CVO_152.pdf

openings

152 | November 30 n 2011

what’s hot and what’s not?

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QGD and Grünfeld

dominate Tal Memorial

By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris

With an amazing average Elo of 2776 the Tal Memorial in

Moscow was the strongest tournament of the year. Carlsen

(who turns 21 today) and Aronian shared irst place with

5.5 out of 9 in an event dominated by the QGD and the

Grünfeld. We also take a look at the strong Spanish League.

Frequency

what's hot?

Score

The most popular opening in Moscow was the Queen's Gambit Declined

(QGD), typically through a 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 d5 4.¤c3 ¥e7 move

order, since White's options are slightly limited with the ¤ already

developed to f3. Below we'll update you on the 5.¥f4 main line. After

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 White's other options are allowing the Nimzo-Indian

with 3.¤c3 (see Nepomniachtchi-Karjakin) and heading for the Catalan

with 3.g3 (see Kramnik-Karjakin). Black's main alternative after 1.d4 ¤f6

2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 is to play the Queen's Indian with 3...b6 (see Nakamura-

Carlsen).

The other major opening in Moscow was the Grünfeld. Our Game of the

Week saw Ivanchuk beat Nakamura with Black in the 4.¥f4 Grünfeld (in

the diagram position he went for 6...dxc4), while Aronian beat Svidler

with White in this line a day later (see PGN). Below we'll examine 10...

e6 in the Grünfeld main line, while 10...b6 was played in Carlsen-Svidler

(see p.4).

In Ivanchuk-Gelfand (Anti-Meran) Black deviated from CVO 148 Game

of the Week Sasikiran-Anand with 12...exd4 and drew comfortably.

Svidler got very good positions with 1.¤f3, beating Kramnik and almost

beating Nepomniachtchi.

1.e4 was not hot at all in Moscow, as it was played in only 3 of 20 games in the second half of the tournament and in 9 out of 45

games overall. And with 6.d3 in the Ruy Lopez (see p.4) and 3.¥b5+ in the Sicilian these weren't exactly the main lines either. Below

we take a look at an exciting game with the latter from the Spanish League. Also not hot this week was

World Champion Anand, who drew all his games.

what’s not?

1 of 4

openings what’s hot and what’s not?

152 | November 30 n 2011

A positional exchange sacriice

When Nakamura lashed out with the concrete 8.¤b5 in a very interesting line of the

Grünfeld, Ivanchuk typically reacted with a positional exchange sacriice. Nakamura declined

and gradually lost the initiative.

game of the week

Nakamura - Ivanchuk

Nakamura,H (2758)-Ivanchuk,V (2775)

Tal Memorial (Moscow), 17.11.2011

D83 Grünfeld, 4.¥f4

(14...¤d7?! 15.¥xg7 ¢xg7 16.¤d5! ¤b6

17.¤xb6 axb6 18.a3 led to a very unpleasant

endgame for Black in Karpov-Kasparov, New

York rapid 2002, due to his weak doubled

pawns..) 15.¢e2 ¤d7 16.¥xg7 ¢xg7 17.¦d2

¤b6 18.¦dc2 f6 with equality in Aleksandrov-

Van Wely, Plovdiv 2003.

c) 9...cxd4 10.exd4 ¤b6 (10...a6?! 11.¦e1 ¤b6

12.¥b3 ¤bd5 13.¥g5 ¥e6 14.¤e5 £d6 15.£f3

¦ad8 was seen in Ftacnik-Svidler, Germany

2003 and now 16.¤a4! would have given

White a clear edge.) 11.¥b3 ¤bd5 12.¥e5

¥h6 13.¦a1 b6 14.¦e1 ¥b7 15.£e2 ¦c8 was

unproblematic for Black in Pinter-Ftacnik,

Austria 2004.

8...c6! 9.¥c7

9.¤c7? simply fails to 9...¦b8 when the ¤ is

just trapped.

9...£e8 10.¤c3 e5

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11.dxe5?!

After this move Black has a pleasant, risk-

free position. Play would have been more

double-edged after 11.¥d6 exd4 12.¥xf8 when

Ivanchuk was intending to play 12...¢xf8!?

but also interesting is 12...dxc3 13.¥xg7 cxb2

14.¦b1 ¢xg7 when Black in both cases seems

to have at least sufficient compensation.

11...¤xe5 12.¥e2 ¥f5 13.¤f3 ¤xf3+ 14.¥xf3

¦c8 15.¥g3 ¤e4 16.¥xe4 ¥xe4 17.0–0 ¦d8

18.£a4 ¥d3 19.¦fd1 b5 20.£a5

It seems that White should have tried 20.£xa7

b4 21.¤a4 with good chances of holding, since

Black doesn ' t win a piece by means of 21...¦a8

22.£c5 as the ¥ is hanging on d3 now as well.

20...¦d7 21.¦d2 £e7 22.¦cd1 ¦fd8 23.a3 h5

24.h3 h4 25.¥h2 ¢h7?!

25...¥f6!? might be a better option, preventing

26.¥c7? ¦xc7 27.¦xd3 ¦xd3 28.¦xd3 ¦d7

29.¦xd7 £xd7 since now 30.£b4 doesn ' t

attack the pawn on h4 and thus Black retains a

clear advantage after 30...£d2!.

26.¥c7! ¦xc7 27.¦xd3 ¦xd3 28.¦xd3 ¥f6

28...¦d7 29.¦xd7 £xd7 30.£b4! is playable for

White.

29.¦d2?

White should have tried 29.£b4! anyway,

accepting a slightly inferior, but probably

holdable endgame.

29...¦d7 30.¦c2

30.¦xd7 £xd7 followed by 31...£d2 clearly

favors Black.

30...£e6 31.£b4

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31...a5! 32.£f4

32.£xa5 £b3 is simply bad for White. Instead

White should again have aimed to escape

into an inferior endgame by offering the

exchange of £s. After 32.£g4! £xg4 33.hxg4

¥xc3 34.¦xc3 ¦d1+ 35.¢h2 ¦d2 36.f3 ¦xb2

37.¦xc6 White should be able to hold.

32...¢g7 33.¦c1 a4 34.£b4 ¦d3 35.¦c2?

An amazing blunder from the American GM,

who had been badly out of shape for the entire

event. He could have prolonged the struggle

with 35.¢f1.

35...£b3! 36.£xb3

36.¦c1 loses to 36...£xb4 37.axb4 a3–+.

36...axb3 37.¦c1 ¥xc3! 38.bxc3 c5 39.¢f1

c4 40.¢e2 ¦xc3! and White resigned. 0–1

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 d5 4.¥f4 ¥g7 5.e3 0–0

The main move is 5...c5 which was played

by Svidler against Aronian in the 8th round.

Although White won that game, it didn ' t have

much to do with the outcome of the opening.

6.¦c1 dxc4

A rarely seen move nowadays.

a) A more fashionable continuation is 6...¥e6

7.£b3 c5 8.£xb7 £b6 (8...cxd4? 9.exd4 £b6

10.£xa8 ¤h5 11.c5 £xb2 12.¥d2 ¥xd4 13.¤f3

¤d7 14.£xf8+ ¢xf8 15.¤xd4 and White was

winning in Aronian-Nepomniachtchi, Wijk aan

Zee 2011.) 9.£xb6 axb6 10.¤f3 ¤c6 11.dxc5

bxc5 12.cxd5 ¤xd5 13.¤xd5 ¥xd5 14.¦xc5

e6 15.¥c4 ¥xc4 16.¦xc4 ¦xa2 17.0–0 ¤a5

18.¦c5 ¤b7 19.¦c7 ¦xb2 was seen in various

games, e.g. Malakhov-Svidler, Olginka 2011

and Black should be able to hold this slightly

unpleasant endgame.

b) 6...c5 has been played several times as well,

but doesn ' t really equalize: 7.dxc5 ¥e6 8.¤f3

¤c6 9.¥e2 ¤e4 (9...dxc4 10.¤g5 ¥f5 11.e4 e5

12.¥e3 ¥d7 13.¥xc4 ¤g4 14.¥d2 ¤d4 15.0–0

was better for White in So-Sutovsky, Wijk

aan Zee 2010.) 10.¤d4 ¤xd4 11.exd4 ¤xc3

12.bxc3 dxc4 13.0–0 ¥d5 14.¥f3 was slightly

better for White in L ' Ami-Mamedyarov, Novi

Sad 2009.

7.¥xc4 ¤bd7 8.¤b5?!

A very dubious idea. More solid is 8.¤f3 c5

9.0–0 and now:

a) 9.h3 cxd4 10.exd4 ¤b6 11.¥b3 ¤fd5

(11...¤bd5! might be a better option.) 12.¥g5

h6 13.¥h4 ¥e6 14.0–0 ¤xc3 15.bxc3 ¤c4

16.¦e1 ¦c8 was seen in Almeida Quintana-

Krasenkow, Barcelona 2009 and now it

would have been strong to play the thematic

exchange sacrifice 17.¦xe6! fxe6 18.£d3 with

excellent play for White.

b) 9.dxc5 ¤xc5 10.0–0 ¥e6 11.¥xe6 ¤xe6

12.¥e5 £xd1 13.¦fxd1 ¦fd8 14.¢f1 ¦ac8

2 of 4

openings what’s hot and what’s not?

152 | November 30 n 2011

this week’s harvest

Sicilian, 3.¥b5+

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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.¥b5+ ¤d7 4.d4 cxd4 5.£xd4 a6 6.¥xd7+ ¥xd7 7.¤c3 e5 8.£d3 h6 9.¤d2 ¦c8 10.¤c4 £c7

11.¤e3 ¤f6 12.0–0 ¥e7 13.a4 £c5 14.¦d1 ¥e6 15.£e2 0–0 16.¦d3 ¥d8 17.£f3 ¢h7 18.¤f5 ¦c6 19.b3 ¥a5

In CVO 148 we took a first good look at the 3...¤d7 line as an answer to White's 3.¥b5+ Anti-Sicilian. In Anand-

Sasikiran 4...¤gf6 was played (initially giving Black a good position) and we also examined 7.c4!? giving White

a nice endgame in Jones-Cheparinov. This week in Fedorchuk-Ponomariov White went for 7.¤c3, after which

7...¦c8!? seems to be a nice flexible move scoring well for Black. Ponomariov's 7...e5 is also fairly normal and the

next point was to answer Fedorchuk's 9.¤d2!? with a quick 9...¦c8 and 10...£c7 to limit White's options. 13...£c5

was the first new move and the position seems to be balanced after a counterattacking move like 17...b5. With

17...¢h7 Ponomariov went astray and in the diagram position White started a fierce attack with the triple punch

20.¤xg7! ¢xg7 21.¥xh6! ¢g6 22.¤d5! and Black is mated in all variations, as happened in the game on move

25. So Black is far from theoretically busted in the 3.¥b5+ ¤d7 variation, but he certainly needs to know what he's

doing in these interesting positions.

French, 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.¤ge2

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1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.¤ge2 dxe4 5.a3 ¥e7 6.¤xe4 ¤f6 7.¤xf6+ ¥xf6 8.¥e3

0–0 9.£d2 b6 10.0–0–0 ¥b7 11.¤f4 ¤d7 12.d5 e5 13.¤h5 ¥e7 14.f4 exf4 15.¥xf4 ¥d6

For active and ambitious 1.e4 players the move 3.¤c3 against the French is a very logical choice, as 3.¤d2 and

3.e5 are more positional. Still, the breathtaking complications of the French Winawer can be quite a challenge to

deal with, so a back-up weapon to be able to fall back on every now and then is more than welcome. This week

the entertaining game Negi-Giri was a good advertisement for exactly such an easy-to-handle variation, that

still contains enough poison to trouble your opponent: 4.¤ge2!?. As Giri has only just started to play the French

Defense he was a bit at a loss to find a convincing setup for Black. 5...¥xc3 6.¤xc3 ¤c6 is the other main line,

which we may return to some other time. Actually, it feels reassuring to have the bishop pair in that case. With

7.¤xf6!? Negi clearly directed his play towards castling queenside and after his novelty 11.¤f4! he did indeed

develop a nice initiative. In the diagram position he started a strong attack with the impressive 16.¥h6!! and never

let go.

QGD, 5.¥f4

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1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 d5 4.¤c3 ¥e7 5.¥f4 0–0 6.e3 ¤bd7 7.¥e2 dxc4 8.0–0 c5 9.dxc5 ¤xc5 10.¥xc4

£xd1 11.¦fxd1 b6 12.¤d4 ¥b7 13.¦ac1 a6 14.b4 ¤ce4 15.¤xe4 ¥xe4 16.a3 ¦fc8 17.f3 ¥b7 18.e4 a5

The Queen's Gambit Declined is probably the most topical answer to 1.d4 and we can hardly avoid mentioning

it every week. The variation with 5.¥f4 especially is developing at a fast pace, as this week no less than five top

encounters were played with the system. In Gelfand-Anand, Black comfortably drew against 6.a3 by taking the

pawn on c4, while Vallejo-Sargissian led to more complex play after 6...b6. The main position still arises after 6.e3

¤bd7, when Nepomniachtchi tried 7.£c2 against Aronian in the last round and was on the verge of tournament

victory after the Armenian didn't find the most accurate response. In Gelfand-Kramnik (7.¥e2), the latter improved

upon the game Aronian-Gelfand played one day earlier, when Black suffered in an unpleasant endgame after

White introduced the strong novelty 16.¤e2! In the diagram position Gelfand attempted to complicate matters by

sacrificing the ¤ on e6, but the game nevertheless remained balanced. However, Black could also have played

18...¢f8 when White also can't count on anything special.

Grünfeld, 7.¥c4

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1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 d5 4.cxd5 ¤xd5 5.e4 ¤xc3 6.bxc3 ¥g7 7.¥c4 c5 8.¤e2

0–0 9.0–0 ¤c6 10.¥e3 e6 11.dxc5 £a5 12.f4 ¦d8 13.£c2 ¥f8 14.f5 ¥xc5 15.¤d4

Last week Grünfeld expert Svidler employed the rare 10...¥g4 11.f3 ¥d7 to deal with the 7.¥c4 variation. Evidently

the ensuing positions aren't that great for Black as this week two other Grünfeld-guru's, Krasenkow and Dominguez,

decided to use another uncommon line. In CVO 136 we briefly discussed 10...e6 which was then seen in the game

Laznicka-Navara. Bacrot improved upon our analysis with 13.£c2!, which had the advantage that the £ protects

e4 in some lines after the black ¦ enters on d4. In the diagram position Krasenkow got into serious trouble after

15...exf5 and quickly went on to lose. Perhaps his position is already dubious, but it seems 15....¤e5 should have

been tried anyway. Dominguez apparently trusts this variation as only two days later he easily managed to defeat

Harikrishna in a better endgame. It has to be said the Indian GM went for the less critical 11.¦b1, after which Black

could easily neutralize White's space advantage in the centre.

3 of 4

openings what’s hot and what’s not?

152 | November 30 n 2011

it’s your move

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last week’s solutions

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Nepomniachtchi-Nakamura, Tal Memorial (Moscow), 2011

White's opening play looks very artificial with his ¤s on b1 and c3. His idea is to stop Black's active play on the

queenside. In the game Nakamura played 12...¦a5 after which he had the better game as well, but it would have

been even stronger to play 12...a3! trying to exploit the vulnerable dark squares in White ’ s camp. After 13.¤xa3

(after 13.b3 £a5 White finds it hard to complete the development of his pieces on the queenside.) 13...¦xa3!

14.bxa3 ¤g4 15.¥d2 ¥d4 Nakamura had missed that after 16.¦e2 he still has 16...¥c4 regaining the exchange

with interest.

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Berg-Spoelman, Bundesliga 2011

Black's last move, 12...g6?, was a serious mistake, overlooking a tactical shot which in fact wins on the spot.

13.¤d5! gxf5 13...¤xd5 wouldn ’ t have saved Black either: 14.£xd5 ¥b4+ 15.¦xb4 (15.¢e2 0–0 16.¤h6+ also

wins.) 15...£xb4+ 16.¥d2 £c5 (16...£b1+ 17.¢e2 £xh1 18.£xf7+ ¢d8 19.£e7+ ¢c7 20.£d6+ ¢d8 21.¥g5+

¢e8 22.¤g7#) 17.£xf7+ ¢d8 18.¤g7! with a crushing attack. 14.¤xf6+ ¤xf6 15.¥xf6 and White is winning,

due to the threats of 16.£d8# and 16.¥xh8. 15...¥e6 16.¦b3 £a4 17.¥xe6 fxe6 18.¥xh8 ¦d8 19.£e2 ¥b4+

20.c3 ¥c5 21.¥xe5 ¦d7 22.¦f1 ¥e3 23.£xe3 £xa2 24.¦b6 fxe4 25.¦f6 1–0

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! Why not subscribe

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