CVO_047.pdf

No. 47, November 25, 2009

OPENINGS

WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT?

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Knockout thriller

in Khanty-Mansiysk

By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris

In this issue of CVO we are covering the third day of

the World Blitz Championship (won by Carlsen) and the

complete irst round of the World Cup (reducing the

ield from 128 to 64 players). In a marathon match,

Akobian needed 16 games to knock out Tregubov.

Frequency

WHAT’S HOT?

Score

Gustafsson lost with his Anti-Anti-Marshall (8.h3 ¥b7 9.d3 d5) against

Inarkiev. Finally being confronted with the main lines of the Archangelsk

didn ’ t stop Anand from showing that it was the perfect choice for blitz:

easy piece play for Black and one inaccuracy is enough for White to lose

his edge. Aronian was still happy with his 3...¤ge7, but 5...¤a5 indeed

turned out to be too much (compare last week and see PGN file). The

Scotch has been a powerful weapon this week (see below).

The Najdorf with 10...¤e5 we examined in last week ’ s Game of the Week

was busted in Morozevich-Ponomariov by the admirably direct 11.f4

¤exg4 12.e5. In his match with Dominguez, Smerdon showed that the

Dragon is still alive. In Petrosian-Meier on the other hand, the French

Rubinstein was seriously questioned.

Akobian-Tregubov was a fantastic battle between 1.d4 players, with

Black switching openings all the time. In our Game of the Week Jobava-

Robson, the ever-creative Georgian found new ways in the Marshall Slav.

In the diagram position he played 9.¥d6 and after 9...£xg4 he introduced

the novelty 10.£d3!?. In the sharp 4...dxc4 Slav with opposite-coloured

bishops, new ideas for both sides are found time and again.

Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

Basically any opening is playable in blitz and rapid, but still important is the approach chosen. Do what you do best and go for it

wholeheartedly! Against Carlsen, Anand refrained from his trusted 1.e4, weakened his kingside with 9.g4?, mechanically played his

minority attack on the queenside and was duly checkmated. Leko versus Carlsen from the

last round summarizes it all: Black is simply enjoying himself with Tal-like sacrifices and

gets away with it, while White makes a mentally inhibited impression.

WHAT’S NOT?

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

No. 47, November 25, 2009

Another new idea in the old Marshall Gambit

The participants of the World Cup had a few weeks to prepare for their opponent in the irst

round. Against the American rising star Ray Robson, Georgian Baadur Jobava decided to go

for the sharp Marshall Gambit, and was successful with a new idea on move 10.

GAME OF THE WEEK

21.£xa6.

13.¤f3 £f5 14.¤xe5 £xd3 15.¥xd3

Despite being a pawn down and queens traded,

White has a strong initiative. The knight on a6 is

out of play, while his king has problems finding

a safe place, without losing control over f7.

15...¥e6 16.f4!

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16...0–0–0

Other moves have their drawbacks as well:

16...¦d8 17.¥c2 ¥d5 18.cxd5 ¦xd6 19.dxc6±;

16...g6 17.¦e1 ¦d8 18.¥c2 followed by 19.f5

increasing the pressure.

17.f5 ¦xd6 18.fxe6 fxe6?!

18...¤b4 should have been played. After

19.¤xf7 ¤xd3+ 20.¢b1 ¦xe6 21.¤xh8 ¦e3

White is objectively better. On the other hand,

this is the best practical chance, as the knights

can be quite annoying.

19.¤f7 ¦hd8 20.¤xd6+ ¦xd6 21.¦g1 g6?

A positional mistake. Now White is able to

penetrate into Black ’ s position. Better would

have been 21...¦d7 to keep the knight on f6

protected.

22.¦f1 ¤d7 23.¥e2!

The exchange of rooks deprives Black of any

counterplay. White has a technically winning

position.

23...¦xd2 24.¢xd2 ¤e5 25.¦f8+ ¢d7 26.¦h8

¤f7

26...h5 27.¦h7+ ¢c8 28.¢e3 also wins.

27.¦xh7 ¢e7 28.¦g7 ¢f6 29.¦g8 ¤c5 30.b4

¤d7 31.¦a8 a6 32.c5 ¢e7 33.a4 ¤d8 34.h4

¤f6 35.¥d3 ¢d7 36.¥xg6 ¢c7 37.h5 ¤g4

38.¢d3 ¤e5+ 39.¢e4 ¤d7 40.¢f4 1–0

Jobava, B (2696) - Robson, R (2567)

World Cup (Khanty-Mansiysk), 21.11.2009

D31, Marshall Gambit, 9.¥d6

c) 10.£d2 ¤f6 (10...£xh1? 11.0–0–0 £e4

12.¥e7!) 11.¥f3 £g6 12.0–0–0 e5 13.¥xe5 (Even

sharper is 13.¤e2 but Black is doing fine there,

ever since two victories by GM Pavasovic.)

13...¥e6 (13...0–0? 14.¤e2 £f5 15.£e3 ¤b4

16.¤d4 ¤xa2+ 17.¢d2 ¦d8 18.¢e2 £xe5

19.£xe5 ¦e8 20.£xe8+ ¤xe8 21.¤xc6 bxc6

22.¦d8 1–0 Braun-Van der Werf, Wijk aan

Zee 2008; 13...¥g4? 14.¥xf6 gxf6 15.¥xg4

£xg4 16.¦e1+ ¢f8 17.¤f3 £xc4+ 18.¢b1+-

Meier-Bukavshin, Neustadt 2008.) 14.¤e2 £f5

15.¥f4 (15.£e3? ¤b4 16.¤d4 ¤xa2+ 17.¢d2

0–0–0 18.¢e1 ¦xd4! 19.¦xd4 ¤b4 20.¥d1 ¦e8µ

Sakaev-Timofeev, Moscow 2007.) 15...£c5

16.b3 (16.¤c3 £xc4 17.¥e2 £c5 18.¥xa6 bxa6

19.¥d6 £a5 20.¥a3 ¤d5 21.£g5 h6 22.£xg7

0–0–0 Gupta-Gaponenko, Paleohora 2009.)

16...¤d5 17.¥e5 0–0–0 18.¥d4 £a3+ 19.£b2

£xb2+ 20.¢xb2 ¤f6 21.¥xa7 was marginally

better for White in Gustafsson-Pavasovic,

Rogaska Slatina 2009.

10...e5

Here again 10...£xh1? fails to 11.0–0–0.

11.0–0–0

The disadvantage of having the queen on d3 is

that the pawn is untouchable: 11.¥xe5? doesn ’ t

work in view of 11...¤b4!.

11...£g5+?!

In our opinion the queen is a bit unfortunately

placed here, as she ’ ll come under attack

soon. Some attention should be paid to 11...

e4!? disturbing White ’ s development. The

next sequence is more or less forced 12.£e3

¥e6 13.¥f1 £xh1 14.£g5 ¦d8! 15.¥g2 ¦xd6!

16.¥xh1 ¦xd1+ 17.¢xd1 ¤f6! and Black is not

worse at all, as 18.£xg7? is met by 18...¦g8.

12.¦d2 ¤f6?!

Better is 12...¥f5 13.£b3 £g2 14.£xb7

(14.¥f3?! £f1+ 15.¦d1 £xf2 16.¤e2 0–0–0)

14...¦d8 15.¤f3 £xh1+ 16.¦d1 but White has

the better prospects after 16...£g2 17.£xc6+

¥d7 18.£d5 ¤e7 19.£xe5 ¥e6 20.£b5+ ¥d7

1.c4 e6 2.¤c3 d5 3.d4 c6

With this clever move-order, Jobava avoids

Robson ’ s favourite Botvinnik variation.

4.e4 dxe4 5.¤xe4 ¥b4+ 6.¥d2 £xd4 7.¥xb4

£xe4+ 8.¥e2 ¤a6 9.¥d6

9.¥a5 was main subject of discussion in CVO 6.

9...£xg2

Often grabbing a second pawn is too greedy,

but here it ’ s Black ’ s best option. Other tries are:

a) 9...f6? 10.¤f3 ¤e7 11.0–0 c5 12.£d2 ¥d7

13.¦ad1 ¦d8 14.¤g5! £f5 15.¥xe7 ¢xe7

16.£d6+ ¢e8 17.¦d5!!+- Jobava-Izoria, Tbilisi

2002.

b) After 9...e5 10.¤f3 ¥g4 11.0–0 0–0–0 strong

is 12.b4! which was first seen in Mamedyarov-

Tregubov, Reykjavik 2006.

c) 9...b6 10.¤f3 ¥b7 11.0–0 ¦d8 12.£d2

c5 13.¦ad1 ¤b4? (13...¤e7) 14.a3 ¤c6

15.¥d3 £g4 16.h3 £h5 17.£f4! f6 18.¦fe1±

Cheparinov-Krasenkow, Wijk aan Zee 2008.

10.£d3!?

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A prepared new idea by the Georgian. The

queen has some additional control over the 3rd

rank.

a) 10.¥f3 £g5 11.¤e2 ¤e7 doesn't pose

serious problems.

b) 10.£d4?! ¤h6! 11.0–0–0 ¤f5 12.£d2

£xf2! (12...¤xd6? 13.¥f3 £g6 14.¥xc6+!

bxc6 15.£xd6± Jobava-Potkin, Batumi

2002.) 13.¥c5 £h4 14.¤f3 £f6 and White ’ s

compensation is insufficient.

JOBAVA - ROBSON

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

No. 47, November 25, 2009

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Scotch, 4...¥c5

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1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 exd4 4.¤xd4 ¥c5 5.¤xc6 £f6 6.£f3 bxc6 7.¤d2 d6

8.¥e2 £xf3 9.gxf3 ¤e7 10.¦g1 0–0 11.¤b3 ¥b6 12.a4 a5 13.¥e3 ¥xe3 14.fxe3

Even if the Ruy Lopez is the absolute number one weapon against 1. e4 e5, it is hard to deny that the Scotch is

currently a very attractive alternative. At the World Blitz Championship Carlsen consistently played 5.¤b3 ¥b6

6.£e2 followed by castling queenside, suggesting aggressive intentions, but in reality aiming for his trademark

little edge in the endgame. Tkachiev, Ponomariov and Naiditsch were all duly beaten this way, while Jakovenko

refused to exchange queens with 32...£h4! and won a good counter-attacking game. In the main line 5.¤xc6

£f6 6.£f3 White is following the same strategy: putting pressure in the endgame. An Armenian top player like

Sargissian is notoriously hard to beat in the open games as we ’ ve noticed before in CVO, but Li Chao did a

marvellous job with two wins and two draws from this endgame, switching back and forth between 7.¤d2 and

7.¤c3. In the diagram position the new 14...c5 was answered by 15.f4 ¥b7 16.e5! and within a couple of moves

White reached complete domination.

Dragon, 9.¥c4 main line

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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 g6 6.¥e3 ¥g7 7.f3 0–0 8.£d2 ¤c6 9.¥c4 ¥d7 10.0–0–0 ¦c8 11.¥b3 ¤e5

12.¢b1 ¦e8 13.h4 h5 14.g4 hxg4 15.h5 ¤xh5 16.¥h6 e6 17.¦dg1 £f6 18.fxg4 ¥xh6 19.£xh6 £g7 20.£e3 ¤f6 21.g5 ¤h5

22.¤db5 ¥xb5 23.¤xb5 ¦ed8 24.£xa7 ¤f3 25.¦g2 £e5 26.£e3 ¤e1 27.¦xe1 £xb5 28.c3 £e5

In the first round of the World Cup five interesting Dragon games were played. After 9.0–0–0 d5 10.exd5 ¤xd5

11.¤xc6 bxc6 12.¥d4 Shabalov beat Baklan with 12...¥xd4 13.£xd4 £b6 14.¤a4 £a5 15.b3 ¦b8!? while the first

game Dominguez-Smerdon (with 12...¤xc3) saw Black neutralising 17.¥d3 with 17...£e3 18.Rd2 ¦fe8!N 19.£h4

¥xa2! although 19.£f6 seems to be the critical move here. In the next encounter Dominguez went for the big

9.¥c4 line, to be confronted with the new 25...£e5! 26.£e3 ¤e1! distracting the White pieces from a succesful

exchange sacrifice on h5. The engines think White is better in the diagram position, but Black turns out to be rock

solid. Finally Dominguez managed to beat Smerdon with 7.¥e2, but that can never be a theoretical problem for

Black. Areshchenko-Corrales followed Motylev ’ s recent victories in the old 10.h4 labyrinth. In the PGN file you ’ ll

find the alternatives 14...¦e8 and 15...hxg4!?

French, Rubinstein

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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.¤c3 dxe4 4.¤xe4 ¤d7 5.¤f3 ¤gf6 6.¤xf6+ ¤xf6 7.c3 c5

8.¤e5 a6 9.¥e3 £c7 10.£a4+ ¤d7 11.0–0–0 cxd4 12.¤xd7 ¥xd7 13.£xd4 ¥c6 14.¥e2

Georg Meier ’ s favourite Rubinstein French is a tough nut to crack for many GMs. Various attempts have been

made, but the German GM knows his theory very well, and usually even improves on his own games. In the World

Cup he faced an unpleasant new idea by Armenian GM Petrosian. 14.¥e2!? is a new move in a well-known

position, which must have been worked out by the Armenian squad in detail. The main difference with the more

common 14.¥c4 is that the bishop can ’ t be pushed back with ...b5 and that the white queen doesn ’ t have to take

care of its protection now the bishop is not on the c-file. Petrosian found the very creative queen manoeuvre along

the squares a4-d4-g4-g5-f6-d4-a7 before obtaining a winning endgame. However, Petrosian couldn ’ t compete

with his famous namesake, as he immediately wasted his advantage with 29.c4?. After this missed opportunity,

the ending looks drawish and after 119 moves Petrosian rest his case. An important new development in the

Rubinstein, which may replace 11.¥b5 as the main line, which we covered in CVO 15 and 25.

Slav, 6.¤e5, 11...g5

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1.d4 d5 2.¤f3 ¤f6 3.c4 c6 4.¤c3 dxc4 5.a4 ¥f5 6.¤e5 ¤bd7 7.¤xc4 £c7 8.g3 e5

9.dxe5 ¤xe5 10.¥f4 ¤fd7 11.¥g2 g5 12.¤e3 gxf4 13.¤xf5 0–0–0 14.£c2 ¤c5 15.0–0 fxg3

16.hxg3 a5 17.¦fd1 h5 18.¦xd8+ £xd8 19.¦d1 £f6 20.£d2 ¢b8 21.¥h3 ¤g6 22.£e3 h4 23.g4

Last week, in the game Ernst-Giri, the potential of 12.¥xe5 was nicely shown by White. However, as we indicated

14...¥e6 seems OK there for Black. Hence, in the first round of the World Cup 12.¤e3 was exclusively played,

which brings us back to CVO 22 and 40. In the main theoretical debate, Gustafsson launched the novelty 23.g4

improving on the game Gupta-Negi, where a repetition of moves was simply unavoidable. Inarkiev replied

incorrectly with 23...¤e6?! and 24...¤e5 which Gusti forgot to exploit with 26.Ne7!. Instead, 23...£e5 and 24...¥c5

are obviously better attempts to hold the balance. In Gupta-Vitiugov, the Indian GM couldn ’ t bring down Black ’ s

grip on the queenside. The variation with 14...¢b8 seems to be a bit underestimated by Black players, despite

its solid character. Evidently, future games still have to show us if Black has enough time for such defensive

measures. Moreover, we condemn GM Granda Zuniga ’ s slow strategy which was punished by Sakaev (see PGN).

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

No. 47, November 25, 2009

OPENING EXPERT

Who: Yannick Pelletier

Born: September 22, 1976

Nationality: Switzerland

Rating: 2589

Expertise: Expertise: 8.¦b1 Grünfeld with White, Taimanov Sicilian with

Black.

Why: Undoubtedly, Pelletier is the strongest Swiss-born player ever. For

many years he has been representing his country on the 2nd board,

behind Viktor ‘the terrible’ Kortchnoi. Pelletier annually receives an

invitation to the strong tournament in his former hometown Biel. These

experiences have made him a very solid player. Pelletier’s main

strength lies in the opening stage. His repertoire is quite small, but

perfectly worked out. He’s responsible for some theoretical contributions

in the 8.Rb1 system against the Grünfeld and with Black Pelletier learned

the ins and outs of the Taimanov Sicilian, although he recently added 1.e4

e5 to his repertoire (influenced by his job as second of GM Bacrot).

Against the three other main moves, he usually choses Nimzo-,

Queen’s-Indian or Hedgehog systems.

Key game: Pelletier - Bu Xiangzhi , World Cup (Khanty-Mansiysk), 22.11.2009

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1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 d5 4.cxd5 ¤xd5 5.e4

¤xc3 6.bxc3 ¥g7 7.¤f3 c5 8.¦b1 0–0 9.¥e2

9...¤c6

A tricky answer to the 8.¦b1 line. 9...cxd4

10.cxd4 £a5+ has a better reputation as

mentioned in CVO 45.

10.d5 ¤e5 11.¤xe5 ¥xe5 12.£d2 e6 13.f4

¥c7 14.0–0 exd5 15.exd5 ¥a5 16.d6 b6 17.¥f3

¦b8?

A serious mistake. Absolutely necessary is

17...¥f5 18.¥xa8 ¥xb1.

18.¥b2 ¥f5 19.¦be1

Now the rook joins to attack.

19...b5

19...h5 might be better to prevent 20.g4.

However White ’ s advantage after 20.¦e7 is

unquestionable.

24...¦g8

24...¥xf1 25.£h6 ¦g8 26.¦xf7.

25.¦f3

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There is no way for Black to prevent the mate

now.

25...¥d3 26.£h6 c4+ 27.¢g2 ¥xe4 28.¦xe4 1–0

20.g4! ¥e6 21.f5 ¥c4

21...gxf5 22.£h6 accelerates the attack.

22.¦e7! £b6

22...¥xf1 23.£h6 and Black is helpless against

the mating threats c4 and f6.

23.f6 ¢h8 24.¥e4!

Clearing the f3-square for the rook.

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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