December '00
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Happy new year! I'd like to finish the year by taking stock of developments in the Noteboom (especially), and the Marshall Gambit. A new Tartakower section is on its way very shortly. Best wishes for 2001 Ruslan Scherbakov |
Noteboom
RS307 A rather dangerous weapon against the Noteboom was invented recently - Alexander Beliavsky transposed to a Catalan with the inclusion of the moves Bg5 and ...Qc7. In this game I did not expect to face the Noteboom so I decided it was worth a try...
RS308 Vladimir Malakhov here introduces a new set-up to counter Beliavsky's 6 g3!? All Black's pieces on the 8th rank look very ugly, but White succeeds only in managing to restore the material balance. This probably takes him too much time on the clock, because a series of unforced errors is not typical of the young Indian star.
RS309 Faced with new problems, Black players have started to seriously consider moves that they had not previously thought about. Recently one of the most successful ways to extinguish White's initiative after 5. Bg5 has been 5...Be7!? An exchange of dark-squared Bishops seriously reduces Black's ambitions but a draw is not such a bad result with Black.
RS310 This game very clearly illustrates the idea behind the move 5. ..Be7. While White is regaining the pawn on c4 Black has time to prepare the key advance ...c6-c5 and thereby solves his problems.
RS311 The popularity of 11 d5, which was boosted by the game Shulman - San Segundo, Pamplona 1996 has recently declined, as Black has found reliable ways to achieve good play. However, I imagine there are many as yet undiscovered possibilities in this very complicated line, which will lead to a revival in the future.
RS312 Mikhail Krasenkov follows his own path in Shulman's pet variation and plays 17. ..Qd6, which was previously thought to be imprecise. White reacts badly and allows Black to utilise his pluses in spectacular fashion.
RS313 Recently Black has usually countered 15 Re1 with 15...Ne4 followed by ...f5, stopping e3-e4 in the most direct way. One of the main Noteboom adherents Alexander Galkin also does this but he then introduces a slightly unusual set-up, and quickly obtains a winning position thanks to a mistake by his opponent.
Marshall Gambit
RS314 White ventures with his queen into the heart of Black's position, but his dubious follow-up leaves him soon regretting his decision.
RS315 White's position looked great, but it was unclear how to continue the attack until Black made a losing blunder.