Let's Take A Look

Let's Take A
Look...
Nigel Davies
We invite you to submit games to be considered by Nigel in this column. For all
games submitted, please provide the following information: (1) Names of both
players; (2) Ratings of both players; (3) When and where the game was played;
(4) The time control used in the game; and (5) Any other information you think
would be helpful for us to know. Please submit the games (in PGN or CBV
format if possible) to: nigeldavies@chesscafe.com. Who knows, perhaps you
will see the game in an upcoming column, as Nigel says to you, "Let's take a
look..."
Choices, Choices
After my recommendations against 1 d4 (Semi-Slav if youre young and
talented, Queens Gambit Declined Tartakover Variation for the rest of us) a
number of readers wrote in to ask for my suggestions against 1 e4. I guess I
might be one of the best GMs to ask, against 1 e4 Ive played and lost with just
about every defence thats walked or crawled. Having racked up miserable
results with the Pirc, Modern, French, Caro-Kann, Sicilian and Alekhines
Defences I guess I could be called an expert on trying to make good choices.
Only with 1e5 have things been more respectable, and the pity is that I only
discovered the suitability of this move in the twilight of my career
Anyway, thats enough of my problems; lets take a look at the issues facing
you. The first thing to bear in mind is that you dont have the same problem
with those pesky transpositional Flank Openings by which people get conned
out of their favourite Grnfeld or Nimzo-Indians. This gives you much more
choice, which can either be good or bad. Basically I think you should look at
one of four major approaches:
a) If youre young and beautiful then the Sicilian Dragon is an option. A
player who takes this route should play both the standard (1 e4 c5 2 Nf3
d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6) and Accelerated (1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6
3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 g6) forms. This, in fact, is what Dragon specialists
such as Sergei Tiviakov and Boris Alterman do, the reason being that the
Accelerated gives them a solid stand-by if the standard Dragon is having
a theoretical crisis.
I do not tend to recommend other lines of the Sicilian because of either
the difficulty of handling them or move order problems. If, for example,
you want to play the Najdorf theres a problem with 2 Nc3 after which
2d6 3 f4 leads to a dangerous form of the Vinken System. A Dragon
player, on the other hand, can just meet 2 Nc3 with 2 Nc6.
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Let's Take A Look
b) If youre old, ugly and like endgames then keep four pawns on the
kingside and a half-open d-file. Defences that achieve this in many lines
include Caro-Kann (1 e4 c6), the Alekhine (1 e4 Nf6), the Scandinavian
(1 e4 d5) and the Rubinstein French (1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4
and now 4Bd7 has much to be said for it).
The four kingside pawns (e6, f7, g7 or g6 and h7) tend to give positions
great defensive strength whilst you can get counterplay on the d- and c-
files. These structures are examined in Stephan Zeuthens book, Zoom
001.
c) Players who are good at planning, defence and counterattack
(relatively few such beasts exist at amateur level) would do well to play
the French (1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5), but not the Rubinstein Variation which has
a quite different character. There are many players who only play the
French against 1 e4, the most outstanding specialists being Smbat
Lputian and Wolfgang Uhlmann.
Please note that I never recommend the French for very young players as
the closed positions do not lend themselves to the development of their
tactical ability. So this is for the over 16s only.
d) If you want to play correct and principled chess then 1e5 is the
move to play. Defend the Closed Spanish (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4
Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7) if you like manoeuvring games or the Open (1 e4 e5
2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Nxe4 6 d4 b5 7 Bb3 d5 or 3Nf6
4 0-0 Nxe4 5 d4 a6 6 Ba4 b5 7 Bb3 d5) if tactics are more your thing.
One further possibility is to play the Petroff Defence with 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3
Nf6
Have I failed to mention your pet defence? There are, unfortunately, a number
of openings to which I have to give the thumbs down.
What should you avoid? Well do not, under any circumstances, get seduced into
having the Latvian Gambit (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 f5) as your main weapon as Black.
Youll spend all your time trying to keep the wretched thing alive and risk
being drawn into some of the weird Latvian Gambit cults that exist in
cyberspace and elsewhere. Do not play the Pirc or Modern Defences as this
cultivates an unhealthy disrespect for space. Do not play 1a6 or 1h6. And
if you must wear a baseball cap then have the peak pointing forwards.
What about the various Sicilian lines such as the Sveshnikov, Kalashnikov etc?
Well the problem here is the same as with the Semi-Slav, do you really have the
youth, good nerves, unlimited time for study and a fantastic memory. If you can
tick all these boxes then by all means go ahead. If you cant youll end up using
loads of time trying to learn the theory and even if you get a good position
youre likely to get shot down in the complications. A mans got to know his
limitations
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Let's Take A Look
This months game features a very sensible choice in the Petroff Defence. Its
simple and direct enough for most amateurs to understand and can become
exciting if White tries hard to refute it. Its also worth bearing in mind that it
can frustrate the hell out of higher rated players, as I found out recently in one
of my own games.
Pena,Aquilino (1875) - Helfst,Matt (1359)
Petroff Defence C42
ICC (60 minute game), 2004
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6
The move that characterises this defence, which was named after the Russian
Master, Alexander Petroff. Rather than defend his e-pawn with 2Nc6 or even
2d6, Black counterattacks Whites pawn on e4.
3 Nxe5
I was faced with the Petroff at the Liverpool Congress a few weeks ago, and
learned about some of the issues on a first hand basis. The game Davies -
Evans, Liverpool 2004 continued 3 d4 Nxe4 4 Bd3 and now 4Nc6!?
appeared, a tricky move which I'd never seen before and caused me to think for
quite some time.
After due consideration I blustered on with 5 0-0 (Neither 5 d5 Nf6 6 dxc6 e4
nor 5 Bxe4 d5 6 Bd3 e4 seemed very promising to me) 5...d5 6 c4 Bg4 7 cxd5
Qxd5 8 Re1 f5 9 h3 Bh5 10 g4 Bg6 (10...Bb4 worried me during the game, but
White can play 11 Re3 exd4 12 Re2 with what appears to be good play) 11 gxf5
Bxf5 12 Qe2 (12 Bxe4 Bxe4 13 Nc3 did not appeal to me after 13...Bxf3 14
Nxd5 Bxd1 15 Nxc7+Kd8 16 Nxa8 Bh5 as the knight on a8 is trapped)
12...Nd6 13 Nc3 Bxd3 14 Qxd3 Qc4 15 Nxe5 Qxd3 16 Nxd3+Kf7 17 Ne5+
Nxe5 18 dxe5 Nf5 19 Nd5 (In retrospect it would have been better to play 19
e6+Ke8 20 Nb5 with more interesting play than the game) 19...Nd4 20 Rd1
Nf3+21 Kg2 Nxe5 22 Nxc7 Rc8 23 Nb5 a6 24 Nd6+Bxd6 25 Rxd6 Rhd8 26
Rxd8 Rxd8. In this endgame White was equal at best, though I later managed to
bamboozle a win.
3...d6
Beginners often make the mistake of playing 3Nxe4 after which 4 Qe2 gives
Black a problem. Not that this is completely clear after 4Qe7 5 Qxe4 d6, but
Black is struggling to equalize.
4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d3
If White must put his queen on e2 then its better to do it immediately. Ive
played 5 Qe2 several times myself; motivated partly by the thought that Paul
Morphy, Emanuel Lasker and Boris Spassky all played it and partly that my
opponents would probably hate the position more than me. By move 6 of my
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Let's Take A Look
Liverpool game I was in fact wishing Id played it this way.
5...Nf6 6 Qe2+?!
A pointless check that misplaces the queen; a much better move is 6 d4, with
transposition into an Exchange French after 6...d5.
6...Be7 7 Nc3 0-0 8 Bd2 d5 9 0-0-0 Re8
Showing up the problem with Whites 6th
move, where can Whites queen go? She
finds refuge on d3 but that proves to be just
temporary. And meanwhile White is losing
oodles of time.
10 d4 Bb4 11 Qd3 Bxc3 12 Bxc3 Ne4 13
Be1 Bf5 14 Qb3 b6
Good, calm play. Theres no point
sacrificing the b-pawn as Black has an
excellent game without indulging in heroics.
15 Nd2 Nc6 16 Nxe4 Rxe4 17 Bc3
An awkward way to defend the d4-pawn, but 17 c3 would further expose
Whites king.
17...Qd6 18 f3?
Not only does this invite Blacks rook into
the powerful e3-square, it loses a pawn on
the spot. A better move is 18 Bd3 after
which 18...Re6 19 Bxf5 Qf4+20 Bd2 Qxf5
21 Be3 Rae8 puts White under serious
pressure, though his position may still be
tenable.
18...Re3?!
Not bad, but 18...Nxd4! 19 Rxd4 (19 Bxd4
Qf4+) 19...Qf4+20 Kb1 (20 Rd2 Re1#)
20...Rxd4 21 Bxd4 Qxd4 leaves Black a pawn up for nothing.
19 Bb5 Na5 20 Qb4 Qg6 21 Rd2??
And this is losing. White should play 21 Bd2 in order to evict Blacks rook.
21...c6
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Let's Take A Look
Again not bad, but this is not the most precise way to play it. Its better to keep
Whites bishop out of the a6-square with 21...a6 after which 22 Ba4 Nc4 leaves
White completely hamstrung.
22 Ba4
22 Ba6! was mandatory in order to stop ...Nc4, though admittedly this is
unpleasant for White after 22...Rae8.
22...Nc4!
Putting White in all sorts of trouble; Black
is about to launch his queenside pawns
forward and theres nothing White can do to
get his pieces out of the way. Both his queen
and light-squared bishop are in danger of
being trapped and there is no way to escape
completely unscathed.
23 Rf2 a5 24 Qb3 Rae8 25 Rd1 Qg5
Changing the direction of the attack to
Whites c2-pawn; 25...Bd7 intending 26...b5
would also have been very effective.
26 Kb1 Re2 27 Rxe2 Rxe2 28 Re1 Nd2+! 29 Bxd2 Qxd2 30 Rc1 b5
Certainly this is more than enough, but 30...Re1! would have been somewhat
quicker.
31 Bxb5 cxb5 32 a4 b4
White could really have saved himself the rest.
33 Qxd5 Bxc2+34 Ka2 b3+35 Qxb3 Bxb3+36 Kxb3 Qxc1 0-1
Recommended Reading
Zoom001: Zero Hour for Operative Opening Models by Bent Larsen & Steffen
Zeuthen (Dansk Skakforlag, 1979) a really excellent book which is out of
print in English.
Winning with the French by Wolfgang Uhlmann (Batsford 1995) the maestro
presents 60 of his games.
The Petroff Defence: Current Chess Opening Theory for the Advanced Player
by Artur Yusupov the Petroff book by one of the best experts.
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Let's Take A Look
Copyright 2004 Nigel Davies. All rights reserved.

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