Download PGN of November '04 1 d4 d5 games
Slav StoneWall [D31]
Sasikiran, K - Krasenkow, M: Michal Krasenkow has found an interesting way to get reasonable counter chances in the Slav StoneWall. In the position with opposite castling he achieved good play but later failed to stay cool after Krisnan Sasikiran's wonderful queen sacrifice for two minor pieces...
Marshall Gambit [D31]
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Lputian, S - Pavasovic, D: Smbat Lputian came up with a new approach. He was not in a hurry to begin concrete options as White did in the game Grigoriants, S - Potkin, V/Ismailia 2004 - instead he summoned his pieces back from the opponent's camp, developed the others and launched a decisive attack. It seems that Black has to find a more reliable way to prevent the escalation of White's initiative.
QGD - 5. Bf4 [D37]
Kaidanov, G - Lputian, S: Grigory Kaidanov outplayed Smbat Lputian in a line which is still not very popular but perhaps a bit underestimated. The position is usually not so sharp but it is still rather complicated as both sides have many options to chose. Yet it seems that White can always hope for a slight edge so I expect the development of this line will be speeded up soon.
Moscow Variation [D43]
Avrukh, B - Novikov, I: A very complicated, well developed and important line has been tested here. Igor Novikov came up with improvement on move 20 but was still outplayed in the struggle. However, in the end he exploited the somewhat inaccurate play of Boris Avrukh and escaped in a rather spectacular way. This line seems playable for Black since he also had another interesting option on move 21.
Anti-Meran [D45]
Again the Latvian Bayonet was popular:
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Krasenkow, M - Volkmann, F: Michal Krasenkow draws our attention to a very rare but fairly interesting option in a well-known position. His opponent defended well and achieved a playable position but only by spending all his time which caused a fatal mistake. The line really deserves more attention as it seems that White can get a small advantage while the alternative option, which we considered in the game Radjabov, T - Shirov, A/Leon (m/7) rapid 2004, is not clear at all.
Shirov, A - Fressinet, L: Alexei Shirov came up with a fresh idea - instead of pushing his g-pawn further he preferred the development of his Q-side. Laurent Fressinet considered it a bluff, tried to disprove White's strategy in a most principled way and ... was punished for that in brilliant style!
Gelfand, B - Dominguez, L: In the very last round of the Olympiad Lenier Dominguez came up with an improvement over the just considered game Shirov - Fressinet/Calvia (ol) 2004. Boris Gelfand tried to put a lot of pressure on Black's position, which, however, was always full of defensive resources. After all, White sacrificed a whole rook but the best he achieved was just a perpetual check. A very interesting and exciting game!
Meran Defence [D47-49]
Lputian, S - Fontaine, R: The line Black has chosen is not popular in tournament practice - it is rather passive and the maximum he can achieve is usually half a point. However, for White the task to gain a substantial advantage is not as easy as it might seem to be. Here Smbat Lputian played a rather interesting, and one of the most promising, lines but still achieved only a small advantage, which he eventually converted with the help of his opponent.
Kozul, Z - Graf, A: Harvey Williamson drew my attention to the system with 8...Bd6 and, luckily enough, one interesting game was played at the Olympiad!
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Actually this set-up is not very popular - after the typical Meran moves ...d5xc4 and ..b7-b5 he suddenly shifted to his K-side development. Perhaps such an approach is safer for his king but it is certainly less ambitious and causes less headaches for White. In this game Alexander Graf achieved comfortable play with Black mostly because Zdenko Kozul's approach was a bit too aggressive - however, it finally worked after all.
Till next time!
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.