CVO_012.pdf

No. 12, March 25, 2009

OPENINGS

WHAT’S HOT AND WHAT’S NOT?

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The Caro-Kann is the

hottest answer to 1.e4

By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris

Frequency

The Amber Blindfold and Rapid tournament has taken

a surprising course as far as the theoretical battles

in the opening are concerned, and we bring you the

highlights of the Austrian League.

WHAT’S HOT?

Score

In Nice White continues to be successful with 1.e4. Anand mildly

surprised Kramnik in the Petroff and the latter couldn’t solve his

problems at the board. Carlsen showed a simple and safe way of

playing against Aronian’s Marshall, which quickly brought him a

big advantage. Karjakin barely escaped with his Najdorf against

Anand’s English Attack.

This week’s most suprising development is the rise of the Caro-

Kann. Anand alone has played it five times and overall Black even

has a plus score. To start with, the Panov Attack seems to be best

met by 5...¤c6. In the main line, Leko managed to quickly beat

Topalov, but as we explain below this shouldn’t be a theoretical

problem for Black. The game Ivanchuk-Anand almost reached the

Kotronias idea we mentioned two weeks ago, but deviated shortly

before that.

In our Game of the Week we have a closer look at the Advance

Variation. In the diagram position Anand prefers 6...cxd4 7.¤xd4

¤e7, but as Morozevich has shown, Black might have even more

fun with 6...£b6.

Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

1.d4 is not very hot this week and in our opinion this is due to Carlsen’s effortless use of the Classical Queen’s Gambit. Ivanchuk,

Morozevich and Topalov all had nothing to show as White. Gelfand made the Chebanenko

Slav really look one-sided with his wins over Ragger, Levin and Miroshnichenko in the

Austrian League.

WHAT’S NOT?

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

No. 12, March 25, 2009

Allowing a knight fork in the Caro-Kann

In his blindfold game against Sergei Karjakin, the ever-creative Russian grandmaster

Alexander Morozevich showed a spectaculair way of dealing with the Short System of the

Caro-Kann. Black players can take note: this might well be the way to play it!

GAME OF THE WEEK

Karjakin, S (2706) - Morozevich, A (2771)

Nice (Amber blindfold), 19 March 2009

B12 Caro-Kann Advance Variation, Short System

14.¥xb4 ¤xb4?

14...£xb4 15.£c1 ¥g6 would have been simple

and strong, which shows that Black has won

the opening battle. Morozevich explained it as

follows: “Black is OK after the opening, but after

14.¥xb4 I got confused and thought for about

ten minutes.”

15.¤g5?

White should have played 15.£d2! which forces

the positionally undesirable 15...c3 after which a

mess remains.

15...¦xa8 16.¤xf7 ¤ec6 17.¤d6 ¥g6 18.a3

¤xd4 19.¥xc4 ¤bc6 20.¦a2 £b6 21.¥e2 a6?

Probably Moro overlooked that by playing

21.¥e2 White gave up the protection of the

e5-pawn, so that in fact 21...¤xe5 was much

easier.

22.£c3 ¦b8?

22...¤xe5 was still better.

23.¦d1 £b3 24.£xb3 ¤xb3 25.f4

Karjakin is completely back in game.

25...b5 26.¥g4 ¢e7 27.h4 h5 28.¥h3 ¤ba5

29.¦f2 ¤c4 30.¦f3??

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A huge and decisive blunder. 30.¦e1 would

have been better, since 30...¤xa3 can be

answered by 31.f5.

30...¤4xe5! 31.fxe5 ¤xe5 32.¦g3 ¢xd6

With his centralised king and passed pawns

Black now has a technically winning position,

which he converts flawlessly.

33.¦e1 ¥e4 34.¦xg7 a5 35.¦a7 ¤c6 36.¦a6 b4

37.axb4 axb4 38.¥xe6 b3 39.¦c1 d4 40.¥xb3

¦xb3 41.¦c4 ¦d3 42.¢f2 ¥d5 43.¦c2 ¦c3

44.¦d2 ¢c5 45.¦a8 ¥e6 46.¦g8 ¥xg8 0–1

Crete 2007) 9.¤c7+ ¢d7 10.¤xa8 ¥xc2

11.£c1 ¥b4+ 12.¢f1 ¥c3 was good for Black

in Hasangatin-Bayev, Moscow 1996. As far

as we can see Russian IM Alexander Bayev

introduced the concept of allowing ¤c7 in

tournament practice.

b) 8.£b1! £xb1+ (after 8...£xc3+ 9.¥d2 £xa1

10.£xa1 Black is one tempo short of stabilizing

the queenside.) 9.¦xb1 c4 (9...b6 10.dxc5 bxc5

11.¦b7 d4 12.¥xd4 cxd4 13.¤xd4 ¤d7 14.¥b5

0–0–0 15.¦xa7 ¤b8 16.¤xf5 exf5 17.¤a4 Bak-

lan-K.Rasmussen, Plovdiv 2008) 10.¦xb7 ¤c6

11.¤b5 ¦b8 12.¦xb8+ ¤xb8 13.¢d2 with a

comfortable edge, Bologan-Palo, Skanderborg

2003.

8.0–0 £xb2!

Black used to play 8...c4 here, but that just gives

White an advantage because of the pawn break

b3.

9.¤b5

After 9.£b1 £xb1 10.¦axb1 Black now has

10...0–0–0.

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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5

Two days later Morozevich also launched a new

idea in the main line with 4...¤d7: 3.¤c3 dxe4

4.¤xe4 ¤d7 5.¤g5 ¤gf6 6.¥d3 e5!? Leko-

Morozevich, Nice rapid (7) 2009.

3...¥f5 4.¤f3 e6 5.¥e2

This method of development is called the Short

System and was popularized by the English

Grandmaster in the early nineties.

5...c5

The most active way of playing, questioning the

white space advantage.

6.¥e3 £b6!?

True to his style Morozevich chooses the

most adventurous line. The more solid 6...

cxd4 7.¤xd4 ¤e7 is preferred by the World

Champion:

a) 8.c4 ¤bc6 9.¤c3 (9.£a4 a6 10.¤c3 dxc4

11.0–0–0 £c8 12.¤xf5 ¤xf5 13.¥b6 ¥b4

14.¦d8+ £xd8 15.¥xd8 ¦xd8 gives Black

decent compensation for the queen) 9...¤xd4

10.¥xd4 dxc4 11.£a4+?! (11.¥xc4 seems to be

a better option) 11...¤c6 12.¦d1 ¥d3! Topalov-

Anand, Nice (blindfold) 2009.

b) 8.¤d2 ¤bc6 9.¤2f3 ¥e4! (this may be an

important improvement over the less flexible

9...¥g4) 10.0–0 ¤g6 11.c4 ¥e7 12.¤xc6 bxc6

13.cxd5 ¥xd5 and Black even went on to win,

Karjakin-Anand, Nice (blindfold) 2009.

Another option is 6...¤d7 7.0–0 ¤e7 8.c4 dxc4

9.¤a3 c3!? as played in Morozevich-Kamsky,

Moscow 2008.

7.¤c3

The sharp 7.c4!? £xb2 8.¤bd2 ¤e7 9.0–0 ¤bc6

10.¤b3 0–0–0 has been discussed in two games

Volokitin-Macieja and gives chances for both

sides. White may return to this option in the future.

7...¤c6

A refinement of the Black concept: he needs

to develop one more piece before he can take

the plunge. The immediate 7...£xb2 is worse:

a) 8.¤b5 c4! (8...¥xc2!? S.B.Hansen-Berkes,

9...c4!

This concept is not new, as we have pointed out

above, but certainly spectacular and not widely

known. If Black manages to trap the knight he

will have nice compensation for the exchange.

10.¤c7+ ¢d7 11.¤xa8 ¥xc2 12.£e1 ¥b4

13.¥d2 ¤ge7

Black took a second pawn and is now one step

away from achieving his goal.

KARJAKIN - MOROZEVICH

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

No. 12, March 25, 2009

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST

Petroff Defence, 3.d4

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1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤f6 3.d4 ¤xe4 4.¥d3

d5 5.¤xe5 ¤d7 6.¤xd7 ¥xd7 7.0–0

¥d6 8.c4 c6 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.¤c3 ¤xc3

11.bxc3 0–0 12.£h5 g6 13.£xd5 £c7

14.¥h6 ¦fd8 15.h4 ¥e6 16.£g5

Ruy Lopez, Anti-Marshall

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1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 a6 4.¥a4

¤f6 5.0–0 ¥e7 6.¦e1 b5 7.¥b3 0–0

8.a4 b4 9.d4 d6 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.£xd8

¦xd8 12.¤bd2 h6 13.¥c4

Caro-Kann, main line

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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.¤c3 dxe4 4.¤xe4

¥f5 5.¤g3 ¥g6 6.h4 h6 7.¤f3 ¤d7

8.h5 ¥h7 9.¥d3 ¥xd3 10.£xd3 e6

11.¥d2 ¤gf6 12.0–0–0 ¥e7 13.¤e4

¤xe4 14.£xe4 ¤f6 15.£d3 0–0 16.g4

¤xg4 17.¦hg1

Queen ’ s Gambit, 5.¥f4

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1.d4 ¤f6 2.¤f3 d5 3.c4 e6 4.¤c3 ¥e7

5.¥f4 0–0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 ¥xc5 8.cxd5

¤xd5 9.¤xd5 exd5 10.a3 ¤c6 11.¥d3

¥b6 12.0–0 ¥g4 13.h3 ¥h5

With 8.a4 b4 followed by the

concrete 9.d4 White convincingly

prevents the Marshall Attack (as

opposed to 8.h3 ¥b7 9.d3 when

Black can still opt for 9...d5!?)

and on top of that limits Black's

options considerably. Of course

White cannot hope for more than a

slight edge himself, but for anyone

who likes a manoeuvering game

(13.¥c4 prepares ¤b3) this is the

perfect solution. Carlsen quickly

reached a close to winning position

with it against Aronian in Nice.

With his opening repertoire

ranging from the Sicilian Dragon

to the Queen's Gambit Declined,

Magnus Carlsen proves to be

a truely universal player. At the

Amber tournament In Nice he

looked very comfortable against

both Ivanchuk's 14.b4 and

Morozevich' 14.Be2. Unfortunately

with 20.£b3 Ivanchuk deviated

from the 5th match game Leko-

Kramnik, Brissago 2004, as it

would have been interesting to see

how Carlsen would have defended.

The Petroff line chosen in Anand-

Kramnik (Amber blindfold) should

be fine for Black theoretically

speaking. For example 16.£f3

£xc3 17.£f6 is answered by the

elegant 17...£xd4! and in the end

Black has a ¦ fork on h4. The new

16.£g5 took Kramnik by surprise

and with 18...¦d5 he created

trouble for himself, whereas after

18...¢xf8 we cannot see more than

a perpetual coming from White's

attack.

As becomes increasingly clear,

the only way of punishing Black for

castling kingside in the Caro-Kann

is by playing g4 at some point.

Leko's 16.g4 has hardly ever been

played before. Topalov answered

with 17...f5 but immediately

found himself in trouble. Instead

17...¤xf2 seems to be the critical

move, leading to a perpetual in a

whole variaty of ways. In the game,

Leko won already after 24 moves.

OPENING EXPERT

Who:

Jan Gustafsson

Expertise:

White: Closed Games

Born:

June 25, 1979

Black: Marshall and Semi-Slav

Nationality:

Germany

Why:

Gustafsson combines deep

Rating:

2634

understanding with deep

preparation.

Gusti, as the grandmaster from Hamburg is generally called, is known for his deep understanding of chess and

his mighty theoretical preparation. Last summer he almost won the elite tournament in Dortmund. In the Austrian

League he convincingly beat Nakamura (Semi-Slav) and Beliavsky (1.d4) this week.

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:

€ 18 for six months / € 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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