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September '00 Update

Following on from last month's update which was devoted to a new section on the Tarrasch, this month as promised I have also added coverage of the Main Line Tarrasch.

But first here is my choice of the latest games and theory in the QGA, Main Line Slav, Meran and Anti-Moscow

Enjoy!

Ruslan Scherbakov


Anti-Moscow

QGA

Mainslav

Meran

Tarrasch

Anti-Moscow

RS269 Alexander Filipenko is not only a very good idea-generator for his pupil Alexey Dreev, but he can play good chess himself. Here he improves on Black's play in RS219 JUN00 where Black faced new and serious-looking problems and defended the position with great success.

RS270 In the notes to RS221 JUN00 we proclaimed that White had introduced a strong improvement compared to the game Goldin - Khenkin from the same tournament which he lost rather easily. In the present game a little surprise awaits us: Kramnik prefers the exact approach from that game but Akopian does not follow the "winning strategy"... In the intensive struggle Black shakes his opponent with an excellent rook sacrifice but unfortunately goes astray very soon afterwards. A very interesting and instructive game, just enjoy it!

Anti-Moscow

QGA

Mainslav

Meran

Tarrasch

QGA

RS274 In the 3...Nf6 line Black's move order with ...Nb8-c6 before ...Nd5-b6 has recently become popular. He hopes to achieve similar positions avoiding some complicated and dangerous lines. Here White introduces a new and interesting idea which helps him force Black to change his pawn formation on the kingside and so significantly decrease the possible effect of a standard undermining ...f7-f6. It would have seemed that White was just moving back and forth but actually his play is well thought-out, and after his first serious mistake Black finds himself the victim of an irresistible attack.

RS275 In the ending which arises in this line quite often White keeps some pressure while Black must be very careful as any inaccurate move may seriously complicate his life. Here White is very creative in finding the most annoying method for the defender even if it looks slightly unnatural...

RS276 In the line where White advances and so exchanges the isolated pawn he obtains a certain initiative but Black's defensive resources are probably good enough to hold the balance with careful play. In the present game Black introduces a strong-looking novelty which possibly allows him to equalise without problems in the deep, critical line.

RS277 White introduces a new idea and scores a confident win but it is clear that Black had much better defensive methods than the Knight's manoeuvre ...Nc6-a5-b7-d6-f5-h6...

RS278 Black introduces a good novelty and almost solves his opening problems but in the ending he falls into an unbelievable and very beautiful trap.

Anti-Moscow

QGA

Mainslav

Meran

Tarrasch

Mainslav

RS271 The assessment of this "piece versus pawns" position has yo-yoed from "slightly better for White" to "slightly worse" and everything depends on the skill of the players, their creativity, the understanding of the position and ability to stay level-headed. Here both players are equal to the task in a very complex and intense battle until the tension is eventually broken.

RS272 In the line 6 Nh4 Black prepares a new set-up which could serve very well against the standard undermining g2-g4. However a big surprise awaited him as White commenced direct actions in the center by f2-f3 followed by e3-e4, not stopping to count the material sacrificed.

Anti-Moscow

QGA

Mainslav

Meran

Tarrasch

Meran

RS273 Another good idea from the "Filipenko-Dreev" laboratory. The defensive method Black chooses is justified by a rather unbelievable combination but if everything works it means that it solves Black's problems in the opening.

Anti-Moscow

QGA

Mainslav

Meran

Tarrasch

Tarrasch

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 g3 Nf6 7 Bg2 Be7 8 O-O O-O









9 dxc5

RS279 In the Classical Schlechter/ Rubinstein/ Reti set-up White obtains a slight edge. Here Black was also satisfied with the position, perhaps even too satisfied as he tried to organize direct actions against White king but the open h-file only brought him headaches.

9 Bg5 Be6

RS280 One of the games which made the line 9...Be6 unpopular. Thanks to a rather unusual but very strong rook manoeuvre White obtains a small but definite advantage in the ending while Black finds himself to be under endless pressure till the very end of the game.

9 Bg5 c4

RS281 Smbat Lputian manages to hold the position after heroic and ingenious defence but did he really enjoy the road to the half point?...

9 Bg5 cxd4

RS282 A dubious invention from a well-known Tarrasch defender. Not being steeped in prejudice White finds a rather unusual way to prove its drawback - he voluntarlily retreats his bishop from g5. A shocked Black immediately goes wrong and is eliminated by series of heavy blows.

RS283 Kasparov manages to win this battle against the interesting 12 a3 but White obviously missed the way to pose far more serious problems for Black. The World Champion-to-be evaluates one of the critical lines as "unclear" but in my opinion it is clearly better for White...

RS284 The Tarrasch Defence had served Kasparov very well during the entire 1981-5 World Championship cycle. Finally he was faced with the World Champion... White went for the 12 Qb3 line which was specifically prepared for the match and achieved a typical advantage but Kasparov managed to neutralise the pressure exchanging the pieces little by little. A few difficulties still remained but the ending was clearly drawn when he made a fatal mistake having completely overlooked a very strong and study-like possibility.

RS285 Alexey Bezgodov introduces an improvement on RS284 as deep as the 18th move. A new idea allows Black to obtain more than comfortable play. In spite of the fact that the defence was sometimes based on cunning tricks it was not so easy to find a way to prove White's advantage.

RS286 Recently one of the most popular and well-developed lines. Black was defending quite well until he just got tired of holding his ground...

RS287 Another improvement from Alexey Bezgodov which allows Black to achieve acceptable play in a position which had been considered to be unsatisfactory for him after the game Kasparov - Illescas Cordoba, Linares 1994. He soberly looked at the position after the 20th move and found it pointless placing the queen in a poor position as neither of the pawns it attacked could be captured anyway. In the further struggle he played riskily but it brought him big success thanks to his opponent's heavy time-trouble.

Anti-Moscow

QGA

Mainslav

Meran

Tarrasch