CVO_022.pdf

No. 22, June 3, 2009

OPENINGS

WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT?

XIIIIIIIIY

9R+-+KVL-TR0

9ZPPWQN+P+P0

9-+P+-+-+0

9+-+-SNLZP-0

9P+N+-VL-+0

9+-SN-+-ZP-0

9-ZP-+PZPLZP0

9TR-+QMK-+R0

XIIIIIIIIY

Chinese battle

on Slav territory

By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris

Frequency

Wang Hao is dominating the Chinese Championship

with an impressive 6.5 out of 7 and four rounds to

go. Ivanchuk won the rapid match against Navara

convincingly with 5.5-2.5. Another main source of fresh

opening ideas was the strong French League (Top 16).

WHAT’S HOT?

Ni Hua ’ s novelty 9.0-0!? against Liang Chong was a very romantic

interpretation of the opening, but it seems that Black was just winning

along the way (see PGN file). 1.e4 is not scoring very well so far in the

Chinese Championship, mainly because Black is scoring heavily with

the counter-attacking Sicilian and French lines. White should stick to the

most principled lines in order to keep Black ’ s practical chances in check.

Score

Tournament leader Wang Hao is exercizing a lot of pressure with his 1.d4

and combines positional play with tactical alertness. Against Ni Hua (our

Game of the Week ) he decided a theoretical discussion in the Slav in his

favour. In the diagram position White played 12.¤e3.

The rapid match between Navara and Ivanchuk showed varied opening

play by both, something that is typical of modern chess. We highlighted

the mini-discussion in the Grünfeld fianchetto in which Black had to solve

some problems.

In France the game between Sebag and Bogner awakened the spirit of

the legendary attacking player Velimirovic. We are sure the old maestro

can appreciate the attacking chess that Feller showed against Apicella

as well. Fressinet against Flear adds to the current Meran discussion.

Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

The recent popularity of Fischer’s old favourite 6.h3 against the Najdorf is a bit surprising, since the move does make somewhat of a

slow impression. Black has a choice of setups and indeed in both Hou Yifan-Wang Hao and

Ganguly-Dao Thien Hai, Black was succesful with entirely different systems. Also not very hot

this week is the King’s Indian, with a poor 0.5 out of 3 for Black.

WHAT’S NOT?

1 of 4

ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not?

No. 22, June 3, 2009

The black king gets mated in a solid Slav

Many of the current generation of Chinese top players seem to play the solid Slav with Black.

This opening tends to look a bit passive against the world’s very best, but appears to be a

decent choice against anyone else.

Johannessen-L ’ Ami, Germany 2006.

d) 20.£d2 ¥e7 (20...¤e6! is better) 21.¥h3 ¢b8

22.£e3 ¤g6 23.¤xe7 £xe7 24.£xe7 ¤xe7

25.¦d6 h4 26.g4 ¤e6 27.¤e4 with a pleasant

edge; Gelfand-Akopian, Yerevan 2008.

20...¢b8 21.£d2 h4?!

21...¥e7 transposes to Gelfand-Akopian while

21...¤e6? loses to 22.¤e4 £g6 23.£xa5.

However, correct is 21...¤g6! and it ’ s not

clear how White can make any progress after

22.£d8+ £xd8 23.¦xd8+ ¢c7 24.¦e8 ¢d7!

25.¦a8 ¢c7.

22.g4

22.¤xh4?! ¤c4 23.£c2 ¥d6 24.¥g2 (24.¤a2?

¤e3! 25.fxe3 ¥xg3 26.¤f3 £h6) 24...¥xg3

25.fxg3 ¤e3 26.£c1 ¤xd1 27.£xd1 £e5 and

Black ’ s rook is not worse than the two pieces.

22...¦g8 23.¢h1

23.£d8+? £xd8 24.¦xd8+ ¢c7 25.¦e8 ¤xg4

26.¦xf8 ¦xf8 27.¥xg4 ¦d8 and b2 will fall.

23...¤e6?

The decisive mistake. 23...¤xg4? 24.¥xg4 ¦xg4

25.£d8+ drops a piece; 23...¥e7! 24.£e3 ¤g6

25.f4 £e6 26.£xe6 fxe6 27.¤xe7 ¤xe7 28.g5².

XIIIIIIIIY

9-MK-+-VLR+0

9+P+-+P+-0

9-+P+NWQ-+0

9ZP-+-SNN+-0

9P+-+-+PZP0

9+-SN-+-+L0

9-ZP-WQPZP-+0

9+-+R+-+K0

XIIIIIIIIY

24.¤e4 £g6

24...£h8 25.£xa5 ¤c4 (25...¤xg4 26.¥xg4

¦xg4 27.£b6 ¦xe4 28.¦d7) 26.¦d8+! ¤xd8

27.£xd8+ ¢a7 28.¤f6 ¦g6 29.g5 and Black ’ s

pieces are out of play.

25.£xa5 ¤xg4 26.f3!

Probably this move was overlooked by Ni Hua.

26...¤h6 27.£e5+ ¢a7 28.¤f6 and Black

resigned, since 28...¦h8 fails to 29.£a5+ ¢b8

30.¤d7+ ¢c8 31.£a8+ ¢c7 32.£b8 mate.

GAME OF THE WEEK

Wang Hao (2696) - Ni Hua (2724)

Chinese Ch, Xinghua Jiangsu, May 27, 2009

D17, Slav, 6. ¤ e5, 12. ¤ e3

23.¢xf2 b6 24.¦a6! with a devastating attack;

Volokitin-Inarkiev, Poikovsky 2008) 18.¤b5!

cxb5 19.axb5 ¤c5 20.£e3 ¤g4 21.£c3 ¤e4

22.¥xe4 £xc3 23.bxc3 b6 24.¤d4 ¤f6 25.¥f3±

Shirov-Harikrishna, Foros 2006.

16.hxg3 a5 17.¦fd1

Nothing is achieved by 17.¦fc1 ¢b8 18.¦ab1

¤e6 19.£e4 ¤c5 20.£c2 ¤e6 21.£e4 ¤c5

22.£c2 1/2–1/2 Grischuk-Inarkiev, Elista 2008.

17...h5 18.¦xd8+ £xd8 19.¦d1 £f6

XIIIIIIIIY

9-+K+-VL-TR0

9+P+-+P+-0

9-+P+-WQ-+0

9ZP-SN-SNN+P0

9P+-+-+-+0

9+-SN-+-ZP-0

9-ZPQ+PZPL+0

9+-+R+-MK-0

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20.¥h3!?

The first new move, which doesn ’ t change the

evaluation of the line, but at least poses some

practical problems. Alternatives:

a) 20.¤e4 ¤xe4 21.£xe4 ¥b4 gave Black an

easy life in Gyimesi-San Segundo, Gothenburg

2005.

b) 20.e3 ¢b8 21.¤e2 ¤e6 22.¤ed4 ¥b4

23.¤xe6 fxe6 24.¤d4 ¦d8= Avrukh-Fressinet,

Germany 2008.

c) 20.e4 h4 21.f4 (21.¤xh4?! ¦xh4! 22.gxh4

¤e6 23.¤d5 £xh4 24.¤b6+ ¢c7 25.¤c4 £g5

26.¤xe5 ¤f4 27.f3 £xe5) 21...¤g6 22.e5 £e6

23.¤e2 (23.¤d6+?! ¥xd6 24.¦xd6 £c4! 25.¥f1?

£b4 26.¤a2 £b6 27.¢h2 hxg3+ 28.¢xg3 ¤e6

–+ Ivanchuk-Gelfand, Sochi 2005) 23...hxg3

24.¤d6+ (24.¦d6 ¥xd6 25.¤xd6+ ¢b8 26.£xc5

£b3 27.£d4 ¦d8 28.f5 ¤xe5 29.£xe5 £d1+

30.¥f1 ¦xd6³) 24...¥xd6 25.¦xd6 £g4 26.£xc5

£xe2 27.¦xc6+ bxc6 28.£xc6+ ¢d8 29.£b6+

¢e8 30.£b8+ ¢d7 31.£d6+ ¢c8 1/2–1/2

1.¤f3 d5 2.d4 ¤f6 3.c4 c6 4.¤c3 dxc4 5.a4

¥f5 6.¤e5 ¤bd7 7.¤xc4 £c7

A solid alternative is 7...¤b6 which we examined

in Topalov-Wang Yue, CVO 20.

8.g3 e5 9.dxe5 ¤xe5 10.¥f4 ¤fd7 11.¥g2 g5

Invented by Morozevich about a decade ago

and still stands all tests. The other continuation

11...f6 was already played in games of Euwe-

Alekhine back in the thirties, but Black doesn't

seem to obtain full equality. A recent example:

12.0–0 ¤c5 13.¤e3 ¥g6 14.b4 ¦d8 15.¤ed5

cxd5 16.bxc5 ¥xc5 17.¤xd5 £f7 18.a5 0–0

19.£b3 ¢h8 20.¦fd1 ¥h5 21.¦d2² Wang Hao-I.

Sokolov, Sarajevo 2009.

12.¤e3

The alternative 12.¥xe5 ¤xe5 13.£d4 gained

some popularity in 2004 thanks to the efforts

by GM Jobava, but recently it has been shown

that Black has enough resources to keep the

balance. 13...f6 14.0–0–0 (14.¤e3 ¥g6 15.0–0–0

£b6 16.¤e4 £xd4!? 17.¦xd4 ¥e7 18.¦hd1 f5

19.¤d6+ ¥xd6 20.¦xd6 0–0 21.f4 ¤g4 22.¤xg4

fxg4 23.e3 ¦ae8 24.¢d2 ¥e4 Bu Xiangzhi-Ni

Hua, Xinghua Jiangsu 2009) 14...¦d8! 15.£e3

¥e7 16.¦xd8+ ¢xd8 17.¦d1+ ¢c8 18.¥e4

(18.¤xe5 £xe5 19.£xa7 ¥a3! 20.£d4 £xd4

21.¦xd4 ¥c5) 18...¥xe4 19.£xe4 h5 20.¤e3 ¢b8

21.£f5 ¦d8 22.f4 ¦xd1+ 23.¢xd1 £b6 24.£e6

£xe3 25.£xe7 £d4+ 26.¢c2 gxf4 27.£xf6 f3

28.exf3 £d3+ 29.¢b3 ¤xf3 led to a level game

in Aronian-Bu Xiangzhi, Nanjing 2008. Another

option is 12.¤xe5 gxf4 13.¤xd7 0–0–0 14.£d4

£xd7 15.£xf4 (15.£xh8 £d2+ 16.¢f1 £xb2

17.¦e1 ¥b4 18.£f6 £c2) 15...¥d6 giving Black

sufficient play for the material deficit.

12...gxf4 13.¤xf5 0–0–0 14.£c2 ¤c5 15.0–0

fxg3

For a long time 15...¤e6?! was considered to

be a serious alternative to the text, but Shirov

proved the knight retreat to be incorrect: 16.£e4

fxg3 17.hxg3 a5 (17...h5 18.b4 h4 19.¤b5!

cxb5 20.¦fc1 ¤c6 21.axb5 hxg3 22.bxc6 gxf2+

WANG HAO - NI HUA

2 of 4

ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not?

No. 22, June 3, 2009

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Sicilian, Najdorf

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9R+L+-+-TR0

9+PWQ-MKP+N0

9P+-ZPP+-+0

9+-+-SN-ZP-0

9-+-+P+PZP0

9+-SN-+-VL-0

9PZPP+Q+-+0

9+-MKR+L+R0

XIIIIIIIIY

1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 a6 6.¥g5 e6 7.f4 ¤bd7 8.£e2 h6 9.¥h4 £c7

10.0–0–0 ¥e7 11.g4 g5 12.fxg5 ¤h7 13.¥g3 hxg5 14.¤f5 ¤e5 15.¤xe7 ¢xe7 16.h4

Since the Velimirovic Attack itself is not very popular anymore, the brilliant sacrificial sequence ¤f5! exf5 ¤d5!

followed by exf5 is not very frequently seen in modern chess. White clears a beautiful central square for the ¤

on d5 and creates a pawn mass on the kingside, which usually leads to good attacking chances. Therefore it ’ s

always a pleasure to see another version of this thematic piece sac and just that was the case in Sebag-Bogner.

More common would have been the immediate 8...£c7 and maybe rightfully so. White could have played 13.¤f5

rightaway and after 13...exf5 14.¤d5 £d8 15.exf5 ¤e5 16.¥f2 ¥xg5 17.¢b1 followed by h4 and g5 Black is

basically just mated. Following the course of the game White wasn ’ t even a piece down and 19.¦xd6! would have

been very strong. The battle continued and after a very tough fight Black was on top. In the PGN file we included

three classic Velimirovic games.

Semi-Slav, Meran

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9R+-WQ-TRK+0

9ZPL+N+PZPP0

9-+PVLPSN-+0

9+P+-+-+-0

9-+-ZP-+-+0

9+-SN-ZPN+-0

9PZPQ+LZPPZP0

9TR-VLR+-MK-0

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1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.e3 e6 5.¤f3 ¤bd7 6.£c2 ¥d6 7.¥d3 0–0 8.0–0 dxc4 9.¥xc4 b5 10.¥e2 ¥b7 11.¦d1

While nowadays people mainly focus on sharp Slav variations like the Moscow, Botvinnik and Shirov-Shabalov

(7.g4) variations, the less forcing positional Meraner lines tend to be forgotten by many people, despite the fact

that unnoticedly these lines develop very quickly. Two weeks ago, in the US championship Akobian came up with

the strong novelty 15.¦ad1! and this week Onischuk and Fressinet tried to copy the recipe from the Armenian

kitchen. Both their opponents, however, deviated from the Akobian game, but didn ’ t really improve. Onischuk as

well as Fressinet showed that Black doesn ’ t have a clear response to White ’ s possession of the d-file. Therefore

GM Grachev tried instead the more mysterious 11...£b8, but as it turned out 15...¦c8 was an unlucky new

attempt, where 15...¦e8 looks still OK for Black. Furthermore Black doesn ’ t really have to worry as he still has

the possibility to go for 9...a6, which we examined in other recent CVO articles already.

Grünfeld, g3-system

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9R+LWQR+K+0

9ZPPZP-ZPPVLP0

9-SNN+-+P+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9-+-ZP-+-+0

9+-SN-ZPNZP-0

9PZP-+-ZPLZP0

9TR-VLQTR-MK-0

XIIIIIIIIY

1.¤f3 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.d4 ¥g7 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 ¤xd5 6.¥g2 ¤b6 7.¤c3 ¤c6 8.e3 0–0 9.0–0 ¦e8 10.¦e1

In the rapid match Navara-Ivanchuk we witnessed that three of the eight games opened with a Grünfeld. In

the second round Navara opted for an obscure sideline of the Russian system and lost badly. Then it was the

Czech GM ’ s turn to handle the white pieces and he went in for the g3-system twice. Until move 16 they followed

the game Tkachiev-Iordachescu on which the former (a notably expert on this system) commented that Black

should look for equality earlier on. As usual the Ukrainian ’ s number one had probably his own opinion and

kept queens on the board, but Navara showed with high-class technique the drawbacks of this approach. As

Ivanchuk couldn ’ t fix this hole, in their last encounter he therefore deviated with the reasonable 10...a5!? (which

scores over 50% for Black!). Navara ’ s novelty 14.¥a3 wasn ’ t that impressive and so he lost without any chance.

As there is no clear way to a significant edge for White after 10...a5!? we can only draw the conclusion that it ’ s

time for White to go back to the main line arising from 10.d5!.

King ’ s Indian, 7.¥e3

XIIIIIIIIY

9R+LWQR+K+0

9+P+N+RVLN0

9P+-+-+P+0

9+-+-+-ZP-0

9-+-SNP+-+0

9+-SN-VL-+-0

9PZPQ+L+-ZP0

9+-+R+-MK-0

XIIIIIIIIY

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 ¥g7 4.e4 d6 5.¤f3 0–0 6.¥e2 e5 7.¥e3 ¤bd7 8.0–0 ¦e8 9.£c2 exd4 10.¤xd4 c6 11.¦ad1 a6 12.f3

d5 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.f4 dxe4 15.g4! h6 16.g5 hxg5 17.fxg5 ¤h7 18.¦xf7

A most remarkable attacking game was Feller-Apicella. 7.¥e3 is the respected Gligoric variation against the King ’ s

Indian and demands some independent work from Black. The automatic 7...¤c6?! allows 8.d5 ¤e7 9.¤d2 and

White has the best of both worlds: a bishop on the g1–a7 diagonal (like in the 9.¤e1 line) and ¤c4 ideas (like in

the 9.¤d2 line). The main line is 7...¤g4 with 7...¤a6 as a decent alternative. The hidden point behind the game ’ s

7...¤bd7 is revealed after 9.d5, since Black has the hyper-modern regrouping 9...¤h5 10.g3 ¥f8! 11.¤e1 ¤g7!

followed by f5. Feller had played a game with 9.£c2 before against Bacrot, so he was definetely prepared for the

concrete 12...d5. White ’ s amazing attacking concept is the square-blocking pawn sac 14.f4! and after 14...dxe4

the aggressive pawn storm 15.g4!. White just kept accelerating the pace the hammer blow 18.¦xf7!, the piece sac

23.¤f5! and the exchange sac 25.¦xf6!, eventually hunting down the enemy king in grand style.

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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not?

No. 22, June 3, 2009

OPENING EXPERT

Who:

Murtas Kazhgaleyev

Born:

November 17, 1973

Nationality:

Kazakhstan

Rating:

2626

Expertise:

Dynamic, unbalanced pawn structures and consequently he likes playing

the Grünfeld with Black for example.

Why:

Although the Kazakh born GM, who is mostly seen in the European

chess scene and lives in France, has been the number one of his native

country for many years. At the board he is a very tough fighter and

hence his uncompromising style suits him very well. What we found very

characteristic for his style is the use of his own pawns. By doing so, he

creates a lot of space for his pieces in order to let them operate as flexible

as possible. In our small selection of games one can see his adventurious

style, where it almost looks like he doesn’t really care that you can’t move

a pawn backwards! With his opening choices he knows that he takes

certain risks, but that makes him a dangerous opponent for every player,

like Svidler experienced this week.

Key game:

Kazhgaleyev-Svidler , French league, Le Port Marly, 30 May 2009

XIIIIIIIIY

9-+RWQ-+K+0

9+P+NTRPZPP0

9P+-+P+-+0

9ZP-ZPN+-+-0

9LSN-+-+-+0

9+-+-+-+-0

9-ZP-+QZPPZP0

9TR-+R+-MK-0

XIIIIIIIIY

knows he shouldn ’ t hurry the process. Thanks

to his queenside majority he already fixed the

potential weakness on b7 and so every exchange

favours him.

25...¤f4 26.¥c4 g6 27.¥f1 ¦d4 28.g3 ¤h5

29.¦xd4 ¤xd4 30.¥g2 ¤f6 31.b4 e5 32.¦d1

¤f5 33.£c3 ¦e6 34.£d2 e4 35.£d8+ £xd8

36.¦xd8+ ¢g7 37.¤d5 ¤xd5 38.¦xd5 ¦e7

39.¦d1 e3

39...¢f6 40.¦e1 e3 41.g4 doesn ’ t help Black.

40.fxe3 ¤xg3 41.¦d6 ¤e4 42.¦b6 f5 43.¥xe4!

Correct estimating that the rook ending is easily

winning.

43...fxe4 44.c6 bxc6 45.¦xc6 ¦b7 46.¦b6 ¦a7

47.¢f2 g5 48.h4! gxh4 49.¢g2 ¢f8 50.¢h3

¢e7 51.¢xh4 ¢d8 52.¢g4 ¢c8 53.¢f4 h5

54.¢xe4 h4 55.¦h6 ¦b7 56.¦h8+

and resigned, as the pawn ending is hopeless

for Black.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.¤f3 dxc4 5.a4

e6 6.e3 c5 7.¥xc4 ¤c6 8.0–0 cxd4 9.exd4

¥e7 10.£e2 0–0 11.¦d1 ¤b4 12.¥g5 ¦e8

12...¥d7 13.d5 exd5 14.¤xd5 ¤bxd5 15.¥xd5

¤xd5 16.¦xd5 ¥xg5 17.¤xg5 h6 18.¦ad1 hxg5

19.¦xd7² Ivanchuk-Svidler, Monte Carlo 2006.

13.¤e5 ¥d7

13...¤fd5!?

14.¥b3 ¦c8 15.a5 a6 16.¤a4 ¤fd5 17.¤c5

¥xg5

17...¥b5 18.£f3 ¥xg5 19.£xf7+ ¢h8 20.¤xe6

¦xe6 21.£xe6 with initiative.

18.¤exd7 ¥e7 19.¥a4 ¥xc5

19...£xa5 20.¤e5 ¦f8 21.¥d7

20.dxc5 ¦e7

21.£e1!

Indirectly defending the pawn on a5.

21...£c7

21...£xa5 22.¦xd5

22.¤b6 ¦d8 23.¦ac1 ¤c6 24.¥b3 ¦ee8 25.h3

Kazhgaleyev has obtained a small plus and

www.chessvibes.com/openings

ChessVibes Openings is a weekly PDF magazine that covers the latest news on chess openings. Which openings are hot in top level chess?

Which are not? Editors IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris keep you updated once a week! Singles issues cost € 1. You can subscribe too:

€ 25 a year (that’s less than € 0.50 per issue!). More info can be found at www.chessvibes.com/openings .

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