
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However, Black comes up with a brilliant solution. For all the details plus some background analysis on the variation have a look at Murdzia - Jakubiec.
Tarrasch 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 Qxd5
Bareev in the role of attacking genius.
It isn't often that we see the Russian Grandmaster Bareev going all out for mate. Normally he is content to manoeuvre patiently and try to wrong foot the enemy pieces. However, in this month's game he comes to the board armed with an important new idea and completely wipes out his opponent- even giving away his queen with check! Enjoy Lastin - Bareev.
Fort Knox 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7
A clean sweep for Black.
I guess I am biased in Black's favour, but recent results have given me a lot of ammunition to support my view that this is a rather underestimated variation.
In the first game White makes the mistake of thinking that he can draw as he pleases simply through exchanging off one piece after another. Rustemov shows this is a fallacy in beautiful positional style. For a text book example of Black's strategy in this line check out Frolyanov - Rustemov.
Whereas White was too cautious in the first game, in the next example he treats the opening in too cavalier a style and is doomed after just 11 moves. This game is of some theoretical importance as it revitalises a line that was looking slightly inferior for Black. Here is Pruess - Golod.
Finally here is a heavy weight tussle that emphasises Black's counter attacking potential if White loses the positional thread. The Swedish GM plays with flair to wear down resistance in Rozentalis - Hillarp Persson.
McCutcheon
A brilliant draw.
3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Bb4 5.e5 h6 6.Be3:
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The McCutcheon variation has all the inherent dynamism of the Winawer variation but with the advantage that it has been less studied. It is therefore possible to find new ideas at a relatively early stage. The move 6.Be3!? is still fairly unexplored, and the off shoot 6...Ne4 7.Qg4 g5!? led to a queen sacrifice in the game Shirov - Volkov given in the November Update. This month it yields an even more amazing encounter, which gives the lie to the claim that a draw can never be interesting. Enjoy Belov - Alavkin.
Winawer 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.Qg4 0-0
Bacrot strikes again.
Etienne Bacrot annihilated Vaisser with an improvement on move 22 in this variation at the French Championships last year- see the game Bacrot - Vaisser. Therefore it is no surprise that Apicella decided to try something slightly different in his game with the young French GM (who was on his way to a staggering 11pts/11! -Ed) at the recent French team championships. However, it proved to be very much a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire-here is Bacrot - Apicella.
Winawer 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7
Another hair raising line in the Winawer Poisoned Pawn
In the March Update we investigated the double edged variation 7.Qg4 cxd4 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 Qa5!? which I believe has been unjustly consigned to the dustbin of history. Here I want to check out another line with a dubious reputation. It begins 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7 cxd4 10.Ne2 dxc3 11.f4 b6!?:
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In fact the first time you see the main idea you might think that Black is a piece down for nothing! But just suspend judgment for a little while and it might grow on you. Here is Shaw - Levitt.
Well that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed the update and got one or two new ideas. Good luck in those tournaments!
Neil