The June Update
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This month sees a number of strong tournaments- II Gyorgy Marx Mem in Hungary, which was won brilliantly by Korchnoi, the Team championship of BIH and finally the FIDE World Championship which is still in progress. All these tournaments produced some interesting games in the King's Indian Defense and I'll be glad to share my modest thoughts on these games with you. Victor Mikhalevski |
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Hello everyone
To download the June '04 KI games directly in PGN form, click here: 
Classical: The Bayonet attack
This system is still very popular and remains one of the most dangerous reactions for King's Indian players. I would like to start this time with the game Mrva - Sarno.
          
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This game featured Shirov's idea 21. Bb2 in the exchange sacrifice line (see diagram). Black comes-up with a new move (21...Rac8 instead of Radjabov's 21...Kh7) and after White's inaccuracy manages to equalize. However, eventually Black misses a draw and loses. The line still needs further tests.
Our second game is the very rare sub-line 13...Re8 in the 9...a5 variation. See Golod,V-Raptis. An interesting pawn sacrifice and very resourceful play by GM Golod led to a nice final position:
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Here Black can't avoid mate in one! Nevertheless, the line remains playable.
Classical: Orthodox Variation with 7...Na6
This time we're lucky to have two important novelties in this system. First, the game Beliavsky - Nevednichy which featured a completely new and very interesting idea which promises to start a new stream in this variation.
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This is the position after Beliavsky's novelty 11.Qc1!.
Black was surprised to see a new idea in such a well-known position and committed a number of unforced errors. An easy and well-deserved win by Beliavsky. I hope we'll see this line again in the near future. I suggest that Black can try to improve upon Nevednichy's play as early as move 11- see the notes.
Another important game in this line is Volkov - Nakamura.
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In the May update I'd considered this position to be about equal. White has already tested a big range of different moves, but couldn't find anything serious. Volkov plays Georgiev's 18.Rfc1 and after 18...Be6 plays a strong novelty 19.Be3. After this game I start thinking that White has chances to obtain some advantage. Also at Black's disposal are a number of interesting alternatives. Hopefully this line will also find some followers.
Classical: The Gligoric-Taimanov system
This month we see a rare, but interesting line in the game Korchnoi - Nevednichy.
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Victor Lvovich tried an almost completely unexplored move, 11.Nd5 (diagram), in a rare line with 10.dxe5. Poor Nevednichy is hit by a second new idea in the same tournament and once again doesn't find a good response. Korchnoi's fantastic play throughout this game makes a strong impression. Don't miss it! I also hope to see more games in this rare line in the near future.
Our next tough game sees some solid play from the American youngster and a very painful loss for a former Russian Champion. Here is another clash between Volkov - Nakamura which this time features a rare line with 11...Bd7. The position was balanced up to a very bad blunder from Volkov at the very end of the game.
The Makogonov system
Contrary to the above mentioned systems the Makogonov system is not very popular these days. Nevertheless, White wins easily in the game Kazhgaleev - Shirazi, which saw an interesting line in the style of the Benko gambit:
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Don't play suspicious lines against strong players! This game is further proof.
Fianchetto variation
Our last game this month is Drasko - Movsesian. It features the Classical variation of the Fianchetto. In a rare line with 13...Bd7 Black could equalize without any problems, but kept playing for a win and eventually lost. Nevertheless a good game from Drasko.
Enjoy the games! See you in July.
Victor
Don't hesitate to share your thoughts and suggestions with me. Any queries or comments to the KID Forum, or to me directly at Victor@ChessPublishing.com (subscribers only) would be most welcome.