March 2001
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Welcome to the March Update! I recently received an email from a subscriber, asking about move order ideas and transpositions. So as well as the latest games round up, I have also included some general thoughts about the problems of constructing an opening repertoire which gives you the chance to play your preferred lines, while dodging all sorts of possibilities that your opponent may want to entice you into playing. Good luck! Ruslan Scherbakov |
Chigorin
RS336 This game was a key one in the fight for the German Title. Black uses the Chigorin to stylish effect, as he quickly outplays the clear leader of the Championship. Black parts with both his Bishops and takes the initiative thanks to his advantage in development.
RS337 In the Chigorin Defence Black often parts with one or both Bishops. In this game White tries to activate his Bishops in a rather risky way which eventually brings him total success, although Black's defence was not very stubborn. An interesting game.
Main Line Slav
RS338 Vassily Ivanchuk's idea in the "piece versus pawns" variation has caused serious headaches for Black. The main victim has been Alexander Khalifman - we remember his defeat at the recent Olympiad (Topalov - Khalifman, Istanbul (ol) 2000 - RS301, which allowed the Bulgarian team to beat Russia - but his game against Vishy Anand cost him a much higher prize - the World Title.
RS339 Nowadays it is extremely difficult to find new ideas on the very first moves, but not for Alexander Morozevich! It seems that his opening play was shocking for Loek van Wely, who completely lost control of the game and was smashed in twenty moves. A new chapter in opening theory?!
RS340 Another opening surprise from Alexander Morozevich - this time he found a grain of truth in an idea of the Yugoslavian player Nebojsa Misailovic. It was the first step on the way to a glorious victory over the World Champion Vladimir Kramnik with the Black pieces - the last player to do this in a game with normal time controls was Alexei Shirov. You may remember - it was the 9th and decisive game of their Candidates Final match in Cazorla as long ago as 1998! Another theoretically important game?!
Meran
RS341 Yury Yakovich has had great success against the Meran variation. Here he shows a promising way to counter ...Bf8-c5.
RS342 Rafael Vaganian introduces a strong-looking novelty in a complex line where Black had usually achieved quite acceptable play, and quickly obtains a decisive advantage. A theoretically important game.
QGA
RS343 Recently the QGA endgame has become one of the most serious attempts to pressurize Black in this opening. In the game Kramnik - Kasparov, London (m/4) 2000 (RS305. Vladimir used an idea of his second Evgeny Bareev, and got a certain amount of pressure. This time Bareev introduced an interesting idea himself, but it was actually one of Kramnik's!
RS344 In a principal variation Black introduces a novelty which allows White to seize a very strong initiative by a series of spectacular moves. However Black defends excellently, and it remains unclear how White could prove his advantage if Black had not mixed up the lines and retreated with the King to the right square.
RS345 In the game Kasparov - Ivanchuk, Linares 1999 (RS64) White introduced an interesting set-up and quickly achieved the superior position. Shortly afterwards in Kramnik - Anand, Dos Hermanas 1999 Black did not manage to solve his problems either. However since that time Black has discovered more reliable ways to get acceptable play. In the featured game White tried an improvement which looked promising but Black's cool defence showed it to be of doubtful value. Alexander Volzhin finished the game with a beautiful and deeply calculated combination - White was just one tempo too late to checkmate the Black King! A theoretically important game.
Repertoire thoughts
I recently received this email from a subscriber in Texas:
"I am new to your site and am interested in your ideas on move orders in getting to your choice of opening. Can you shed some light on this? Many variations require the cooperation of both players to occur..."
This is such a critical concern for all players who are developing an opening repertoire, that I thought it might be interesting to say a few words on this as part of this update.
In reply...
"Thanks a lot for your interest. The question you mention is very important, but it's an enormously large task to describe the myriad of move order options in any form, either in letter or on the site! - I can only give some general ideas to keep in mind.
Nowadays one of the main problems that chess professionals face with their opening preparation, is to build a solid opening repertoire while trying to keep aware of every possible transposition into a different opening.
For example, if you want to play the Meran after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 you might face 5.Bd3
            
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after which objectively the best way is to transpose into the QGA by 5...dc4 6.Bc4 c5. Otherwise, for example after 5...Nbd7, White plays 6.Nbd2 and after 6...Bd6 7.e4 de4 8.Ne4 Ne4 9.Be4 you have probably not got the position you wanted to play. That's why most players prefer 4. ..Bf5 but of course there is a lot of theory you need to know there as well.
Avoiding such surprises...
This is only one little example, but in every opening such things are possible. So what should we do to avoid unwelcome surprises, which are even more common for younger or less experienced players? The easiest way seems to be to write down your opening repertoire, move by move from the very beginning! But then you will soon discover that this is not an easy task to fulfill - it won't take long to find all sorts of omissions in your opening tree. To correct this, you will probably have some alternative variations to include.
Another problem is to choose the right ones - they don't have to be objectively the best, but they should suit your style. This problem is made tougher by having to second guess the lines that you might not initially be expecting - in some cases you might be forced to conduct a long-lasting defence in a slightly worse position even if you are a very sharp player who likes to attack.
The opening repertoire is the task of a whole life, and every player works on it continuously. As for myself, I am still nowhere close to completing it, and I think it is normal - some lines which looked promising have actually turned out not to be, and so I have tried to find the truth in other variations. For example, I spent a couple of years studying all the possible transpositions in the Noteboom, but then guess what? Almost nobody gave me a chance to play it, preferring an early e2-e3 and the Anti-Meran...
I found this boring and started to play different systems, such as 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c6 4.e3 Nd7 or 4...Bd6
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followed by …f7-f5. Soon I turned back again to the QGA, and recently I have also been playing the Benoni -- I don't know which ideas will spring to mind next year…
Trying to answer your question, I can say that you should know very well what YOU want to play, while staying aware of all the possibilities that your opponent may entice you to play. And when you realise some particular system is likely to occur in your game - then study it thoroughly!
I hope the site will help you to fine tune your opening repertoire - I try to mention possible transpositions and give a link to previously analysed games where appropriate. Don't worry if this process seems like slow going - your chess will definitely improve as a result.
Good luck!
With best regards"
Ruslan Scherbakov