What's New- September '00
Scheveningen/ English Attack
Greetings to chess fans around the globe. Welcome to the September 2000 update for B80 to 89.
As usual due to transpositions from Scheveningen to Najdorf and vice versa keep an eye on B90 to 99. We start off with 3 guys touching the h pawn in the 6 Be3 Najdorf. Fedorov had a rough time losing to Van Wely and Gelfand, see FED602 and FED603. Van Wely improved on his game with Jan Timman with 17...Qc5 and got a good game. In the second game Fedorov's 11 Bd3 looks a tad too slow allowing Gelfand a nice initiative.
Anand -Khalifman was no fun for the FIDE champion as white smoked him in fine fashion.
We finish up with Fabish - Mrdja where black gets satisfactory play after 10...Nf6.
Parligras - Florescu sees black get whupped after the inaccurate 9...Bb7. Good Luck!!
Najdorf
As usual with the B90 to 99 updates keep an eye on B80 to 89 for transpositions.
September 2000 is a light month and a bad one for black in part due to the move 6...Ng4. When will they learn! Check Kaufman - Donlag and Medvegy - Szeberenyi for that misery!
White side Najdorf players are always looking at old variations. Beware of a movement to 6 g3 as in Movesian - Svidler. The opening was unclear, but it's easy to avoid with 6...e6!?. Adios and Enjoy!
Sveshnikov/ Kalashnikov
The Pelikan/Sveshnikov/Kalishnikov update sees 3 battles in the positional lines. If I'm black I'm sticking to black's method in both Vescovi-Mecking games, see FED585 and FED586. White is having difficulties finding any kind of edge. Ashley - Casella looks nice for white and is to be avoided if you're playing black.
Gelfand - Trebugov is our only Kalashnikov. The move 7 b3 jumping on the d6 pawn is interesting, but black holds his own.
Richter Rauzer
The september 2000 B60 to 69 Richter Rauser update sees 3 games where white scores well in f3 variations. Check Anand - Tissir, Feher - Bromberger, and Moreno - Norris. Black can't afford to play passively. It looks like black must organize a central break or suffer.
We end with Kaufman - Hoover where black played thhe supposedly bad 6...Qb6. White played 7 Nb3 when black should be OK.
Unfortunately no Kozul sightings!!
Classical Sozin/ Two Knights
Our September 2000 B54 to 59 update sees 2 Benko systems. In both Macieja - Krush and A Ivanov-B Evans black leaves the beaten track and pays the price. 6...Qb6 has survived the test of time. Black should stay near the main line and the positions reached will be OK.
We finish with 2 games where White tries 6 f3 vs the Classical 2Ns. Gaponenko - Socko turned out horribly for black, but he had alternatives and in Marchadour - Te Llaleman it was white's turn to misplay the opening.
Paulsen/ Taimanov
We end our September 2000 update with the B40 to 49 Paulsen Kan update. Smirin continues to make a living (and a good one!) with 6...Qb6. Checkout Ashley - Smirin and Shabalov - Smirin where black won routinely. White's Nf3 idea looks best but he hasn't been able to put it together. Almasi - Fedorov is instructive as it shows how to play as white vs the Sicilian Attack.
I'm off to Seattle for the US Championship starting Sept 25. Wish me luck!
See everyone in October! Happy Chess Hunting!