What's New- April '03
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Hello everyone! Sorry I'm late again. I'm gonna do my best to get back on schedule in the near future. |
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Lets get to some chess. This month's focus is on various lines in the English Attack.
To download the April '03 Open Sicilian games directly in PGN form, just click here: 
Sveshnikov/Kalashnikov Variation [B32-B33]
Lets start another late, late update with another one of my favorites. (I teach this stuff to my students and I stand behind it!)
Lets talk about the Sveshnikov with 7 Nd5 and Rodriguez Guerrero-Ramirez... The best thing I've seen from Black are the twin games Leko - Kramnik (the most recent) and Kovacevic-Espinoza( from a long time ago... the Bled Olympiad I believe).
The f3 lines maintain what I consider to be a positional advantage for White. When Black's kingside chances are restricted, White retains all the chances. In this game White allowed Black the only chance... the black pieces jumped to life after the ...e4 push. I've talked too much my friends.
Paulsen/Taimanov [B40 to B49]
Our first English Attack is of the Taimanov variety.
In Arizmendi Martinez-Teran Alvarez Black played an inferior move order.
            
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After the move 7...b5?! just played here, 8 Nxc6 is very nice for White. 9...Bb7 made matters worse. 7...Nf6 is clearly best.
The best play that doesn't transpose into a Scheveningen system (I don't like the Scheveningen transposition... sometimes Black has trouble focusing on a clear plan) was seen in (at least I think so) Shytaj-Lazarev (from a previous update) where Black stayed in a Taimanov frame of mind.
Richter-Rauzer [B60 to B69]
More suffering from GM Victor Bologan for us black side Rauser players (B66 for those keeping score).
The guy brutalizes Obodchuk in Game 3 and makes it look so easy it's not even funny.
Once again f3 is driving me nuts (see the last update: Shabalov - Fedorowicz) I've pretty much canned the Kings Indian Defense (9 b4! among others) is this f3 stuff gonna put us out of business too?
Where's Kozul? I'm afraid that it's the Taimanov or Najdorf for me. I'm loyal to my stuff, but at what cost?
Scheveningen [B80 to B89]
Lets start off the B80 section with Lutz - Berkes.
The Cuban GM Vera has had some success with black in this line, but the German GM Lutz came up with a contender for theoretical novelty of the year:
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White's last move, 10 c4! is a very nice idea. What should Black play? In the game he opted for 10...bc3 keeping the position open, but couldn't get anything useful going. If he doesn't take on c3 he runs the risk that the queenside gets locked then black would be on the defensive.
Game 2 in the B80 section is Leko - Movsesian where Black messed around with a dubious move order and got his head handed to him. Movsesian got a lost position vs Almasi in the same tournament, but got lucky and won.
In Kosteniuk - Ehlvest we see Black play another TN and get a good game. I like Black in this line as White's king is a little loose.
A few thoughts:
From a White point of view I prefer 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cd4 4 Nd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3. On 6 f3 I like 6...Qb6! forcing 7 Nb3. I don't think White has reason to fear 6 Be3 Ng4 7 Bg5. In my opinion 6...Ng4 is worse than 6...e6 or 6...e5.
Najdorf [B90 to B99]
Now we switch to the B90 part of the English Attack.
In Bruzon - Vera Black was never in the game, suffered heavily and lost miserably.
I've played the Cuban GM Reynaldo Vera and 6...e6 with chances for fluid piece play is more his style. In this game things went horribly wrong after Black played 13...Ne8
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13...Nh5!? has been doing alright.
See you all soon... All the best!
GM John Fedorowicz
If anybody has any questions please contact me at the Forum (above) or feddy@mindspring.com and I'll do my best to help out. I've had problems replying when contacted through Chess Publishing at thefed@chesspublishing.com.