The August '04 '1 d4 d5' games can be downloaded directly in PGN form here:

The Latvian Bayonet [D45]

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Nf3 c6 5 e3 Nbd7 6 Qc2 Bd6 7 g4:

It is an invention of the Latvian (now American) player Alexander Shabalov, but Alexei Shirov's and recently Garry Kasparov's efforts greatly increased its popularity. theory of this sharp and attractive system (for both sides!) has been developing quickly and without any doubt we'll enjoy a lot of exciting battles in the future.

Chabanon,J - Sarthou,G: This rare Black attempt to secure the king on the K-side was punished in very impressive style.

Krasenkow,M - Akopian,V: Michal Krasenkow's set-up put Black under pressure in the principal line but Vladimir Akopian was equal to the task. However, it seems that White can still hope for the better chances - a possible improvement on move 23 requires more thorough analysis.

Aronian,L - Stefansson,H: Another promising idea in the 7...Nxg4 line:

Levon Aronian gave Black real problems and crushed his opponent in style. By the way, his performance reminded me of Kasparov's style very much - the same powerful play with every piece and the typical prophylactic move of the king before the decisive assault!

Aleksandrov,A - El Gindy,E: Here Black deviated from the path we considered in the game Vorobiov - Smirnov/RUS-ch Krasnoyarsk 2003 and which seems to be more reliable for him. White maintained his advantage and, despite the fact that Black could probably defend better, his opening choice does not look very promising.

Zhao Xue - Fontaine,R: Robert Fontaine tried a very interesting approach, which seems to have been introduced by his compatriot Laurent Fressinet in his encounter with Evgeny Bareev in 2003. Soon after 7...Bd6-b4 Black exchanges this bishop by simply taking the white knight on c3, which at first sight looks suspicious. However, it gives Black the time to quickly develop his light-squared bishop to the long diagonal and to try to expose the drawback of White's early g-pawn advance:

Actually his idea worked very well but perhaps White can still prove the better chances by playing the more cautious bishop retreat on move 12. The discussion of this important line will certainly be continued...

Aleksandrov,A - Lautier,J: One of the main experts of the "Latvian Bayonet", Alexei Alexandrov, put Black under pressure in the main line. His inaccuracy in the final stage helped Black to solve his problems but despite this it looks like White is pressurising Black in the line 7...Bb4 recently.

Rustemov,A - Bocharov,D: Black tried a rare option, 7...dxc4 8. Bxc4 Qe7, which does not seem to be fully equalising:

White secured the better chances and then punished his opponent for his excessive creativeness but it seems that Black is under pressure in this line anyway.

Tikhonov,J - Novitsky,D: In a principled and very sharp line Black came up with an improvement on the 20th move and held the position with precise play. White had another option on move 22 - his chances seemed preferable but the question was whether he could comfortably play for a win or not. In any case, this very important theoretical game deserves more analysis and practical tests.

Browne,W - Shabalov,A: Alexander Shabalov shows how he can fight against his own invention. Frankly speaking, White's approach seems dubious but in any case Black's play was quite confident and impressive.

Bluvshtein,M - Novikov,I: Mark Bluvstein has discovered that White can still play for the advantage in this line which was considered to be quite safe for Black:

and smashed one of the biggest Slav experts in style.

Radjabov,T - Shirov,A: Alexei Shirov successfully stands his ground in this important line - he prefers quick development, trying to seize the initiative. In his rapid match against Teimour Radjabov this line was tested twice and Black's position was always full of counter chances since White could not achieve much without weakening his position.

Till next month!

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.