Download PGN of April '09 1 d4 d5 games
Chebanenko System [D15]
Akobian - Kacheishvili: A rare and usually quiet line with 7 a5!?:
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suddenly led to wild complications. Both players were equal to the task in a total mess but then White overestimated his position with an extra queen against two minor pieces.
Anand - Wang Yue: A transposition from the Chebanenko to a Catalan type of position quickly led to the endgame. In order to keep pressure on his opponent's Q-side the World Champion reconciled himself to a serious weakening of his K-side pawn structure but it eventually paid off. Thanks to his strong Catalan bishop White locked up most of Black's pieces and then won one of them. However, Black had reasonable chances to hold on with more accurate defence.
Main Slav Variation [D19]
Ivanchuk - Anand: You may remember how Vishy Anand was pressurizing Black in the ending which arose in the game Anand - Kramnik/WCC (m/7) Bonn 2008 - this time he tried to defend it himself!
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However, it turned out to be a rather difficult task - Vassily Ivanchuk came up with a strong new idea, which put the World Champion on the verge of losing. Black eventually escaped with the help of a nice stalemate idea, but before that White missed the winning options twice!
QGD 5.Bf4 Variation [D37]
Grachev - Vaganian: Boris Grachev came up with a tricky set-up without the common a2-a3 and scored a rather easy win against a very strong and experienced opponent.
Andreikin - Onischuk: A series of restrained developing moves in a quiet line suddenly ended up with a nice tactical shot, which invited Black's king for a dangerous walk. Thorough analysis shows that Black should have prevented such things but over the board White failed to find a hidden path to maintain his strong attack and eventually found himself fighting for equality.
Beliavsky - Meier: Black's counter tactic here, 14...Qf6!?, is rather interesting:
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but it seems White can still prove the better chances. Here a small inaccuracy almost helped Black to equalise but he missed his chance and quickly collapsed.
Onischuk - Vaganian: Alexander Onischuk benefited from his own unhappy experience - the ending which he failed to defend as Black six years ago brought him a full point with White this time. It seems that Black does not completely equalise in this line.
Grachev - Akobian: Black's solid choice allowed him to get good play but still his isolated pawn, which was firmly blocked by White's pieces, required accurate defence:
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It is worth noting that a few days before in the same tournament Boris Grachev failed to defend almost the same position with Black - here he squeezed into his opponent's camp in similar style.
Vienna Variation
Romanov - Sargissian: White came up with a small innovation in a deep line and secured a small edge but it does not really look promising.
Anti-Meran Variation [D46]
Anand - Aronian: A wonderful idea from Vishy Anand - the World Champion came up with a nice positional pawn sacrifice, 12 Ng5!?:
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and after a series of precise manoeuvres he achieved a tangible advantage. A desperate piece sac by Levon Aronian made things complicated but White still kept everything under control until he blundered just one step before the triumph.
Meran Variation [D48]
Baramidze - Braun: A victory in the old main line brought Arik Braun the title of German Champion 2009. Most probably his opponent did not correctly remember all the complications that occurred in the great battle Kasparov - Kramnik/Dos Hermanas 1996, which also ended as a disaster for White.
Catalan Variation [D48]
Shirov - Landa: Alexey Shirov broke his opponent's solid defence by rather simple means - his approach, which is not quite common, certainly deserves more attention.
Ruslan
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