Mar '00 Update
Najdorf
Hello my chess friends aroung the world. I hope this March 2000 finds everyone safe and sound.
The word for this update is Garry Kasparov. The world champion has to go down as the best Najdorf player ever. His victory over Anand in a somewhat offbeat line was very impressive, see Anand - Kasparov. Also check out his 2 solid efforts vs Adams and Shirov, in FED443 and FED446.
This month sees the return of 6 Be3 Ng4 in Santo Roman-Miralles, Luther - Bouaziz, Ng Tze Hon-Wong Zi Jin and of course Leko - Kasparov. White is developing some decent ideas in this variation.
I hopped on the Van Wely bandwagon in Kreiman - Fedorowicz.
6 Bg5 and my friend Alexander Stripunsky took it on the chin twice vs de Firmian and Wojtkiewicz, see FED447 and FED452. 6 Bg5 is well on the way to the garbage can.
Enjoy the stuff.
Sveshnikov/ Kalashnikov
Greetings to the Sveshnikov, Lasker-Pelikan Cheliabinsk fanatics around the world.
One development sees Kramnik ditch the boring Petroff and start playing the rough stuff once again. His game with Leko is worth a look, see FED414. Leko when faced with his own weapon didn't accomplish much. Shirov - Kramnik was a complicated affair, but black looked to be Ok the entire time.
Vaisser used the move 14...Bg6 and GM Palac reacted terribly and was wiped out ditto for Boriss-McShane, see FED415 and FED417. White fooled around too much handing black a massive initiative.
Black's approach vs the positional line in Tiviakov - Bosch looks solid enough.
Against 7 Nd5, 7...Nxd5 8 exd5 Nb8 is black's best. Look at Apicella - Tirard for an example.
The Kalashnikov front has been quiet for the most part. In Jedryczka - Nataf black's opening doesn't inspire confidence.
Scheveningen/ English Attack
It looks like black is feeling good in this B80 to B89 March update. Let me say this though. There appears to be some confusion as to whether the games Mrdja - Vera, Nijboer - Janssen and Feign - Van Wely belong in the B80's or the B90's. So look in both places so you don't miss anything.
Back to the chess. I think these three games are important to theory and I like what black has been doing. Vs the Sozin the lines with ...Nbd7 are bringing black solid results. Check Berndt - Bischoff and Chuah - Mas.
Good Luck to everyone, see you in April.
Classical Sozin/ Two Knights
This month's B54 to B59 update sees an all Benko System update. Black gets solid results and doesn't get involved in weird heavy theory.
For 7 Nb3 e6 8 Bf4 check Dervishi - Efimov, Aarthie - Bakre and Reefat - Wenjin. This in my opinion doesn't pose significant problems to black.
In Smith - Fedorowicz White tries a more positional set up but his Bd3 makes little sense. Black ends up in a reasonable Scheviningen.
My thinking against 7 Nxc6 is black is better off playing e6 than g6. Black can play for d5 and have his K-side be less holey. Let Kristovic - Palac serve as a warning.
Drmic - Palac and de Firmian-Fedorowicz see some good ideas vs 7 Ndb5. My game sees a surprising approach from Nick D.
All in all an interesting update.
Richter Rauser
The March 2000 Richter Rauser update sees no games from Zdenko Kozul, but GM Palac has picked up the slack. Check out Santo Roman-Palac and also Shetty - Murugan.
Solak - Sherbakov is no problem for black, it's a good way for white to draw, but that's it.
Murey - Malakov was a very nice creative attack well worth a look. In Stefansson - Navrotescu white makes a mockery of 6...Bd7 while in Dambacher - Van der Weide black errs instructively with 11...a6. In Mrdja - Pantaleoni the outrated player gets a solid game as black only to stumble badly.
Paulsen/ Taimanov
Well Paulsen-Kan devotees we're a little light this update with only 4 games. McShane - Kengis is another example of black's success in these ...Qb6 lines. White's Nd2 to f3 idea didn't cause black any difficulties. Holzke - Kveinys looks like a good try for White.
Mithrakanth - Thipsay is a very solid Taimanov hedgehog and we finish off with de Firmian taking advantage of black's inaccuracies to dispose of American old timer Arthur Feuerstein, see FED422 for a nice attacking win.
Take care everyone and happy chess hunting.