What's new in January 2002
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Hi everyone! I must apologise to you guys as I've been exceptionally busy and I'm really looking forward to actually playing some chess! There could be more to this month's update but I promise I'll make amends next time around. With 16 rated games in the next 3 weeks, hopefully I'll even have a Dragon or two of my own to report back on. |
Yes, I will be more settled down from February onwards when I'm also hoping to focus some attention on a key Accelerated Dragon line (no clues just now though!).
Anyway for the time being, for you this time around I have:
Schramm-Grabarczyk, JAN02/01, and Draganic-Dimitrijevic, JAN02/03, which are both 9 Bc4 Yugoslav Attack encounters with the ...Qa5, Kb1 with h4, line. In this particular variation Black seems to be doing fine but the same can't be said of the obviously still trendy ...Rc8 line with Kb1 and g4. The game Popovic-Nikolic, JAN02/04, sees Black attempt a nice solution to his problems but fail miserably as many have before him!
In the 9 0-0-0 department, don't ask me why Black played as he did in the 9...Nxd4 encounter of Middelburg-Afek, JAN02/02, but remain optimistic about the still hotly debated 9 0-0-0 d5 pawn-grabbing line which this month witnesses the promising for Black Krivokapic- Dimitrijevic, JAN02/05. Yes 2 wins by the same player in the first update of 2002!
Again that dubious Accelerated Dragon (Maroczy Bind) line of 7...Ng4 8 Qxg4 Nxd4 9 Qd1 Nc6 has appeared but in Delchev-Scalcione, JAN02/06, it fairs no better than it did last month.
Stay tuned for February's bumper update and best wishes to all my subscribers.
Until next time
Chris
Chris Ward@ChessPublishing.com
New Games
Yugoslav 9 Bc4
JAN02/01 A different journey for the black queen: When the usual Nb3 occurs in a typical ...Qa5 Yugoslav Attack line, instead of ...Qa6, ...Qc7 or ...Qe5 we see a ...Qd8-f8-g7 manoeuvre prove very successful.
JAN02/03 The Dragon bishop Vs the white rook: Is the former really worth more than the latter. Personally I don't think that you can generalise but this game puts forward a strong case.
JAN02/04 Outposts and stuff!: Black means well with typical Dragon sacrifices intended. However it all goes wrong and the final position is painful to look at.
Yugoslav 9 0-0-0
JAN02/02 Creating ones own luck: Mr Afek has featured a few times on this site with not such great results. This again proves that in the Yugoslav Attack, even nice guys are punished for slow play. You have to buy a ticket to win the lottery and ...a6 doesn't count!
JAN02/05 Hardly Houdini!: Black escapes a tricky bind although it's not exactly the stuff of miracles!
Accelerated Dragons
JAN02/06 The same NEW story!?: But why is Black so insistent on playing 9...Nc6 in this Accelerated Dragon line?