openings 252 | October 30n 2013

what’s hot and what’s not?

XIIIIIIIIY
Underdogs win 9r+lwq-trk+0
9zppzp-zppvlp0

European Club Cup

9n+-zp-snp+0
9+-+-+-vL-0
9-+PzPP+-+0
9+-sN-+-+P0
9PzP-+-zPP+0
IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris
9tR-+QmKLsNR0
xiiiiiiiiy
It was not SOCAR (Caruana, Radjabov, Topalov, Kamsky, Frequency
Mamedyarov, Wang Hao, Giri) but G-Team Novy Bor
(Navara, Wojtaszek, Laznicka, Sasikiran, Hracek, Bartel)
that won the European Club Cup. Wesley So won the Univé
tournament's Crown group in Hoogeveen.

what’shot?
Score
The big clash at the European Club Cup between SOCAR and G-Team
Novy Bor came in the penultimate sixth round and saw the Czech team
winning on the first three boards: Navara beat Caruana in the 6.d3 Ruy
Lopez, Wojtaszek finally came out on top against Topalov in the 8...h5
Najdorf (see below) and Laznicka beat Kamsky in the Chebanenko Slav.

Interestingly, Karjakin did not win against Durarbayli in the 4...¤ge7 Ruy
Lopez, but did eventually beat Cheparinov in the topical 3.¥b5+ Sicilian
(in the PGN file we've added more relevant games). Adams quickly
outplayed Van Wely with 6.¥e3 e6 7.£f3 in the Najdorf. Adams-Van
Kampen was good for Black in the Fianchetto Taimanov, while below we'll
update you on the English Attack versus the Taimanov.

Van Kampen couldn't hold Wesley So to a draw with the QGD, but did
draw against Van Wely with it. Sasikiran-Shirov (Meran) and Van Wely-
Wesley So (Anti-Moscow) were two nice wins for Black in the Semi-
Slav. Our Game of the Week, Svidler-Nakamura, was a battle of two
heavyweights going in hard against each other in the King's Indian (with
7.f4 in the diagram position). Below we have a look at the 3.f3 Grünfeld
(Grischuk-Navara) and the Anti-Grünfeld (Svidler-Sutovsky and Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only
Khismatullin-Popov). Morozevich-Laznicka was a wildly adventurous
English Opening and saw Black winning in the end.

Of course there is room for creativity in the opening, but things can quickly go wrong as Giri-Bartel shows (see p.4). The same thing
could have happened in Radjabov-Rapport (1.¤f3 d5 2.g3 ¤c6 3.d4 ¥g4 4.¥g2 £d7 5.0-0 0-0-0 6.c4 dxc4 7.¤bd2!N and now the
very risky 7...¤xd4), but Black managed to escape with a draw. Dreev had a tough time with Black in
the Caro-Kann Advance Variation, losing to Wang Hao and then also to Sjugirov the next day. what’snot?
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 openings what’s hot and what’s not?
Fireworks in the King's Indian
In the following game it’s White’s hyperextension versus Black’s Benkö-style counterplay.
Throw in some positional sacrifices and you’ve got everything you need for some good old
King’s Indian entertainment.
gameoftheweek Svidler - Nakamura
Svidler,P (2740) - Nakamura,H (2783)
European Club Cup (Rhodes), 24.10.2013
E71, King's Indian, 7...¤a6
1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 ¥g7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0–0
6.¥g5 ¤a6
Both players have reached this particular
position earlier this year. The text is clearly
Black's first choice. In recent games Black
failed to obtain sufficient counterplay: 6...£e8
7.¤f3 e5 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.¤d5 ¤xd5 10.cxd5
c6 11.¥c4 ¤d7 12.0–0 ¤b6 13.¥b3 cxd5
14.exd5 h6 15.¥e3 £d8 16.£d2 ¢h7 17.¦fe1
¦e8 18.¦ac1 was clearly better for White in
Svidler-Radjabov, Tromso 2013. 6...c5 7.d5 a6
8.¥d3 b5 9.¤f3 ¤bd7 10.0–0 h6 11.¥e3 bxc4
12.¥xc4 a5 13.a4 ¤b6 14.¥d3 ¤e8 15.¦e1
¤c7 16.¦c1 ¤a6 17.b3 ¤b4 18.¥b1 ¥b7
19.¤e2 ¦c8 20.h4 c4 21.h5 cxb3 22.£xb3
and Black was in serious trouble in Aronian-
Nakamura, Saint Louis 2013. 6...a6 7.¤f3 c5
8.dxc5 £a5 9.¥d3 dxc5 10.0–0 ¤c6 11.¤d5
and Black was already under pressure in
Aronian-Radjabov, London 2013.
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+lwq-trk+0
9zppzp-zppvlp0
9n+-zp-snp+0
9+-+-+-vL-0
9-+PzPP+-+0
9+-sN-+-+P0
9PzP-+-zPP+0
9tR-+QmKLsNR0
xiiiiiiiiy
7.f4
A very ambitious move, which hasn't often been
tested before. The main continuation is 7.¥d3
and now, for example, 7...e5 8.d5 c6 9.¤ge2
¤c5 10.¥c2 cxd5 11.cxd5 a5 12.0–0 ¥d7 13.a3
a4 14.£d2 £b6 15.¦ab1 ¦fc8 16.¤g3 £d8
17.¥h6 ¥xh6 18.£xh6 £f8 19.£e3 ¥e8 and a
draw was agreed in Kasparov-Kramnik, Las
Palmas 1996. Another option is 7.¤f3 which is
likely to transpose to the Krasenkow-Variation
252 | October 30n 2013
(5.¤f3 0–0 6.h3). e.g. 18...¥xc3 19.bxc3 ¤xd5 20.¥xd5 £xa5
7...¤h5 8.¤ge2 c5 21.¥xe7 ¦fe8 22.¥xd6 ¦xb5 23.0–0 and White
This looks more to the point than 8...h6 9.¥h4 has good compensation for the exchange.
f5?! 10.exf5 gxf5 11.g3 £e8 12.¥g2 e5 13.dxe5 18...¥xb5 19.¤xb5 ¤xb5 20.£a5 £e8!
dxe5 14.fxe5 £xe5 15.£d5+ £xd5 16.¥xd5+ A great move which underlines the
¢h7 17.¥f3 ¤f6 18.0–0–0 and White was better misplacement of White's dark-squared ¥.
in Spassky-Polgar, Hoogeveen 1998. Inferior is 20...£xa5+? 21.¦xa5 when both the
9.d5 b5 10.cxb5 ¤ on b5 and the § on e7 are hanging.
More challenging than 10.¤xb5 ¥xb2 which is 21.0–0
perfectly fine for Black. Svidler invests a piece to keep the attack going.
10...¤c7 11.a4 ¦b8 After 21.¤e4 dxe5 the white centre falls apart.
11...a6? is premature, in view of 12.b6 followed 21...g5 22.¤f5 gxh4 23.¦ae1 dxe5 24.¦xe5
by 13.a5 and Black is lost. The other recapture 24.fxe5 ¤g5 shouldn't
12.g4 ¤f6 13.¤g3 pose Black too many problems either.
After 13.¥g2 a6 Black generates active play 24...¥xe5 25.fxe5
on the queenside. If 25.¤xh6+ ¢g7 26.¤f5+ ¢h8 27.fxe5 e6 the
13...h6 14.¥h4 white attack comes to an end.
Giving up the ¥ with 14.¥xf6 can hardly be 25...e6 26.¤xh6+ ¢g7 27.£d2 £d8 28.¦f6
considered a serious alternative as Black will 28.¤xf7 ¦xf7 29.¦xf7+ ¢xf7 30.£h6 can best
gain a firm control over the dark squares. be met by 30...¢g8! 31.£xe6+ ¢h8 and White
14...¤h7! 15.£d2 has run out of material.
After a developing move like 15.¥c4 the ¥ will XIIIIIIIIY
be trapped with 15...g5!. 9-tr-wq-tr-+0
15...a6 16.¥c4 9+-+-+pmkn0
Attention needs to be paid to 16.e5!? and 9-+-+ptR-sN0
now after 16...dxe5 17.¤ge4 exf4 18.d6 ¤g5
9+nzpPzP-+-0
19.dxc7 £xc7 20.¥xg5 hxg5 the position has
become a big mess.
9-+L+-+Pzp0
9+-+-+-+P0
16...axb5 17.axb5 ¥d7
9-zP-wQ-+-+0
XIIIIIIIIY
9-tr-wq-trk+0 9+-+-+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
9+-snlzppvln0
9-+-zp-+pzp0 28...¤d4!
Simple and strong. 28...¤xf6? just leads to
9+PzpP+-+-0
mate after 29.£g5+ ¢h7 30.exf6 ¦g8 31.¤xg8
9-+L+PzPPvL0 £f8 32.¥d3+ ¢h8 33.£xh4+ ¢xg8 34.£h7#
9+-sN-+-sNP0 29.¤xf7 ¤xf6
9-zP-wQ-+-+0 Of course not 29...¦xf7? 30.£h6+ ¢g8
9tR-+-mK-+R0 31.¦xf7 ¢xf7 32.dxe6+ ¤xe6 33.£xh7+ ¢e8
xiiiiiiiiy 34.£g6+, followed by taking on e6, when it's
18.e5? Black who has to be careful. 29...¤xf6 After
With this aggressive move Svidler seems the text White resigned, as there are no further
to lose control over the position. Instead he tricks: 30.exf6+ (30.¤xd8 is met by 30...¤f3+;
should have opted for 18.¦a5 when Black 30.£h6+ ¢xf7 31.dxe6+ ¤xe6–+) 30...£xf6
can't take advantage of the unprotected ¦, and Black is just winning. 0–1
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 openings what’s hot and what’s not? 252 | October 30n 2013

thisweek’sharvest
1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 a6 6.¥e3 e5 7.¤b3 ¥e6 8.f3 h5 9.¤d5 ¥xd5
Najdorf, 8...h5 10.exd5 ¤bd7 11.£d2 £c7 12.c4 g6 13.0–0–0 ¤b6 14.£a5 ¥h6 15.¥xh6 ¦xh6 16.¢b1 ¤fd7
XIIIIIIIIY Topalov-Wojtaszek was one of the key games at the European Club Cup. With 8...h5!? Wojtaszek decided
9r+-+k+-+0 to use Topalov's old favourite against himself. There are some important move order issues, as 11...g6 is an
9+pwqn+p+-0 important alternative (see CVO 231) and one move later 12...a5 may be a more forcing move order (see CVT
9psn-zp-+ptr0 90). With 13.0–0–0!?N Topalov introduced a highly interesting novelty, if not a new concept: tucking the king
9wQ-+Pzp-+p0 away on the queenside while still toying with the c4–c5 break, sometimes even combined with b4. The most
9-+P+-+-+0 puzzling thing about this game is that Topalov never actually played the f4 break. In the diagram position 17.f4
exf4 18.£d2 actually leaves a good impression and on move 20, 29 and 33 the move still looks good. Eventually
9+N+-+P+-0
Topalov decided to play b4. While the position remained unclear, in the final stage of the game it was Wojtaszek
9PzP-+-+PzP0 who suddenly took command and mounted a deadly kingside attack. 16...0–0–0!? is still of theoretical interest,
9+K+R+L+R0 when Black also tucks his king away on the queenside.
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1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤c6 5.¤c3 £c7 6.¥e3 a6 7.£d2 ¤f6 8.0–0–0 ¥e7 9.f3 b5 10.g4 Sicilian Taimanov
¤xd4 11.¥xd4 ¥b7 12.¢b1 0–0 13.£f2 ¦ac8 14.¦g1 ¥c6 15.¥d3 b4 16.¤e2 d5 17.g5 ¤h5 18.exd5 ¥xd5 XIIIIIIIIY
The Taimanov hype continues and this is a summary of the latest developments. Black still hasn't shown a 9-+r+-trk+0
convincing way of dealing with the interesting early alternative 8.f4!? as White quickly got a winning advantage 9+-wq-vlpzpp0
in E.Hansen-Shankland at the Barcelona tournament. In Pruijssers-A.Zhigalko a new treatment of the Brazilian 9p+-+p+-+0
Taimanov with 12...¤xd4 13.£xd4 f5 was a big success for Black. Critical is Shirov's 14.¤g3 or the untested 9+-+l+-zPn0
14.¢b1. In Ochsner-Van Delft the important alternative 11.£xd4 was played and this game will be covered in 9-zp-vL-+-+0
CVT 131. In the PGN file we give an overview of everything that is known about 11.¥xd4. The verdict remains
9+-+L+P+-0
that Black is in perfectly healthy shape. Mamedov-Morozevich was comfortable for Black after 12.g5 ¤h5
13.¢b1 0–0 14.¥d3 ¤f4 and in Caruana-Svidler the diagram position was reached, which sums it up nicely:
9PzPP+NwQ-zP0
only Black is playing for a win here.
9+K+R+-tR-0
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Grünfeld, 3.f3 ¤c6 1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 ¤c6 4.d5 ¤e5 5.e4 d6 6.¤c3 ¥g7 7.f4 ¤ed7 8.¤h3 0–0 9.¥e2 e5 10.dxe6
XIIIIIIIIY fxe6 11.¥e3 b6 12.0–0 ¤c5 13.£c2 a5 14.¥f3 ¦b8 15.¦ae1 ¤fd7 16.¤g5 ¥b7 17.b3 £e7 18.a3
9-tr-+-trk+0 In the diagram Navara played the move 18...e5, but after the typical response 19.f5! White (Grischuk) got the
upper hand on the kingside. In this game it became also clear that, even with £s traded off, the kingside majority
9+lzpnwq-vlp0
is pretty hard to hold back. For comparison we recommend you have another look at the game Ding Liren-
9-zp-zpp+p+0 Areshchenko, when a similar procedure led to a catastrophe right out of the opening for Black. The Chinese
9zp-sn-+-sN-0 player, like Grischuk, has quite some experience playing from the white side in this particular line with 3.f3
9-+P+PzP-+0 ¤c6!?. Earlier this year in Biel he got into some trouble against Vachier-Lagrave after retreating the ¤ to f2
9zPPsN-vLL+-0 prematurely. After 10.dxe6 fxe6, the ¤ is pretty well placed on h3 and may eventually jump to g5 from where it
9-+Q+-+PzP0 cannot easily be chased away with ...h6 as this would weaken the kingside too much. Grischuk applied this idea
9+-+-tRRmK-0 well and posed his opponent quite some problems, which he failed to solve over the board.
xiiiiiiiiy
1.¤f3 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 d5 4.cxd5 ¤xd5 5.£b3 ¤b6 6.d4 ¥g7 7.¥f4 ¥e6 8.£a3 c5 9.e4 cxd4
10.¤b5 0–0 11.¤c7 ¤c6 12.¤xa8 £xa8 13.¦c1 f5 14.e5 ¤d5 15.¥d2 ¤xe5 16.¤xd4 ¥f7 17.¥e2 Anti-Grünfeld
In CVO 244 we briefly mentioned the move 9.e4 in a well-known position of the Anti-Grünfeld. In that case XIIIIIIIIY
White wins the exchange by force, but in return Black gains some more control over the central squares. Back 9q+-+-trk+0
then, we attempted to improve upon the Bu Xiangzhi-Tomczak game with 15...¥f7 instead of 15...£b8, but this 9zpp+-zplvlp0
week two important games proceeded with the even more logical 15...¤xe5. It seems that in Svidler-Sutovsky 9-+-+-+p+0
Black chose the correct path with 17...¤b6!, with the main intention of bringing the £ back into play after 18.b3 9+-+nsnp+-0
with 18...£d8. After 19.¤f3 ¤d3 20.¥xd3 £xd3 the white ¢ was stuck in the centre, which was sufficient
9-+-sN-+-+0
compensation for the invested material. The next day in Khismatullin-I.Popov, Black deviated with 17...¦d8?!
but after 18.¤f3! ¤xf3 19.¥xf3 e5 20.0–0 e4 21.¥e2, Black's kingside was overextended and White smoothly
9wQ-+-+-+-0
converted his extra material. It seems that the move 9.e4 could lead to a doubled-edged position with some
9PzP-vLLzPPzP0
small material plus for White, but with accurate play Black should be able to obtain sufficient dynamic resources 9+-tR-mK-+R0
once the £ leaves the corner and becomes active. xiiiiiiiiy

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 openings what’s hot and what’s not? 252 | October 30n 2013

it’syourmove
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
O 9r+-wqk+-tr0 O9rsnl+kvlntr0
9zpp+nvlpzp-0 9+p+-zppzpp0
9-+p+psnlzp0 9pwqp+-+-+0
9+-+-+-+-0 9+-+p+-vL-0
9-+PzP-vL-+0 9-+-zP-+-+0
9+-sN-+NzPP0 9+-+-zPN+-0
9PzP-+-zPL+0 9PzPP+-zPPzP0
9tR-+Q+RmK-0 9tRN+QmKL+R0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy

lastweek’ssolutions
XIIIIIIIIY
Kozul-Almasi, Corsican Circuit (Bastia), 2013 9r+-wqr+k+0
The ¥ on h3 springs out, keeping more control on the light squares than from its standard g2 square. The 9zplzp-+pzpp0
following manoeuvre, which initiates the exchange of the light-squared ¥s, is typical: 14.¥d7! After a routine 9nzp-+-vl-+0
move such as 14.¦ac1 c5! Black should be doing fine. 14...¦e7 15.¥c6! ¥xc6 16.£xc6 ¦d7 17.¤b5 £e8 18.e3 9+-+p+-+-0
¦ad8 19.¤xa7?! Even simpler would have been 19.£b7! and the c-pawn falls. 19...¤b8 20.£c2? Now the ¤
9Q+-zP-+-+0
will be trapped. 20.£b5! is better, when White is still on top. 20...c6! 21.£a4 21.¤xc6 is met by 21...¦c7. 21...¦c7
22.£b3 22.¦ac1–+ £d7 22...¦xa7 23.£xb6 £e7 and Black went on to win.
9zP-sN-+NzPL0
9-zP-+PzP-zP0
9tR-+R+-mK-0
XIIIIIIIIY xiiiiiiiiy
9r+l+-trk+0 Iturrizaga-Ganguly, Indonesia Open (Jakarta) 2013
9zpp+nvlpzpp0 The ¦ on d4 is slightly misplaced in the middle of the board and is nicely exploited by Ganguly in this example.
9-+-+psn-+0 10...dxc4! After something like 10...¥c5?! 11.¦d1 White retains some pressure. 11.¦xc4 11.¥xc4 runs into 11...
9wq-+p+-+-0 e5! 11...b5! 12.¦d4 12.¥c7 ¤b6 13.¦d4 b4 and White suddenly collapses. 12...b4 13.£a4 Also after 13.¤b5
¥a6 White retains problems with his coordination. 13...£c5 14.¦c4 14.¤b5 ¤b6 15.£d1 ¤fd5 and Black is on
9-+PtR-vL-+0
top. 14...£b6 15.¤b1 ¤c5 16.£d1 ¥b7 17.¦d4 ¥d5 18.b3 Perhaps White should have considered giving up
9+-sN-zPN+-0 the a-pawn with 18.¤bd2 . In the game he remains behind in development. 18...£a5 19.£d2 ¤ce4 20.£b2
9PzPQ+LzPPzP0 ¤c3 21.¤xc3 bxc3 22.£c2 ¥e4 23.¦xe4 ¤xe4 24.¥d3 ¤f6 and Black is just an exchange up and went on to
9+-+-mK-+R0 convert his material advantage easily.
xiiiiiiiiy

openings
ChessVibes Openings is a weekly PDF magazine that covers the latest news on chess openings. Which openings are hot in
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