Jan 2000 Update
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"An Irishman runs into a railway station shouting 'QUICK, give me a ticket to Jeopardy' 'Where on Earth is that'? asks the bemused ticket clerk 'No idea' says the Irishman 'But I just saw a headline in the newspaper saying there were 500 jobs in jeopardy..." |
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Nothing like the good old English sense of humour to kick off a new century. With sincere apologies to any Irish subscribers. Back at more mundane matters, ie the chessboard, we have a bumper update for you.
One of the most interesting ideas this month,comes from Igor Nataf. Check out his 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 0-0! 5 f3 c6!? 6 Bg5 d5!?
            
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The oh-so-solid Sämisch is completely demolished.
Move on to Lputian-Piket from Wijk aan Zee. Black's opening play is so strong as to make 9 Nd2 in the Classical Main Line look redundant. The critical position occurs after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nf3 0-0 6 Be2 e5 7 0-0 Nc6 8 d5 Ne7 9 Nd2 a5! 10 Rb1 Nd7 11 a3 f5 12 f3 Kh8 13 b4 axb4 14 axb4 Nf6 15 Qc2 c6!
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You'll find full notes later on.
We will find Kozul on top form, draining all the life out of ...Na6 in the Classical. We will see Gary Kasparov on excellent endgame form, and Kevin Spraggett shows that 9 Kh1! in the Classical is not to be underestimated.
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Thanks also to FM Richard Palliser for his games contribution, you can find these in my updated Emailbag
This month there are another 50 or so Hot New Games....These are the games that didn`t quite make it into the Annotated Games section, but qualify as the best of the rest of the new KIDS this month.
Only one month, but an awful lot of chess...
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IM Andrew Martin
Annotated Games
Classical
KID299 Here we will see an excellent technical display from the young Kasparov. Danailov gives assistance, but the precision and accuracy of Black's play is very educational.
KID301 Aggressive, accurate timing is the key for Black in this variation. For he is faced with a line against which he musn't just sit there and let White do his thing. KID expert Piket obliges.
KID307 I remember Yasser Seirawan told me once that he really hated that White Knight on d2- it just fouled everything up. Perhaps he was gazing further into the future than he thought!...
KID308 Spraggett adds his own interpretation to a crafty idea of Larsen, inviting Black to make a mistake.. here it works a treat.
KID302 There's obviously more to Kozul's positional approach than immediately meets the eye; it's not easy to pinpoint a serious error by Smirin in this game, yet he loses straightforwardly.
KID304 White tries a line essayed by Zviagintsev a few times although he plays with more restraint than Yurtaev. It becomes clear that White has very ambitious plans, but castling on the Queenside proves far too risky...
Sämisch
KID298 A plucky Scotsman goes in with all guns blazing! He is not overawed by the situation and I would say that he was probably delighted to be given the chance to 'have a go'. Unfortunate, then, that he should be on the receiving end of an excellent counter-attack!
KID305 Admirable control and a game which sheds some light on the attractions of the Samisch set-up. White's pawn duo on f3 and e4 give his game a rock-like quality, an effective insurance against all the Black tricks.
KID309 As clear as a bell! What an advertisement for 5...c6!
Fianchetto
KID306 8...Bd7 is rather unusual although perhaps not inferior to 8...Rb8. Different, certainly. Alexei Shirov has shown a liking for this move.
Bg5 Systems
KID303 Ye's response in this game is instructive. He finds an unusual spot for his queen and tries his very best to disrupt White's ideas with energetic play of his own.
Miscellaneous Lines
KID300 Not sure what you would call this, but in England it's known as 'The Old Speckled Hen', named after a strong local beer. I read a book once called 'Santasiere's Folly ' where a lot of games started similarly. Anybody had any experience here?