What's New - August 2002
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Sorry for the delay - the update is short but the next one will be much bigger - a lot of interesting games have been played lately. I am already working on it and will finish it soon. Ruslan Scherbakov |
For those who can't use ChessPub.exe, Download PGN of August '02 1 d4 d5 games
QGA 3 e4 Nc6 4 Nf3 [D20]
Arkell,K - Rowson,J: Sometimes the line 3 e4 Nc6 might transpose into the Chigorin Defence. However, in the QGA the moves Nb1-c3 and ...Ng8-f6 are not usually played in the early stages so it gives White some additional possibilities. On the other hand, Black sometimes can make use of the fact the square on f6 is not occupied - the move ...Qd8-f6 is an important resource! In the featured game White had no real chances to exploit Black's Q-side weaknesses due to his lack of development, but he overestimated his position and was strictly punished.
Sorin,A - Slipak,S: A typical Chigorin Defence idea - by playing ...Bc8-g4xf3 Black parts with his bishop but doubles White's pawns. Again, ...Qd8-f6 proved to be an important counter resource - Black keeps in mind increasing pressure on the d4-pawn by ...Ra8-d8 or even ...0-0-0. Soon Black exchanged the other bishop but his knights were good enough to fight against the bishops thanks to White's poor pawn structure.
Mozetic,D - Drasko,M: Here Black has not achieved full compensation for the broken Q-side pawn structure.
Volkov,S - Ibragimov,I: Here White introduced an interesting option, which promises him a small advantage. Black could probably have saved the endgame but it was not an easy task.
Xu Jun - Nikolic,N: A principled approach - White advances his d-pawn. Sooner or later the moves . ..Ng8-f6 and Nb1-c3 are usually played so these positions can also be reached from the Chigorin Defence. The undermining ...e7-e6 is not without a risk - the way White countered it here was disputable but, thanks to Black's passive play, it worked at full power.
Karpov,A - Lautier,J: With the White bishop on e3 the undermining ...e6 is also risky due to a rather annoying Qd1-a4 check - White unpins the f3-knight, after which the Black bishop is not very comfortable on g4.
            
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Karpov,A - Milov,V: Instead of undermining the center by ...e7-e6 Black stabilizes it by ... e7-e5, after which he has no problems to complete development. Yet, White's chances look preferable - he has excellent prospects on the Q-side while Black's attacking chances on the K-side are under the clouds.
QGA [D27]
Anand,V - Ponomariov,R: An improvement over the game Kramnik - Sadvakasov/Astana 2001 has let Black achieve good play - White has a slightly more active position. However, the unbelievable two knights sacrifice drastically changed the course of the game and Black couldn't cope with the problems. This was the last and decisive game of the Duel of Champions rapid match - our congratulations to Vishy Anand for his well-deserved victory!
Pert,N - Ganguly,S: An interesting novelty in this important line has brought White a crushing victory, but Black's defence could have been improved. Further testing is required.