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November 2000

Tarrasch 3...Nf6

Tarrasch 3...c5

Classical

Rubinstein

Advance

Winawer

King's Indian Attack

If you want to play the French, whose games should you study?

If you are thinking about the long term development of chess you cannot ignore the trio of Botvinnik, Korchnoi and Uhlmann.


But in writing a year of updates, I found the following players have contributed the most to the recent development of the opening...

Alexander Morozevich

His efforts have helped drag 3...Be7 in the Tarrasch from almost total obscurity onto the world wide stage. In the Classical he has shown that 6...gxf6 is a powerful conterattacking weapon.

As White he has turned the King's Indian into a ferocious attacking system.

Alexander Khalifman

He has championed the Winawer 5...Ba5 against the best players in the world including Kasparov. His efforts have helped make this virtually the mainline in the Winawer at the highest level.

Smbat Lputian

He has made important contributions to both 3...Be7 in the Tarrasch and 5...Ba5 in the Winawer.

Mikhail Gurevich

Whilst his games haven't set any noticeable theoretical trend, he is an exceptionally fine French Defence player and has won many model games. In particular, he makes the French Advance look like a forced loss for White!

A couple of players as White:

Vishy Anand

A lethal treatment of 5 Nce2 in the Classical; a couple of wins versus Khalifman and Lputian in the 5...Ba5 Winawer. The French public enemy Number One!

Garry Kasparov

Whether or not he is World Champion, having to face the scrutiny of Kasparov's brilliant erudition and theory is an acid test for any variation in the French.
Other important players are Lputian, Nikolic, Bareev, Fedorov and Adams. Keep an eye out for games involving these players and you can't go far wrong!

Here's this month's selection of games, which show a lot of fighting chess, some interesting new ideas and above all the heavy punishment that befalls players when they break the strategical laws of the opening.

Tarrasch 3...Nf6

In the mainline after 5 Bd3 c5 6 c3 Nc6 instead of the usual 7 Ne2 White can try 7 Ngf3 heading for the so called Korchnoi Gambit after 7...Qb6 8 0-0 cxd4 9 cxd4 Nxd4 10 Nxd4 Qxd4 11 Nf3.










John Nunn proved some years ago that this offered White enough play for the pawn. Subsequently the Hungarian GM Farago discovered a way to sidestep this which is discussed in the game here. White is soon in trouble and cannot resist Gurevich's fierce attacking play in Benjamin - Gurevich.

There has been another important game in the 5 Bd3 Tarrasch. If you recall, I gave the game Volzhin - Johannessen AUG00 as an important improvement for White in the August update; then John Emms sent in the game Emms - Williams SEP00 to prove it was his idea and besides Black had a strong improvement! Now Black has found a new twist and wins in 23 moves in Aagaard - Gleizerov. This is real cutting edge theory. My independent analysis here suggests things are very good for Black, but be careful if you are planning to play into it as Black, especially in a correspondence game!

Tarrasch 3...Nf6

Tarrasch 3...c5

Classical

Rubinstein

Advance

Winawer

King's Indian Attack

Tarrasch 3...c5

Against a lower rated opponent Vaganian manages to find a way to inject dynamism into a line he has played a couple of times before. This leads to a hair raising battle in which the Armenian Grandmaster finally emerges on top. Have a look at Hamdouchi - Vaganian.

Classical

Firstly, there is another battle in the ongoing feud after 4 e5 Nfd7 5 Nce2 in the Classical. Black's tenth move is the most 'mysterious rook move' I have ever seen, but there is a sound tactical basis. The conclusion from this game and others- see for example Anand's experiences described on the subpage- is that Black does better to go head long into a melee rather than choosing one of the more solid options. For a really hard French fight- with the black king ending up on e4!- you can't do better than Arakhamia - Volkov.

I'm very impressed with the way Sakaev handles White's position in the next game. White delays playing f2-f4 until he can support his centre with c2-c3. Therefore his centre is much more secure than usual in the Classical as he keeps a pawn on d4. Black reacts in an ultra aggressive way but it is good to see the way White neutralises it. Check out Sakaev - Volkov.

Tarrasch 3...Nf6

Tarrasch 3...c5

Classical

Rubinstein

Advance

Winawer

King's Indian Attack

Rubinstein

Devotees of Black will be relieved to know that I'm not about to bust their solid opening. However, in the game given this month Black spends a move on the luxury of ...a7-a6 and then expects to equalise with the standard break ...c7-c5. The result is a very severe defeat for Black and a useful warning to the rest of us that time matters in any opening, especially if the standard freeing move leads to the opening of lines. Have a look at Nenashev - Slobodjan

Advance

In the mainline after 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Bd7 6 Be2 Nge7 7 Na3 Black normally plays 7...Nf5, but 7...Ng6 is also of interest. The idea is is to undermine White's centre with ...f7-f6. Of course, the knight is vulnerable to being pushed back by a quick h4-h5 by White and often ends up on h8. However, such a scenario isn't necessarily bad for Black as White is loosening his kingside in the process.

As we have seen in other games given here, Movsesian loves playing h2-h4 in the Advance, so there is no way he is going to turn down the chance to do so after ...Ng6!

Nikolic comes up with the knight manoeuvre ...e7-g6-f8-h7-f6, withstands White's attacking attempts, and suddenly White is in trouble. Here is Movsesian - Nikolic.

Tarrasch 3...Nf6

Tarrasch 3...c5

Classical

Rubinstein

Advance

Winawer

King's Indian Attack

Winawer

Thanks primarily to the efforts of Khalifman, the 5...Ba5 variation continues to be the No.1 choice for Black at the highest levels. In the game here he succeeds in outplaying Polgar in the 7 Qg4 variation after White diverged from the continuation in Galkin - Khalifman OCT00. This was a very powerful and convincing win against a player who was on terrific form.

It seems to me that Khalifman's opening works well against everyone below 2750 strength, which I guess includes most of your opponents! Only against Anand and Leko does he ever seem to have problems. Have a look at Polgar - Khalifman to see a masterly display from the FIDE World Champion.

My thanks to John Toscano for sending me three of his games in the Winawer. The first is in the 4 Qg4 variation and features an improvement on a suggestion on ChessBase. The two others are in the 'Rustemov Variation'. Both are of theoretical importance as they test ideas mentioned on the website. You can see all three games with John's own introductory notes in the .

Tarrasch 3...Nf6

Tarrasch 3...c5

Classical

Rubinstein

Advance

Winawer

King's Indian Attack

King's Indian Attack

When I started planning the website well over a year ago, I found it hard to believe that an unpretentious move like 2 d3, shutting in White's king's bishop, could be at all dangerous for Black. Then I saw a host of crushing wins by Morozevich and Fedorov and others in this line and I started to be convinced. I've even started playing it myself as White. Yet still somewhere at the back of my mind is the idea that the K.I.A. is all just a cheap trick and that in reality it is a harmless system; I guess it's because when I was young I was conditioned to believe that 2 d3 was only played by eccentrics and cowards. At a very minor level, I guess this is similar to the shock that the old masters experienced in the 1920s when the new ideas of the hypermoderns challenged the principles that they had been brought up on in the 1890s. In any case, here is another very smooth win by White against a Grandmaster opponent, Peter Enders. I remember when the loser lost to the young Russian Malakhov he complained to me that his opponent played 'Russian School Of Chess, I had no winning chances at all'. In that case there must be a German School Of Chess, as Rabiega beats him in similarly clinical style. Have a look at Rabiega - Enders.

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.

Tarrasch 3...Nf6

Tarrasch 3...c5

Classical

Rubinstein

Advance

Winawer

King's Indian Attack