August '00 Update
Scheveningen/ English Attack
Hello to all my chess friends around the world. Hope this B80 to 89 August update finds everyone well. We start off with P Andersen-Psakhis and Hendriks - Dvoirys, two good examples of ...Nbd7's success vs the Sozin.
In both Ernst - Agrest and Wedberg - Akesson black insisted on the weakening ...h6. Both games saw black suffering. In my opinion ...h6 is the cause of many of black's problems!
We close with two nice wins in Lanka - Antal and de Firmian-C Hansen. The first was the slow treatment in the Keres Attack and the second a positional Be2 Scheveningen.
Till next month...good luck!
Najdorf
Hello Najdorf players. Remember to check B80 to 89 as well. The B90 to B99 August update sees a mixed bag of stuff. In Hossain - Browne white passes on 10 h3 but still gets good play.
In Nathani - Gardner black's ...a5 continues to do well.
In Lupu - Savchenko black played well vs the rarely seen 6 f4 and we finish August with Philippe - Lautier where black deals out some serious punishment vs 6 Rg1.
Classical Sozin/ Two Knights
Our August B59 to B54 update does not see a whole load of action, but it's important stuff.
We see two of the USA's best GM's in action. In FED574 Alexey Yermolinsky tries his hand on the black side of a Boleslavsky variation vs Martirosov. It's normal until 12 Nh4?!, but after 12...Nc6 he should repeat with 13 Nf3 instead of the losing 13 Nf5?
We end with two Benko systems. In De Vreugt-Gulko black sacrificed a pawn to gain a nice initiative. In the past seven years or so Gulko has played this many times, so it's worth a long look! Gulko must be considered one of the world's leading experts in this system.
Plachetka - Kolesar was an entirely different story. Black's ...0-0-0 was an incredible attrocity and he paid dearly.
Sveshnikov/ Kalashnikov
Hello all you Pelikan/ Sveshnikov/ Kalishnikov players! No Big developments in the Kalishnikov, but in the Sveshnikov we see some nice ideas.
Start off with A Ivanov-Hossain, which I'm beginning to like for white. White gets the usual play, but black looks bottled up.
The positional 10 Bf6 saw two games. In Tiviakov - Haag black played the main line, but lost the thread. I blame 17...f5. Brinck Claussen-Mcshane was a disaster for white. Black's ...Bb7 and ...Nb8 doesn't feel right. White should take a safer path. After 16 b4? it looks over.
We wrap up B32 to B33 with Sameeh - Elgabry. I remember this line from years ago. It's always had a bad rep. It's good to know these things!
Paulsen/ Taimanov
Our B40 to B49 Paulsen/ Kan/ Taimanov complex sees the ...Bc5 and ...Qb6 trend continue.
We see two games with ...Bc5. Ponomariov - Gallagher and Zighalko - Faibisovich. In the first game white played very well jumping on black's inaccurate play. The second was ok for black, but white had interesting alternatives.
We also see ...Qb6 twice. Whatever happened to black in Svidler - Milov shouldn't be repeated. 6...Bb7?! was part of the problem. We finish with Andersen - Molvig where white's insipid play gave black an easy game. Enjoy!
Richter Rauzer
Hello fellow Richter Rauser fans. Once again no Zdenko Kozul- he seems to have abandoned ship!
Our August 2000 update sees these f3 lines continuing to cause problems for black. Check Bologan - Ye Jiangchuan and Stefansson - Jandovsky. Black should consider the lines with...h5!?. Might slow white down.
Tiviakov takes advantage of some inaccurate play on Conquest's part in FED572 and we end with Anka - Yrjola... black should avoid 12...b4 13 Nd5! which is great for white.
See everyone in September. Good Luck and Good chess!