Download PGN of April '05 1 d4 d5 games
Mainline Slav [D17]
Gelfand - Morozevich: Baadur Jobava's invention caused some headaches for Black recently in Morozevich's Variation with 11...g5!?:
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Here we can see how Alexander himself is defending his line - some very precise and well thought out decisions and then White was fighting for a draw till the end of the game! Yet, White's possible deviation on move 15, which has already been employed by Gelfand, deserves more analysis and practical tests.
QGA [D20 - D29]
Vallejo Pons - Kasparov: Garry Kasparov followed in the footsteps of Anatoly Karpov, who suffered a rather painful defeat in this rare line in the game Anand - Karpov/Las Palmas 1996. Since that time Rublevsky's 11...Nbd7 was considered more precise but, surprisingly enough, Kasparov repeated Karpov's 11...0-0 exactly, and quickly achieved comfortable play.
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Actually Vallejo Pons deviated from Anand's way but there is no doubt Black has prepared something there, too...
Grischuk - Rublevsky: Every year in Poikovsky Sergei Rublevsky faces an interesting pawn sacrifice in a principal line. Up to now he was quite successful in defending Black's position but in two games he played in the recent tournament he failed to score any points! Frankly speaking, Bologan did not give Black real problems, but two days later Grischuk came up with a strong idea and crushed Black's defence. Some good home work must be done otherwise the whole approach with an early 9...Be7 might disappear from practice.
Queen's Gambit Declined [D37]
Topalov - Kasimdzhanov: Rustam Kasimdzhanov tried to improve upon the game Topalov-Kramnik/Monaco 2001 but it turned out to be a very risky idea to repeat this line against Veselin, who played powerful and beautiful chess.
Vienna Variation [D39]
Azmaiparashvili - Harikrishna: The idea of Vladimir Akopian, which we considered in the game Akopian - Izoria/Aeroflot Open Moscow 2005, has recently been tested a few more times:
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Since White does not move his queen to the Q-side it takes less time to transfer it to the opposite flank in case of Black's castling there so it seems logical to keep the king in the center.
Smirnov - Popov: It seems that White's idea not to move his queen to the Q-side would be justified if Black still wants to castle - then it takes less time to transfer White's queen to the opposite flank. Thus it seems logical to keep the king in the center and pressurize on the c-file, trying to distract White's attention from the main target. Perhaps such an approach is more risky but it would also promise more counter chances, as we can see in this game, which took place just the next day after the encounter between Akopian and Izoria.
Gelfand - Topalov: Veselin Topalov came up with an improvement upon the game Smirnov - V.Popov/ Aeroflot Open Moscow 2005 and managed to solve all the problems. We can conclude that if White does not move his queen to the Q-side Black should keep his king in the center, getting reasonable counter chances.
Moscow Gambit [D43]
Bacrot - Dreev: Alexei Dreev improved upon his play in the game Kasparov - Dreev/RUS-ch Superfinal Moscow 2004 here, and has even managed to gain somewhat the better chances. However, it seems that White should have preferred a subtle queen manoeuvre on move 19 - the discussion is likely to be continued...
Mastrovasilis - Dreev: Another interesting idea from the Filipenko-Dreev laboratory - in a popular line Black places his bishop more actively than previously:
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In the original game Dreev got an excellent position but eventually lost - here his follower Boris Avrukh did it much better.
Meran [D48]
Kasimdzhanov - Kasparov: Here Garry Kasparov introduced a very strong idea in a line where Black had always been under pressure. At the cost of an exchange Black quickly increased the power of his pieces and finished the game in style - after a long time the ball is now on White's side!
Cambridge Springs [D52]
Grischuk - Dreev: Alexander Grischuk himself used to play Slav systems, including the Anti-Moscow Gambit with black, so perhaps Alexei Dreev tried to entice him to the less familiar Cambridge territory. However, Grischuk came up with a good idea and proved that White can play for an advantage in the endgame instead of being involved in rather complicated play.
Till next time!
Ruslan
If you have any questions, then please post a message at the 1 d4 d5 Forum, or subscribers can email me at ruslan@chesspublishing.com.