What's New - October 2003
|
The October update is comletely dedicated to the Chebanenko System. Recently Black experienced some problems in the quiet set-up with an early e2-e3 - White is trying to pressurize slowly, but sometimes he is ready for drastic measures as Rafael Vaganian showed in his fantastic game against Denis Frolov. The line with 5.a4 has never been the most popular one but it seems that it deserves more attention - two similar pawn sacrifices in Cambridge-Springs type of positions give Black real problems to solve. Ruslan Scherbakov |
Download PGN of October '03 1 d4 d5 games
Chebanenko [D10 & D15]
            
|
Vaganian,R - Frolov,D: In a rather symmetrical line Rafael Vaganian has found some unbelievable ideas. Interesting play in the opening:
|
|
(the position after 11 Bb5!), a positional sacrifice of 3(!) K-side pawns - just to get a superior knight against an active but useless bishop... Enjoy this fantastic game!
Vaganian,R - Sakaev,K: Konstantin Sakaev introduced an interesting manoeuvre ...Nd7-b6-c8-d6 planning to get control over some central squares. Yet, Rafael Vaganian still managed to give Black some problems with energetic play...
Kozul,Z - Tkachiev,V: A rather boring game. It seems that White did not choose the best continuation at the critical moment and after that he had to defend accurately till the very end of the game.
Kramnik,V - Bareev,E: Vladimir Kramnik introduced an interesting idea in a rare line and proved his advantage by energetic play.
Gelfand,B - Acs,P: Peter Acs introduced an interesting approach in a well known position and achieved acceptable play. Yet in this type of position White's chances are always slightly preferable. Black must defend accurately and in this game he didn't succeed.
Sokolov,I - Franco Ocampos,Z: In a popular line Black preferred a less popular continuation and White proved a small advantage, and eventually converted due to some inaccuracies from his opponent.
Ovsejevitsch,S - Braun,A: It seems that recently Black cannot equalize easily in this popular line, which is supposed to be almost harmless for him.
|
|
This capture has recently become the main continuation. Black has a choice - to weaken control over the center or to deprive himself of castling. In this game White exploited a good novelty, which I recommended in the comments to the game I.Sokolov - Kristjansson/Reykjavik 2003, and conclusively proved his superiority.
Tregubov,P - Bacrot,E: Pavel Tregubov has tried to take advantage of a good opportunity to transfer his rook to the K-side. However, it also gives Black good counter chances on the c-file so this approach is double-edged. After this White played creatively, sacrificed a pawn on the Q-side, and his K-side threats brought him an extra exchange which was not so easy to convert into a full point.
Sasikiran,K - Sakaev,K: Konstantin Sakaev was the first player brave enough to capture the White pawn here, in a recently popular line:
|
|
However, it seems that Black's problems remain unsolved - Krisnan Sasikiran has found a few energetic moves after which a small advantage was always in his hands thanks to the damaged black pawn structure.
Shipov,S - Malakhov,V: Thanks to his energetic play White has obtained the superior position in the opening but then suddenly spoilt it in two moves. Yet, it seems that this line is very risky for Black exactly because of the pawn sacrifice which was tested in this game.
Kharlov,A - Iskusnykh,S: In this game Andrei Kharlov draws our attention to a rare and interesting possibility. By sacrificing a pawn White gets a certain lead in development but Black's defensive resources should not be underestimated. In this game Black played carelessly and soon found his queen trapped so more practical tests are required for a precise conclusion.
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.