openings 240 | August 7n 2013

what’s hot and what’s not?

XIIIIIIIIY
Adams wins 9r+lwq-trk+0
9zp-+-vlpzpp0

Dortmund
9-zpn+psn-+0
9+-zpp+-+-0
9-+P+-+-+0
9+PsN-zPNzP-0
9PvL-zP-zPLzP0
IM Robert Ris
9tR-+Q+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
The 41st edition of the tournament in Dortmund was Frequency
deservedly won by Adams with the overwhelming score of
7 out of 9. At the same time Vachier-Lagrave managed to
win in Biel after a play-off.

what’shot?
Score
The crucial final round game between Adams and Kramnik unexpectedly
ended in a draw within 14 moves, enabling the Englishman to finish
clear first. Kramnik's fighting spirit could be seen more clearly in the
other games from the second half. In our Game of the Week he defeats
Fridman in impressive style. Against Leko his position was clearly worse
after an English Opening. Below we have a closer look at his loss against
Andreikin, who tricked him with a smart move order, steering the game
into a favourable Moscow Variation of the Slav.

Kramnik tortured Caruana in a queenless middlegame ensuing from the

Grünfeld. Bacrot was less successful against Vachier-Lagrave in this
opening and was lucky to escape with a draw in a ¦ ending, which will be
examined in CVT 119. Moiseenko introduced a very interesting new idea
in the variation with 7.£a4. Vachier-Lagrave failed to solve his problems,
allowing the Ukrainian to convert his advantage in style (see below).

Leko obtained an overwhelming advantage in the Steinitz Variation of the

French against Wang Hao. Caruana won a nice game against Fridman in
this line, but Meier posed him some more problems (page 3).
Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

In last week's exercise (page 4) the normally very solid Khenkin comfortably neutralised Kramnik's opening experiment. However, in
the second half of the tournament Khenkin's Caro-Kann suffered three painful defeats. Andreikin profited from a huge blunder while
Naiditsch impressively outplayed his opponent in the same line (see below). Adams didn't obtain much
either, but also took advantage of a bit of help from his opponent at an early stage. what’snot?
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 openings what’s hot and what’s not?
Brilliant attacking victory
Although he didn’t win the tournament, Kramnik’s performance and style of play in Dortmund
will certainly be remembered. His sixth round victory over Fridman was his best game of the
event.
gameoftheweek Kramnik - Fridman
Kramnik,V (2784) - Fridman,D (2629)
Dortmund, 01.08.2013
A13, English, Double Fianchetto
1.c4 e6 2.¤f3 d5 3.b3
Of course there’s a possibility of reaching the
main lines of the Catalan via 3.d4 or 3.g3 but
Kramnik also has some experience in this
system where White fianchettoes both his
bishops.
3...¤f6 4.g3 ¥e7 5.¥g2 0–0 6.0–0 c5 7.¥b2
¤c6 8.e3 b6 9.¤c3
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+lwq-trk+0
9zp-+-vlpzpp0
9-zpn+psn-+0
9+-zpp+-+-0
9-+P+-+-+0
9+PsN-zPNzP-0
9PvL-zP-zPLzP0
9tR-+Q+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
9...dxc4
Black has two other interesting continuations
at his disposal. Kramnik has some experience
of these too:
a) 9...¥b7 10.cxd5 ¤xd5 (10...exd5 11.d4
¤e4 12.dxc5 ¤xc3 13.¥xc3 bxc5 14.£e2
¦e8 15.¦fd1 ¥f8 16.£b5 £b6 17.£xb6 axb6
18.¦xd5 ¤d4 19.¤xd4 ¥xd5 20.¥xd5 cxd4
21.¥xd4 and in Kramnik-Jones, London 2012,
White converted his advantage smoothly.)
11.¤xd5 £xd5 12.d4 £d8 (12...¦ad8 13.¤e5
£d6 14.¦c1 ¤xe5 15.¥xb7 £b8 16.¥e4 cxd4
17.¥xd4 ¥f6 18.£c2² Ivanchuk-Carlsen, Cap
d’Agde rapid 2008.) 13.¤e5 ¤xe5 14.¥xb7
¦b8 15.¥g2 cxd4 16.exd4 ¤d7 17.d5 exd5
18.£xd5 ¥f6 19.¦ad1 ¥xb2 20.£xd7 with a
pleasant edge for White in Kramnik-Radjabov,
Kazan blitz 2011.
b) 9...¥a6 10.£e2 £d7 11.¦fd1 (11.d4!?)
11...¦ac8 12.d4 cxd4 13.exd4 ¦fd8 14.¤e5
£e8 15.£f3 ¥b7 16.£f4 dxc4 17.¤xc4 ¤a5
18.¥xb7 ¤xb7 with approximate equality in
Kramnik-Giri, Monte Carlo rapid 2011.
10.bxc4 £d3
Last year Fridman opted for 10...¥b7 11.£e2
£c7 12.¤b5 £b8 13.d4 ¦e8 14.¦fd1 a6
15.¤c3 cxd4 16.exd4 ¤a5 17.d5 ¥f8 with a
complicated game in Pantsulaia-Fridman,
Istanbul 2012.
11.¤e1 £d7 12.£e2 ¥b7 13.f4 ¦fd8
An earlier game went 13...¤a5 14.d3
(14.¤f3!?) 14...¥xg2 15.£xg2 ¦fd8 16.g4
¤e8 17.¦d1 ¤d6 18.¤f3 and now in Kosten-
Hernando Rodrigo, Castelldefels 2004, Black
might have considered 18...¦ac8 with about
equal chances.
14.¦d1 ¤b4 15.d3
15.a3 ¥xg2 16.¢xg2 ¤d3 slightly favours
Black.
15...¥xg2 16.¤xg2 a6 17.a3 ¤c6 18.g4 ¤e8
It seems that Black would have done better to
proceed with 18...¦ab8!, intending to generate
counterplay on the queenside with 19...b5 and
only retreating the ¤ to e8 when it’s forced to
do so.
19.f5
19.g5?! is less appealing in view of 19...¤d6!
and Black is in control.
19...¤d6
Black doesn’t really want to keep the f-file
closed with 19...e5 as it gives the ¤ a nice
square on d5.
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-tr-+k+0
9+-+qvlpzpp0
9pzpnsnp+-+0
9+-zp-+P+-0
9-+P+-+P+0
9zP-sNPzP-+-0
9-vL-+Q+NzP0
9+-+R+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
20.f6!?
Initiating an exchange sacrifice. Another
interesting option is 20.¤f4 with the point that
20...exf5? can just be met by 21.¤cd5! fxg4
240 | August 7n 2013
22.¤h5 with a devastating attack.
20...¥xf6
In the event of the other recapture, 20...gxf6,
White retains a similar initiative after 21.¤f4.
21.¦xf6 gxf6 22.¤f4 ¤e5 23.¤h5 £e7
23...¤e8 24.¤e4 seems very dangerous for
Black, too.
24.¦f1 ¤d7 25.£g2
There doesn’t seem to be much wrong with
the text, but perhaps more logical would have
been pointing the £ as quickly as possible
in the direction of the black ¢ by means of
25.£f2 b5 26.£f4.
25...h6 26.h4
Worth considering too is 26.¤e4 ¤xe4
27.£xe4 with nice attacking prospects.
26...¢f8
A better attempt at saving the game would
have been 26...b5!? when there is no clear
path to victory, e.g. 27.¤e2 ¤e8 28.¤xf6+
¤exf6 29.g5 hxg5 30.£xg5+ ¢f8 31.¥xf6
¤xf6 32.¦xf6 ¢e8 and the black ¢ escapes.
27.£g3 ¢e8 28.£f4 £f8?
Black should have vacated the d8 square for
his ¢ with 28...¦dc8 , since after the text Black
quickly collapses.
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-trkwq-+0
9+-+n+p+-0
9pzp-snpzp-zp0
9+-zp-+-+N0
9-+P+-wQPzP0
9zP-sNPzP-+-0
9-vL-+-+-+0
9+-+-+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
29.¤d5! exd5 30.¥xf6 ¤e5
Also after 30...¤xf6 31.¤xf6+ ¢e7 32.£e5#
or 30...¤b8 31.¥g7 £e7 32.¤f6+ White wins.
31.£xe5+ ¢d7 32.¥g7 ¦e8
32...£e7 33.¤f6+ drops the £.
33.¤f6+ ¢c7 34.£a1! and, after this elegant
move, Black resigned as he loses his £, e.g.
34...£xg7 (34...£e7 35.¤xd5+) 35.¤xd5+ 1–0
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 openings what’s hot and what’s not? 240 | August 7n 2013

thisweek’sharvest
Caro-Kann, Advance 3...c5 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.¤f3 cxd4 5.¤xd4 ¤c6 6.c4 e6 7.¤c3 ¥c5 8.¤xc6 bxc6 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.b4
XIIIIIIIIY ¥b6 11.¤b5 ¥c7 12.¥b2 ¤e7 13.¥d3 a6 14.¤xc7+ £xc7 15.0–0 ¥d7 16.£g4 0–0 17.¦fc1 £d8 18.a4
9r+-wq-trk+0 It's quite remarkable that Khenkin lost three games with his beloved Caro-Kann. On the fourth page you are
9+-+lsnpzpp0 invited to improve upon his game against Adams, while here we pay some further attention to the Advanced
9p+-+p+-+0 Variation with 3...c5. In CVO 67 and 170 the German player proved his expertise in this field by defeating
9+-+pzP-+-0 Ponomariov and Sutovsky. In those games he proceeded with 4...¥g4 after 4.¤f3, though in two games in
9PzP-+-+Q+0 Dortmund he decided to capture on d4. Andreikin recaptured with his £ and although he won the game in 27
moves, Khenkin's loss can mainly be ascribed to a grave error on his part. Objectively speaking White didn't
9+-+L+-+-0
get anything from the opening and thus Naiditsch deviated by taking with his ¤ on d4, following a recent game
9-vL-+-zPPzP0 of Khenkin versus Nisipeanu. White's 10.b4!? is an interesting new attempt and in the diagram it is clear this
9tR-tR-+-mK-0 approach worked out well for White. Both 10...¥e7 and 11...£h4 are possible improvements for Black.
xiiiiiiiiy

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.e5 ¤fd7 5.f4 c5 6.¤f3 ¤c6 7.¥e3 £b6 8.¤a4 £a5+ 9.c3 b6 10.¥d2 c4 11.b4 French, Steinitz
¤xb4 12.cxb4 ¥xb4 13.£c2 ¥xd2+ 14.¤xd2 b5 15.¤c3 b4 16.¤d1 £b6 17.¤f3 0–0 18.a3 b3 19.£d2 f6 XIIIIIIIIY
In the second half of the Dortmund tournament the Steinitz Variation of the French was the subject of heavy 9r+l+-trk+0
debate in three games. In the sixth round, in Leko-Wang Hao, Black went for 7...¥e7 but completely messed 9zp-+n+-zpp0
up the opening. It was only because Leko lacked tactical punch that the game was eventually drawn. In the 9-wq-+pzp-+0
seventh round Caruana-Meier saw the clever 7...cxd4 8.¤xd4 ¥c5 9.£d2 0–0 10.0–0–0 a6 11.£f2 ¥xd4 12.¥xd4 9+-+pzP-+-0
b5 13.¥e3 £a5!? 14.¢b1 b4 15.¤e2 £c7 which has Black giving up a tempo to prevent White from installing 9-+pzP-zP-+0
a blockading knight on a4. Caruana was taken by surprise, but White seems to have problems creating real
9zPp+-+N+-0
attacking chances anyway. In the last round, in Caruana-Fridman, one of the notorious piece sacrifices was
played - one needs nerves of steel to play the white side in the diagram position. A much more practical option
9-+-wQ-+PzP0
is to return the piece with 16.¤ce4 with good chances of an endgame edge.
9tR-+NmKL+R0
xiiiiiiiiy

QGD, 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.¥g5 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.¥g5 h6 5.¥xf6 £xf6 6.¤bd2
XIIIIIIIIY The line with 4.¥g5 is an interesting attempt to sidestep the Botvinnik variation and the Moscow variation of
9rsnl+kvl-tr0 the Slav. The point is that, after 4...c6, White will simply play 5.e3, steering the game into Queen's Gambit
9zppzp-+pzp-0 territory. Alternatively, 4...¤bd7 leads to the Cambridge Springs and 4...¥b4+ 5.¤c3 is the Ragozin. These
9-+-+pwq-zp0 are all openings which do not form part of the repertoire of many Slav adepts. Luckily for them, there are some
9+-+p+-+-0 options for Black to question White's early ¥ sortie. For instance, Black can try 4...dxc4, but also collecting the ¥
9-+PzP-+-+0 with 4...h6 is possible, and this move was chosen by Kramnik in his crucial game against Andreikin in Dortmund.
After 5.¥xf6 £xf6 6.¤bd2!? it is interesting to compare the position to the Moscow variation: is the ¤ better
9+-+-+N+-0
off on d2 or c3? There is less pressure on d5, and for the moment Black has refrained from ...c7–c6, but it is
9PzP-sNPzPPzP0 difficult to suggest a good set-up for Black. It is safe to say that Kramnik didn't succeed in solving all his opening
9tR-+QmKL+R0 problems as he was crushed after 20 moves.
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1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 d5 4.cxd5 ¤xd5 5.e4 ¤xc3 6.bxc3 ¥g7 7.£a4+ £d7 8.£b3
0–0 9.¥e3 b6 10.¤f3 ¥b7 11.¥d3 c5 12.0–0 cxd4 13.cxd4 ¤c6 14.¥b5 a6 15.¥e2 b5 16.d5 Grünfeld, 7.£a4+
In CVO 210 we mentioned the increasing popularity of the move 7.£a4+ against the Grünfeld. This week this XIIIIIIIIY
early £ sortie was tried by Moiseenko in his game against Vachier-Lagrave. In an earlier game against Ragger 9r+-+-trk+0
the Frenchman had already solved the check by means of 7...£d7 as he did this time. It was White who deviated 9+l+qzppvlp0
first with 14.¥b5!?, provoking Black's majority to advance. In the diagram Black decided to place his ¤ on e5, but 9p+n+-+p+0
apparently the critical continuation is 16...¤a5 when play becomes incredibly sharp with various possible material 9+p+P+-+-0
distributions. After the text Black lacks any counterplay mainly because of the misplaced ¥ on b7. White's plan
9-+-+P+-+0
is rather simple, undermining the queenside with a2–a4 and exerting pressure on the § on a6. Perhaps Black
could have defended more stubbornly but from the practical point of view his position was very unpleasant to
9+Q+-vLN+-0
play. In the PGN some further games have been added, plus some valuable comments from Ivan Sokolov's book
9P+-+LzPPzP0
Winning Chess Middlegames in which these types of pawn structures are examined in greater detail. 9tR-+-+RmK-0
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 openings what’s hot and what’s not? 240 | August 7n 2013

it’syourmove
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
o 9r+-+kvl-tr0 O9rsnlwqkvl-tr0
9zpp+-zpqzp-0 9zpp+-zppzpp0
9-+p+-sN-zp0 9-+-+-+-sn0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-zp-zP-+-0
9-+-+-+-zP0 9-+-zp-zP-+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-+-+NsN-0
9PzPP+-zPP+0 9PzPPzP-+PzP0
9tR-vLQ+K+R0 9tR-vLQmKL+R0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy

lastweek’ssolutions
XIIIIIIIIY
Kramnik-Khenkin, Sparkassen Chess Meeting (Dortmund) 2013 9r+-wq-trk+0
White had ambitiously developed his pieces to active squares and with his last move aimed to drive the black ¤ 9zpp+l+pzpp0
back from f6. Khenkin seemed well prepared and neutralised White’s set-up without any problems. 12...¤xd4! 9-+n+psn-+0
13.£xd4 ¥c6! 14.£xd8 Also after 14.£e3 ¥xc3 15.£xc3 ¤d5 Black has a comfortable position. 14...¦fxd8 9+-+-zP-+-0
15.exf6 ¦d4! The point of Black’s play: the ¥s on the fourth rank are unprotected. 16.¥e5 ¦xc4 17.fxg7 ¥e7
9PvlLsN-vL-+0
18.¦fd1 f6 18...¦b4!? is worth considering, too. 19.¥d6 ¦e8 20.¤b5 ¥xb5 21.axb5 ¥xd6 22.¦xd6 ¦e7 23.g3
¦b4 24.¦xa7 ¦xb5 with a level double ¦ ending.
9+-sN-+-+-0
9-zP-+-zPPzP0
9tR-+Q+RmK-0
XIIIIIIIIY xiiiiiiiiy
9r+lwq-trk+0 Vachier-Lagrave - Bacrot, Olivier Breisacher Memorial (Biel), 2013
9zppzp-sn-+p0 13.d4! White sacrifices the exchange in order to play for total domination. 13.c5! fxg3 14.hxg3 ¥xc1 15.£b3+!
9-+-zp-+pvl0 ¢g7 16.¦xc1 is similarly strong. 13...fxg3 14.hxg3 ¥xc1 15.£xc1 exd4 16.¤xd4 ¤g7 17.c5 ¦f7 18.¦d1 dxc5
9+P+-zp-+n0 19.¥xc5 £e8 20.¤e4 ¢h8 21.¤g5 ¦f6 22.£e3 22.¥a3! , followed by taking the c-pawn, leaves Black helpless.
22...¤g8 23.£xe8 ¤xe8 24.¥d5 24.¤e4! still gives White an overwhelming advantage. 24...¤d6 25.e4 h6
9-+P+-zp-+0
26.e5 hxg5 27.exf6 ¤xf6 Black has returned the exchange and now the worst is over.
9vL-sNP+NzP-0
9P+-+PzPLzP0
9+-tRQ+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy

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