dame slog \ a \eCopyrighted Matertal First published 2002 by Everyman Publishers ple, formerly Cadogan Books ple, Gloucester Mansions, 1404 Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8HD Copyright © 2002 Byron Jacobs ‘The right of Byron Jacobs to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1983. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior publisher. permission of the British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Accatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 1 85744 229 6 Distributed in North America by The Globe Pequot Press, P.O Box 480, 246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT 06437-0480. All other sales enquiries should be directed to Everyman Chess, Gloucester Mansions, 140A Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H SHD tel: 0207539 7600 fax: 020 7379 4060 email: chessiéeverymanbooks.com website: waww.everymanbooks.com EVERYMAN CHESS SERIES (formerly Cadogan Chess) ‘Chief Advisor: Garry Kasparov Commissioning editor: Byron Jacobs ‘Typeset and edited by First Rank Publishing, Brighton Production by Book Production Services oun and bound in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press Led, Trowbridge. ire Copyrighted MaternalMaterial Contents Bibliography Intreduction 1ede62d4d5 3.Nc3 Bb4: Winawer Variation 1 The Winawer with Qg4 2 The Winawer: Positional Main Lines 3. The Winawer: Other Lines 3Nc3 Nié: Classical Variation 4 45: Modem Variation § 4895 deed: The Burn Variation 6 4 Bg Others: Classical and McCutcheon 3.Nd2: Tarrasch Variation 7 The Tarrasch with 3...Nf6 & The Tarrasch with 3...c5 9 The Tarrasch: Others Others 10) The Advance Variation 11 The Rubinstein Variation and Others Index of Variations Index of Complete Games Copyrighted Material ~~ 7 4g G2 ra 108 120 4 W442 15? a9 7SChapter One The Winawer with Qg4 Introduction Poisoned Pawn Variation Black keeps the g7-pawn lilustrative GamesCopyrighted Material Starting Out: The French Introduction Welcome to the wonderful world of the Winawer. This variation is named after the Polish master Simon Winawer who developed the ideas in the variation in the latter part of the 19th century. It is a dy- namic counterattacking system that was much favoured at the start of his career by the great Soviet World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik. Rather than carefully building up his position Black immediately takes the fight to his opponent by pinning the white knight. It can Jead toa marvellous strategic and/or tactical battle, which isn't al- ways appreciated by White players of a calm disposition. In fact it is the greatest compliment to the Winnwer that White often plays 3 Nd2 (the Torrasch variation), blocking in his own bishop on cl, because he is too afraid to play Ne’, precisely because of 3...Bb-t. White has three main philosophies against the Winawer: 1) Try for « big advantage with Qed, when it might all go horribly ‘wrong. 2) Settle for a small plus by leaving the queen at home and developing with moves like Nf, asin Chapter Two. 3) Attempt to bambooglo Black with one of the offheat systems de- seribed in the third chapter. Poisoned Pawn Variation ‘We'll begin by looking at the bold and brash Qed! main line, which is often referred to as the Poisoned Pawn Variation. ‘With 4.,.Bb4 Hlack breaks the rule that you should bring out your knights before your bishops. This provoked Bobby Fischer into mak- ‘ing the famous and rather dogmatic pronouncement that the ‘Winawer is anti-positional and weakens the kingnide', In order to punish Black the American would usually play his queen swiftly to gd where it aime at g7. This seems very logical, but ,.. just minute ... isn't White also breaking 9 basic positional tenet: don't bring your queen out too early? In fact both players are avoiding the normal rules in arder to achieve positional ends. It is this which makes the variation so exciting and difficult to understand! lede62d4d5 3 Ned Bbt Besides the goneral iden of ..Bxcd+ inflicting doubled pawns on White there is also the threat of d..dxe4, winning a pawn. 4e5 Already a major decision by White. He grabs a space advantage in the centre and deprives tho black knight of its best aquare on f6, On the other hand be is im some danger of overextending himself as his cen- tre is vulnerable to flanking blows, CopyniCopyrighted Mat ‘The Winawer with Ogé ‘Other moves are discussed in the third chapter. 4.08! ‘This attack on d4 with ...cT-cd is an essential strategical theme in all the main line French systems. Black immedintely begins the fight for ‘control of the centre by undermining the base of White's pawn struc: ture. Compared to the Tarrasch Variation the attack looks partieu- larly favourable for Black here as White cannot support his contre with c2-e9 as the knight is in the way. Saal Agood moment to force the bishop to declare its intentions, to borrow 8 phrase from Nimzowitech in his book My System. §..Bxcd+ ‘The alternative 5... B.a5, declining the chance to capture, is discussed in the Positional Main Lines section in Chapter Twa, 6 bxed Now White has doubled c-pawna, but at least he has kept solid control ofthe d4-aquare. 6..Ne7 Black hurries to develop his kingside before he is hit by Qed. Alterna: tives are the counterattacking 6..Qa5 in Chapter Two and &.,.Qe7 one move earlier than usual, which is discussed below. 7 Qg4 (Dingram 1) Diagram 2 A highly complex: position More restrained alternatives such as 7 Nf are examined in the sec- ond chapter, Black now has three methods of dealing with the threat to bis kingside pawns: 1) Make a positional concession with 7...Kf8 (or maybe even 7_.6) 2) Take « deep breath and castle into it with 7...0-0. White abould now get a good initiative on the kingside but Black retains his positional Copyrighted Material Wwted Material Starting Out: The French pluses, 3) Fight fire with fire ... jettison the kingside and go after White's ‘weakened queenside with... ToT The alternatives that hold onto the g7-pawn — 7...0-0 (Games 4 and 5) and 7..KIS (Game 6) = are discussed below. 8 Qxg? ‘The white queen decimates the black kingaide. It is too late for nor- mal development with 8 Nf? as after &...cxd4 the threat of Qxcd+ forking the king and rook means that White has to play the ugly 9 Qud4 when 9...Nbe6 is deeply unpleasant. 8...Rg8 9 Qxh7 exdd 10 Ne? ‘The knight defends ¢3 against the fork and stops Black taking on 5 with check. On the other hand the bishop on f1 is none too plensed at being shut in. 10...Nbe6 11 Mt Tt is necessary to bolster e5 in this fashion as if 11 cxd4? Nuda! 12 Nad4 Qe3+ does not inspire confidence. TIP: The e&-pawn is nearly always @ crucial central foothold tor ‘White In the French, It should always be maintained unless there is avery good reason to give Ii up. Li..Bd7 12 Qd3 dxcd (Diagram 2) Now White has a variety of moves, TIP: It Is suggested that you play trough games 1-3 quickly, without referring to the notes, in order to get a feel for the dynamic features of this variation. Then retum to the discussion of the positional fea- ures here, You will sce that in Short-Koaten (Game 1) White tock back on cd immediately with 13 Qxed, This move was a favourite of former World ‘Champion Anatoly Karpov and so deserves respect. Short wins in convincing style, but you will see from the notes that Black had much better resources. In Game Two, 13 Hed was well met with the sacrifi- cial 13..d4, gaining time for an attack on the white king by attacking the bishop, In Game Three, Svidler plays the safer 13 Rb1, but once again a bit of carelessness allows Black to break in good style with wfl-d4! and overwhelm his opponent. ‘So what conclusions can we draw from these games? The mainone is ‘that the position is full of contradictions and paradoxes. White deatroya Black's kingwide, but... Black's kingside is wrecked and White has a passed pawn on the b: file as well as the bishop pair. The dark-squared bishop looks particu- larly menacing: Black will surely regret having given his away. All this is undoubtedly true, but there is a further important point to Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Material The Win: with Ope remember: the point of a game of chess is to mate the opponent's king! Where exactly is the white king going to find shelter? Surely not on the queenaide. The centre is also likely to became open. So the best bet is the kingside! Now we see that the white queen's greed in anaf- fling the pawns on g7 and h7 has been distinctly double edged — she has opened the g- and h-files for the black rocks to attack her king's future residence. Black wonts to apen the position; but: Here is another contradiction. Black wants to open the centre to get at the white king, or at least to dismantle White's pawn chain. But in opening the position he is breaking the rule: If the opponent has the two bishops you should keep the poaition closed! White's dark-squared bishop is delighted when the position opens up, gait hes no rival in the enomy camp. So Black has to make sure when he blasts things open thot the co-ordination of his pieces is so superior to White's that if outweighs factors such as the two bishops and the passed pawn on the h-file. ‘These contradictions explain why Block can have such mixed fortunes in this line. Thus Kosten suffers a complete disaster in Game 1 whereas Korchnoi has a convincing win over Spassky in Game 2. Hore it should be mentioned that Blnck commits what many Winawer players regard as a cardinal sin in Game 1: namely, be plays ...Rc8 rather than cusiling queenside. It is highly tempting to put immedi- ate pressure along the c-file, but Black is falling into the aame strate- gical malaise as White: his rooks cannot be ensily co-ordinated and his king remains stuck in the centre. It is much better for Black to de- lay action on the c-file in favour of ...0-0-0! when his rooke are joined and his king is reasonably safe. The attacking plans in Games 2 and 3 hinge on the prospect of a central breakthrough with ...d5-d4! which wouldn't have been possible if the black king had been in the centre. NOTE: Normal positional considerations do not always apply when positions become as wild as they do in the Winawer Poisoned Pawn. Black Holds on to the g7-pawn Not everyone wants to see their kingside pawns massacred, oven if it results in dangerous counterplay. Black has tried three main methods ‘to keep the white queen out of g7. Playing through the opening moves again, after Led eG 2d4d5 3 Ned Bhd ded cb 6 a3 Bacd+ 6 bacd the first opportunity for Black not to play ball is 6..Qc7, The idea ia that after 7 Qg4 Black can respond with 7...f8! uncovering a defemoc of ET by the queen along the second rank. This was played by Nige! Short against Gary Kasparov in Game Seven. Short went the way of Copyrighted Material aCopyrighted Ma Starting Out: The French ty g virtually all Kasparov's opponents as Black, but that had more todo with the workings of genius than any flaw in Black's set up. In fact, the World Number One wrote an analysis of the game in which he suggested that Black was at least equal after the opening. TIP: Just because Kasparov crushes a variation it doesn't necessar- ily mean it bs bad. Another way to defend g7 is to play 6...Ne7 and after 7 Qa to give up castling rights with 7._Kf8 as in Game Six. Black decides that as the contre is closed his king won't have too much to fearon {8 - in fact less to fear than if he castles with 7..0-0, when White can launch a direct attack, There is a lot to be anid for this reasoning and when White overpresses Black scores a crushing victory in the illustrative game. However, we should point out that there is one serious draw- back: the rock on h8 becomes difficult to activate. NOTE: A king marooned in the centre ia not only a target for the opponent, It also interferes with the connection of the roaks and thus hinders development. Why should connecting rooks be so important? Well, they are such commanding pieces that to leave one out of your plans will surely mean failure, Just think how powerful rooke become when they are doubled on the seventh rank. Irving Chernev once anid that ‘when you double rooks you double their power’. Locking back, you will see that this drawback to 7,..K8 applios equally to the situntion ofthe white king in the Qxg? Main Line, It isn't only a target in itself—it also stops the white rooks from coordi- nating and working together. Finally we come to 7...0-0, which is the main way for Black to guard &7. At the same time it develops the kingside and prepares to attack White's centre with ...£7-6 or, more typically, stabilise his position with .f7-15, The downside is that White's queen, two bishops and ‘knight (after NE) are all poised to launch an immediate nnd massive assault. Has Black castled into a fatal attack? Certainly he needs to be extremely careful ~ lock what happens to him in Game Four: just one inaccurate move and it all coves in, In Game Five, Black quickly utilises the ...f7-05 idea. ‘This puts White into a quandary, as if he moves his queen away then the bishop on 43 finds its diagonal aiming at h7 blocked. So he uau- ally plays 9 exfé en passant. which maintains a promising attack but loses the spearhead of his pawn structure, If he isn't careful then Black might guin time with ...c6-05 uncovering an attack on the queen. In the illustrative game, Timman made an inaccuracy which allowed Anand to apply continuous pressure, but overall there is nothing wrong with the plan of castling kingside. Warning: The Winawer Poisoned Pawn is highly theoretical. One cor- respondence player has dedicated his life to unravelling the mysteries of this variation. Copyrighted MaCopyrighted Material The Winawor with Qgé Illustrative Games Game CO Short i Kosten Hastings 1983 Lede6 2d4d53 Ned Bhd 405 c5 6 03 Becd+ 6 beet NeT 7 Qed Qe? Black develops rapidly sacrificing the kingside. The alternative main line is 7...0-0 (Games 4 and 5), provocatively castling into the attack. Black can also defond the pawn with 7... Kft? (Game @). Nobody wants to go 17._.g6 —it's very weakening of the dark squares. 8 Qug? Rg8 9 Qxh7 exdd 10 Nez Nbe6 11 f4 On 11 cxdd Nada! 12 Nudd Qes+ wins. 11..Bd7 12 Qd3 Baek to the thick of things. 12..dxe3 (Diagram 3) Acritical Winawer position ‘White's kingside pawna march on Almost a starting position for this opening. Black has boat most of his king’s wing, but hopes to genernte enough play on the other side and in the centre to make up for it, Broadly speaking. unless Black whips up counterplay swiftly, then the long term assets of White's kingside pawns should decide. That is « simplificntion, but it summarises the character of many 7 Qg4 Winawer middbegames. 13 Qucd White captures the pawn with the knight in Game 3, while 13 Bed is seen in Game 2, 18..Re8?! Kosten deviates from his earlier game vs Balashov at Minak 1996, Copyrighted Material 5Copyrighted Material Starting Out: The French 16 which White won after 13...N{5 14 Rbl d4 15 Qd3 0-0-0 16 Rgl f6 17 g4 Nb6? 18 exfG Rxg4 19 Rag Naga 20 £7 05 21 Bg? Beé 22 ha Nis 2 fxe5 Nxeb 24 Qxd4!, Black's play was later improved by 17...Nh4! 18 exff eS 1917 Rxgd 20 Axgd xgd 21 Bh3 QdT 22 Bxgd Qed 24 Qe Qh 24 Rb3 ef 26 Qa7 da with rough equality in Hollers-Djurhuus, Gausdal 1992. 14 Rb1 Nf 15 Bd? a6 16 Bgl! A strong move. After 16 g3 b5 17 Bhd Qbé! 18. Qd3 Nee? 19 g4 Nha 2 Rf1 Ret! Black developed nifty counterchances in Tal-Farago, Wijk oan Zee 1987, and 21 Rb4 RhS! 22 Nga Ne6 23 Rbz Qd4! 24 Qudd Nxd4 26 Kd1 Nhfa 26 NhS Nad? 27 Ked2 Rad 29 Ral Ke? 29 c3 led to adraw, 16.65 ‘This just does not seem immediate enough, 17 gal A simple and extremely powerful procedure. The pawns advance. 17..Nb4 18 Rg3 Qb6 19 Qd3 Bhs 20 Rh3 White rocks patrolling the third rank can be a feature of these mid- dlegames, 20...Ne7 21 Ndd Red 22 03 Rad If Black can find no better ideas than this then he is already down the tubes. Short plays simple chess, and just pushes the h-pawn. #3 Qed Nhgé 24 Rxha+ Nxhé 25 Bdd Nhg6 26 h4 Rod 27 hs (Diagram 4) This rook's pawn is a tad more significant than the one that Binck just took, The black game is beyond saving, 27...NEB 28 h6 Neg6 2915 Ne7 30 Qh2 exfS 41 h7 Negé 32 gxfS Swamping him. §2..NbB ‘The worst possible square, 33 QhS Qe7 34 Kl Rxc3 35 e6! Accurately calculated. The counterplay that Black has come up with is quite insufficient. 35...Red3 36 exf7+ Kds ‘Or 36...NafT 37 hBQ. arate Ke8 38 Rel Rxud4 39 Ruct+ Kc? 40 Bait Rb7 41 Qd6 + Tony Kosten is notorious for disliking resigning, often carrying on to- ken resistance in hopeless positions. This policy once enabled him to save a game a whole queen down, when the Danish IM Iskov accidon- tally stalemnted him. 42 Kgl Rg4+ 43 Kh? 1-0 Copyrighted MaternalCopyrighted Material ‘The Winawor with Qg4 ‘Game? (CO Spassky ll Korchnol Canciones final, Belgrade 1977 Led e6 2 d4d6 3 Nc3 Bhd 405 cd 6 03 Bxed+ 6 bxcd NeT7 Qed cexd4 8 Qxg? Rg’ 9 Qxh7 Qc7 10 Nez Nbes 11 f4 Bd7 12 Qd3 decd 13 Bed dal? (Diagram 5) Abig novelty at the time, Black activates his men at the coat of a pawn, 1d BE He could just have taken it immediately. 14H 16 Nad4 Nedd 16 Qud4 b6 ‘Time out for this. He does not want to lose a7 and let the white queen and biahop in. 17 Bhé Bbb!? Discovering an attack on the white queen. 18 Qed Bxfl 19 Rxfl 19 QaS+ Ke7 20 Rdl+ was a line lending to exchanges and after 20...Nd5 21 Red6+ exd& 22 Qud5+ Keb 23 Qnb+ Kd? 24 Buda? Red White stays a piece behind, eg. 25 Qd5+ KeS and the checks run out. He hus instead to take the draw with 24 Qd5+ ete. 19...Rd5! Spassky may have underestimated the effect of this blocking move. 20 Bre? QxeT 21 Rf Kb Avery important little move, The contrast in the safety of the two kings is what decides this game. 2Kn On 22 Fixe Qh4+ ia annoying. Copyri 7Copyrighted Ma Starting Out: The French ‘22..Rd2 23 Rf Rede 24 Qfa Rxf2+ 25 Kxf2 Rd2+ 26 Kgs Qds (Diagram 6) Korchnoi’s major pieces now start bobbing and weaving around Spassky's king. 27 Qed Qg8+ 25 Kh Qhs+ 29 Kgs Qg7+ 30 Kh3 Rds ‘Threatening mate, and forcing White to loosen the pawn cover around his king. 21 gd RbS+ 32 Kg’ Qh6 33 Gg? Qhd+ 34 KOS Rds ‘The queen and the rook create ponotration threats allover the place. Defence is very difficult, if not already impossible. 36 Qud Qe7 36 gh Rd2 37 Kd Qb7 38 Qucd Finally the pawn falls, but here it doesn't matter. 28...Rg?+ 19 Khd Rf 40 Kg4 Qed 0-1 ‘The white king's defences collapse. Gane d OF Svidter il vanchuk Linares 1999 Led o62d4d5 3 Ned Bb 4 05 c5 5 ad Bxed+ 6 bxcd Ne 7 Qed Qe7 8 Quy? Rgs 9 Quh7 exd4 10 Ne2 Nbes 11 4 Bd7 12 Qd3 dxecd 13 Rbl Another line, 13...0-0-40 14 Nxed Nabil? 15g fn epee Se ee eee A better try might be 16 Nb6I?, e.g. 15...Bxb5 16 Rub Kb8, Other moves are not very danger- ous for Black, for instance 16 Rg] KbS 16 g4 Ne 17 Nbé Bxbh 18 Qub6 Ne4 or 15 hd KbS 16 Ne2 Nec6 17 g4 Ned. 16...KbS 16 Ned Bad! 17 oft! 17 Ndd was better. 17..NG! 17...Bb3 wa: 18 Bha ‘This allows a centrn] breakthrough, Maybe it was better to play 18 Rb4 Bb3!? an unclear situation. 16...d4! (Diagram 7) 19 Bd What else? On 19 BafS dxcd 20 Nd4 (or 20 Qucd Rdl+ 21 Kf2 Rxhl 22 QueT+ Kxet) 20.exf5 Black stands excellently, e.g. 21 Rb4 Beé 22 0-0 Bed.On 19 Kf2 Bo6! 20 Rg] Rhs! 21 Bxfh Rxh2+ and the roof caves in. Maybe Svidier forgot that in case of 19 040 ded 20 Qed Qued 21 Nacd he loses after the simple combination 21... Nxgd! 22 Nxad (22 bag Ragd+ 23 Kh? RacS wins) 22_.Naflt+ 23 Kxfl Rdl+ 24 Ke? gg 25 Rb6 (the only counter hope) 25..Rxcl 26 RxaS Re2+ 27 Ked Rabe iso interesting. Copyrighted MaCopyrighted Material The Winawer with Qg& and the bishop has nowhere to hide, Taking on d4 leads ton problem with ...Bc2 at the end, winning the bl rook. 19...Nb3! 20 BxfS deed! 21 Qued Nadd £2 Qucl+ Kxc? Via a series of highly imaginative and active moves Ivanchuk has achieved a winning position, as seon becomes clear. 23 Rel+ Beé 24 Bh3 Kb6 and White must lose the exchange, either to the bishop ora knight fork at £3. 25 Reeé+ ‘Choosing to lose it this way. 25... bxe6! Tvanchuk makes a new naset out of it: 0 nice mobile c-pawn. 26 fl cS 27 Bg cd 28 ht ‘The h-pawn is hia last hope. ole 29 hS Rd2 30 Ke3 Rad 31 h6é Read 32 h7 RbS (Diagram ‘The activity of the other black unite means that despite the indignity of deploying his rock so passively he can still win, 33 Ne3 Kahl 34 Ned Neb+ 35 Ket Unfortunately the king can’t move into the centre = 35..Nxed 26 Bred Kia with the threat of a7...Rda+ 36..Neod? An inmccuracy in a won pasition. 35_.Ra2+! 96 Kea Fagz 37 Nxe5 Rxgi+ 38 Kid4 Kb6 fed to an ensy victory, 96 Bxed Rug3 97 Rb1 Bhd 36 Ke? Copyrighted Material 1Copyrighted Material Starting Out: The Franch After 38 RbT! Black must demonstrate good technique. After the text move the game is over, 34...Rd6+ 39 Ke? Rd4 0-1 Such games indicate why Short and Adame acclaim Ivanchuk as a genius ‘Game 4 (OO Maus Mf Habner Lugano 158) lede6 2d4d5 3 Nc Bbd 4 08 ch 5 a3 Bxcd+ 6 bxcd NeT 7 Qet 0-0 8 Bd’ Nbeé Not &...c47! 9 Bh6! NgG 10 Bagé fxg6 11 Be and White has a very strong attack with h2-hé-h5, The proactive thrust 8_..£5 is played in the next game. 9 Qh5 he? ‘On &.,.Ng6 10 NE is hard to meet, og. 10,04 11 NgG h6 12 Nxf7! and wins. But Black can play 10...Qc7!? so that if 11 Ng h 12 Naf? Quit 13 Qxgé Qxg6 14 Bxgé exd4 regains the pawn, 10 Bebé! (Diagram 9) Diagram 9 Diagram 10 Awinning sacritce The black king will be mated 10_.gxh6 11 Quhé NIG ‘The only way to block mate, On 11...Nig6 something like 12 ha Re 13 ho Nf&B 14 Hho doos him in. 12 Bafi exfh 13 0-0-0 f 14 Nh3 Net ‘Of course on 14_.Bxh3 comes 16 gxh3! and crush down the new g-line. 15 Ng6 Bis 16 ga! Bash! He carries on thumping. 16...Bed 17 Rhel Threatening to take the bishop and then mate on h7. CopyCopyrighted Material ‘Tha Whisler wh tiga 17.Qb6 18 66 Bgé 19 Rd3 (Diagram 10) 1-0 ‘Off to h3, and on 19.,.Bxd3 20 cxda it will be mate. Simple chess from a mighty Maus. ‘Game § OAnand ff Timmans Dovimunder: 1999 Led 06 2d4d5 3 Ne3 Bhd 406 Ne7 5 03 Bred+ 6 bxcd ch 7 Qed 00 8 Bda fs! Altogether a wiser choice. 9 exf6 Rxfé 10 Bes ‘On 10 Qh5 both 10...g6 and 10...h6!? come into consideration. 10...RET 11 QhS g6 Regarded as best; 11...h6 creates more serious weaknesses, 12Qd1 Having induced some damnge in the black kingside, the queen re- tums home. 12.,.Nbe6 13 NES ch Black has also played the immediate 12...Qf8 bere, or even 12..Qa5, eg. 13 Bdd (13 Qd2 od!) 13...Nbo6 14 NES Qe7! 15 0-0 05 with an ac- tive game. 14 Be? Qf 15 Qell? An interesting novelty. Anand defers castling and plans to try to dominate the kingside and the dark squares first. 15 0-0 h6 16 Bht Ni 17 Bg3 g5 leaves Black comfortably placed. 15...Nf5 16 hal? ho On 16...Nd6 White plays 17 h6, causing problems around Black's king. 17 Bft Ba7 18 Nes NxeS 19 BxeS (Diagram 11) Copyrighted Material aCopyrighted Mat Starting Out; The French A long term problem for Black ia his inability to ‘shield’ his dark squares. In giving away the bishop at move 5 he cedes domination of those squares to White, This is particularly chronic here when the black pawns are fixed on light squares. 19...Ne7 20 Qed Neg 21 Bg3 Ref 22 hS gS 23 00 ‘Late castling, but in blocked positions that is not always a problem. White has fixed the pawn structure, and now aims to advance with {2- fat the right moment to open up the game and the black kingside for his bishops and major pieces. 24...Ne7 24 Bed And not the immediate 24 Beh because of 24_.NE. 24...Neé 25 Bh? Rg? Now after 25...Ne7 26 g4 takes away the square [5 26 Bet Qe Maybe Timman could have sacrificed » pawn with 26.,.e!? 27 Bxd7 Rad? 28 deeb (28 Beeb Qis) 28...Q05 29 Rael Red with compensation, I think that this would have been a better practical chance than just sitting there and waiting for it. 27 Rael Qe7 28 ad! b6 29 Qha NdS 30 Re? Bxad ‘When White plays the line of the Winawer with 7 a4 or § a4 then his avpawn may actually be won by force. Often it does not matter much ns Black loses time and has to misplace pisces to got at it. Hero's an- other instance where White just ploughs on regardless. Instead of saying “Black wins the a-pawn', one might say “Black acknowledges ‘that action on the kingside is about to stuff him so helps himself to the a-pawn anyway, arguing that he might aa well be hung for a sheep as fora kamb." am After due preparation, here we go. ‘91..Bd7 32 © RE 33 Rfel RM (Diagram 12) 34 Bes Exits ‘Ceding material, but on 34..RI7 35 Be7!? maintains the pressure. 25 Bxfh oxf 36 Be7 ‘This is good enough, but 36 Bfé! Qufé 37 Rxei+ Bees 38 Hxes+ KIT 39 ‘Rod wins immediately, 36..Ne8 Forced. After 38,_.Que2 37 Rxo2 Rxe2 the knight at dé hangs, as it would after 36_.Qf8 37 Rxed Buel 37 Qxfs QFT On 37_.Nee7 38 Rxe7 Bafh 29 Fxef+ Nxef 40 Reel+ KiT 41 Rha Ke? 42 Rdé White wins the ending. 38 QxfT+ Kxfl 39 Bd6 Copyrighted MaCopyrighted Material The Winawer with Qgd Black's material inferiority is slight but, notwithstanding the queen exchange, the activity of White's pieces is still great. 49...05 40 Rfl+ Kg? 41 Rei Nf 42 Rxeé Bxed 43 Beds! Forcing the king to a more passive square. 43... g8 44 Bafd gxfd 4h Rxfd Kgl 46 gd ad a7 Khe 1-0 ‘The ending is lost, e.g. 47.0948 Rf Bad 49 Ral Kf (49... Back 0 Kgs) 50 Rxad Bacd 61 Kg3 KyS 52 Rad, Gamo 6 Hence ill M.Scko MK Gale Cup, Koszain 1349 Lede6 2d4d53 Ne3 Bbé 4 e5c5 5 03 Bxed+ 6 bxc3 Ne? 7 Qed EES? (Diagram 13) ‘Dlagram 13 Diagram 14 ‘The king calmly detonds 97 ‘White has compensation for the pawn Arrisky, but interesting move that became very popular at the end af ‘8a. It is atill net clear how White can get a real advantage, and Black ‘could be satisfied with results in practical games. Bhe ‘The most direct and dangerous move. The alternative is 8 a4 which prevents Black's following queen manoeuvre, 8nd 8,..pe7!? 8 Ql bG 10 h5 hG 11 thd BaG 12 Baad NuoG 19 Qd3 NbS 14 a4 was Saulin-Mkrichian, Moscow 1996, where White went on to win, 9 Bd? Qaa! A moet irritating move for White to cope with, as it pressures c2 and d4. Note also that the queen is not unknown to go back to 68 from here, to sometimes assist in defence. 10 RAS? 10hS hG 11 Kil be! 12 Nf BaG 13 BxaG Nad 14 Qf Reb 15 g4 Red Copyrighted Material noCopyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The Franch 1G gS exdd 17 guh6 gxh6 18 Nudd NoS 19 Q06 Regd led toa Black win in Drei-Lputian, Reggio Emilia 1998, 10..Nbe6 ‘The problem with Black ever grabbing on c2, as we shall see in the game, is that White plays the powerful developing move Bd3 with tempo. 116 hé 12 QM BAT? White kept some initiative after 46 13 BAS Nd8 14 deed Qafa 15 Raxfé beeS 16 Bed cd 17 R61 Nde® 18 NES g5! 19 bxgé Nxg6 20 Red Kai 21 Nba!? in Atlas-Psakhis, Geneva 1992. 13 RG Bed 14 Rb This was. a new move, 14 g4 exd4 16 Hdd bb 16 cad4 Nud4 17 Red abt? 18 Ne? Nac+ 19 Brel Qxc2 20 Red Noé 21 Q&S Qe5 22 and now 22 Rel! would have given White play. Instead, in Bobarykin-Nikitin, No- vosibirak 1996, he chose 22 Nf47 and lost after 22...Nd4 23 Qd1 Nez, 14,.b6 15 ga?! Hracek believes in Whito's attacking chances and declines to ex- change queens, But this was a bit optimistic. 16 dac Qxf4 16 Bxfd bueS left an unclear position. 15..Qxe2 Yea please. Black has three pieces near her king and reasons that she can withstand the onslaught. 16 Bdd Qed 17 gS After 17 Bg6? Negé 18 hxgé the black queen returns with 18_.e2 winning. 11...c4 18 Bed Qed Black could take a second pawn, and 18_Qxn3!? deserves serious at- tention, as did 18.,.NiBI?. 19 Rel hzgd 20 Qzg5 20 Qhuf7+ Bxf7 21 Ree? ea! 22 REt Ke8 23 Bxys NAB 24 h6 Byé! loads toa clear advantage for Black. 20..Qh7 Dropping back to help the threatened sector. 21 Rh Ngee On 21...N15 22 Bal! reroutes effectively. 22 N& (Diagram 14) 22...16 Hereabouts Socko decides to relieve her cramp, but White's pieces now gain activity. 23 exffi gxfli 24 Qf4 Ke7 25 QeT+ KB On 26...B47 26 Nh is annoying. 26 QM Ke? 27 Nh4 Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Material Ths Wiaiwor with Ogt Tt looks like repetition with 27 Qc7+ was the best solution. 27..HdT 28 Bed NgeT She could have tried 28_.Nhé!? when 29 Npé? fails to 29...Bop6 30 hxg6 Qug6 31 Rah6 Rxh6 32 Qxh6 Qugs etc. 29 Qxf6?? After 29 h6!? or 29 Ng2!? the result of the game was unclear, but Hracek makes a terrible blunder. 29...Qe4+ 30 Red What else? 30 Be? Bah 31 Red (31 (3 Bxfa! 32 Qxft Reha) 31_.Rafst? (1..Qh1+ 32 BA Bed) 32 Qs QhT! would lose as well. 20...Qxgd 31 £3 On 31 Qxh8 BichS! 32 Quad Qg] mate, may have been what White overlooked. G1..Qg6!? 32 Ki2 Rxhb 33 Qed Ngé 34 Nug6 Bag6 35 Rgl QT 36 Reel Qxufé 37 Bxfd Rg 38 Rgd Ne? 0-1 Game? (Cl Rasparov ll Short Noegorad 1967 Ledeé 2 dd d63 Ned Bbd 4¢5.c5 5 a3 Bucd+ 6 bxcd Qc7 7 Qed Avoiding the mayhem of 7...Ne7 8 Qxg7 Rg8 9 Qah7 cxdd (Games 1- 5}, but weakening the kingside, 8 Qed cxd4 9 exd4 Ne7 10 Bd? 0-0 11 Badd be As so often in the French Defence, Blnck hastens to exchange off the light-squared bishopa when he can. 12 Ne® Baé 13 Nfa Qd7 14 ha (Diagram 15) Diagram 16 (Can Write beoak into Black's tonnes? Staking out territory. Copyrighted Material Pr]Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French 14...Bxd3 15 Qad3 Nbeé 16 Rh3!? No sense in castling. The rook pops out here. 16..Rack 17 Rg’ RAT 18 hG Nd5 19 .c3 RAB 20 KM Red 21 Kgl Castled by hand. 21..NET 22 ofl? A very interesting move. It is not out of the question that his bishop will yet pop up on the excellent a3-f8 diagonal. Meantime, this pawn has 4 certain ‘bait’ factor. 22...Rfe8 23 Qb1 Ne6 24 Qdl Ne7 Nothing to do. 25 h6 g6 26 Qho ‘The rook, the knight, the h-pawn and now the queen get in on the at- tacking act. 26... Rxa4 27 Read Quad (Diagram 16) 28 Nxeo After 28 Qhd Black defends by 28...Qd1+ 29 Kh2 g5! 30 Rxgi+ Nxgi 31 QugS* KT 32 Nho (or 32 Bed Qp4) 32..Rg6 33 Ng Rxgi 34 Qugi> ‘Kod 35 BgS Qh5+ with perpetual check. 28,..Qo2? ‘The losing move. Black could have defended with 28_..Re6 29 Nf Kis. 29 Qh4 {4 30 Bafd Ni 31 Rxgé+! 1-0 ‘The roof caves in, and yet another Kasparov attack crashes through against a world class grandmastor, CopyrtChapter Two The Winawer: Positional Main Lines Introduction Black Captures on c3 Black Plays 5...Ba5 Illustrative Gamested Material ‘Starting Out: The French Introduction Tn this section White avoids the crazy positions of Chapter One in fn- vour of the relatively sedate lines that begin after T ad or 7 NMS. Playa becomes much more strategic and long-term. Here we also consider 5...Bab a radical treatment of the position by Black who declines to give White doubled pawns, Black Captures on c3 It is recommended that you play through games 4-12 in this section, without paying much attention to the notes, to get a feel for the set up before reading the comments that follow. Then you should play through the games again and look at the analysis in more detail. The games break down as follows: Led e6 2d4d5 3 Ne3 Bb 406 cb 6 03 Bxed+ 6 bec3 Ne7 In game 12 Black tries 6..Ga5!?, 7Nf3 (Diagram 1) Fischer preferred 7 a4 in ‘Game 8, Tb@ Or 7...Qc7 8 b4, asin Game 9, 8 BbS+ Bd7 9 Bd Rad This is seen in Games 10 and 11. Games with 5...BaS are summarised below under the heading discuss- ing this movo. ‘The play in these variations revolves strongly around planning, rathor than theoretical knowledge, so we will now consider various ideas for both sides to get.a feel for the positions that arise. White's Doubled c-pawns It is another paradox in the Winawer that White's central pawn com: plex can be weak and strong at the same time.Copyrighted Materith, wrnewer: Positional Main Lines The pawn on c3 is part of a doubled pawn complex and cannot be sup: ported by any other pawn; the cl-square also cannot be defended by » pawn ond so is an ideal outpost for a black piece. NOTE: An outpost Is a square In the other half of the board from which a plece cannot be evicted by a pawn. If the outpost square is in the contre then it can become of enormous strategic importance. Knights in particular like centre square where they are safe from pawn attack, as they work best at short range and cannot influence things like a bishop can from a distance. So, if you oa bed « knight down on a central outpost, it will generally be rather pPy- Note however that if Black were to put a knight on o4 it would unwit- tingly shield the c3-pawn from frontal attack. So Black has to decide carefully whether it is advantageous to put the knight there (nor- mally the answer is yes), ‘The doubled pawns have also presented Black with an outpost square ‘on a4, which can be used by the bishop or queen to attack the vulner- able c2-pawn whilst simultaneoualy blocking the queenaide. ‘Thus from a static point of view the c3-pawn is undoubtedly weak, but compare the overall central situation with that in the Classical after le4e6 2d4d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 06 Nfd7 6 f4 ch, Alrendy you will see that White is going to have to give up his pawn chain on da: the capture ..cSadd cannot be stopped, and he will have to recapture Ned4. In contrast, in the Winawer, White has the pawn onc3 ready to recapture on d4 and keep a firm pawn centre. White Plays a3-a4 Despite his contention in Chapter One that the Winawer is anti- positional, Fischer never had much luck with a direct attempt at refu- tation with the brutal Qg4 treatment. By 1971, when he waa at his peak, be had switched to more positional means, After 1 ed e6 2 d4 d5 3 Ned Bb4 406 cS 5 a3 Bxcd+ 6 bucd NeT he played 7 a4 against Larsen - see Game 6. ‘There are three ideas behind this move. The first. which is seen to perfection in this gume, is to clear ad for the dark-squared bishop so that it can put intense pressure on the black centro, Secondly, if Black castles queenside, the a-pawn might also become useful as a battering ram to weaken the defences on the b-file, And thirdly - and highly significantly — by playing a3-a4 White takes the ad-square away from Black's light-equared bishep. Let's see why the bishop is 20 utrong on a4. Black Plays ...Ba4 Of course this move assumes that White hus played 7 Nf or another positional approach that avoids a3-a4, On a4 the black bishop attacks Copyrighted Material aCopyrighted Material ‘Starting Out; The French Q the c2-pawn and ties a white piece — perhaps the queen's rook of more likely the queon — to its defence. Now it is highly ignominious for a rook of queen to be tied down by. mere bishop. The plan of ...Bad to put pressure.on c2 is seen in ite most startling form in Game 10. TIP: Good strategy depends as much on stopping your opponent playing good moves as playing good moves yourself! In fact | recommend a close study of Game 10 ae it showa a refreshing avoidance of ‘natural’ and planiess moves, Have a close look at the above diagram. Black has avoided the usual development of the queen with ..Qe7? in favour of the idea of ..h7-h6, ..Kd?, ,Qy8 and ..Qh7 (see Diagram 2), when the white queen adds to the attack on cz. Such a schome exhibits the difference between moving pieces around and really playing chess! ‘Diagram 2 Avoiding stereotyped play Open and Closed Positions NOTE: Black could afford to play a move like ...Kd7 because the centre Is blocked. In an open position, a.g. a main line Sicilian, such a plan would almost always be suicidal, Ina closed position more thoughtful, strategic play is possible, Also noteworthy about Game 10 is that from the above diagram Black avoided the normal and typical 15,..Nbe6 in favour of 15...Na6! He has scen that this knight hasa much more useful career an the king- side vin e8 and {6 and it eventually arrives at g3! In some scenarios after ...Nc7 it would be good to play ..Nb5, when the knight attacks the ed-pawn and ties down White even further. There was no need to hurry because White had no open lines with which to exploit this slow manoeuvre. White is sometimes prepared to accept a disgusting pawn structure if it means that the position becomes more open and he can exploit his CopyniCopyriantes M6" tye Winawar: Positional Main Lines dark-squared bishop or some other advantage in firepower. You couldn't imagine a more ugly move as far as the central pawn struc- ture is concerned than ddach by White, But in Games 9 and 11 White plays it valuntarily. If you look at Game 9 (Short-Ivanchuk), you will see that daxc5 cleared the way for the imaginative manoouvre Rh4 and later Rbb4, when the White rooks became powerfully co- ordinated. Remember what was said about doubling the rooks doubles their power in Chapter One? This is a very odd scenario but not evon Ivan chuk could survive the pressure! Note also that White has won the battle for the a4-square here: the black bishop has had to retreat to cb. Black Plays ...b7+b6 - For all the talk about the usefulness of a black bishop on ad, White would much rather tolerate the bishop there than have the light- squared bishops exchanged. Thus if Black plays 7...b6 (Diagram 3) asin Games 10 and 11, with the positional thrent of &...BinGé: White usually replies 8 Bb6+!. This check ia highly disruptive as after 8.,.Bd7 (if 9...Nbe then the plan of ...Baé has been sidelined) 9 Bda! White has succended in daveloping his bishop whilst ruling out ...EaG, Nevertheless White hasn't nullified all of Black's weapons this trick as, with the foint at playing ..Ha6, Black has gained the time to ar- range ... Bad. Black the Queen on a4 Tt is curious how many of the ideas in this section involve the a4- square. In fnet, one of the chief weaknesses of White's doubled pawns is that he can no longer play b2-b3 to cover the ‘soft underbelly’ of his Copyrighted Material HnCopyrighted Ma Starting Out: The French position - the pawn on ¢2. In Game 12 Black puts his queen on a4 as soon as possible. Although relatively little known, this method of play has a good track record for Black, TIP: The o4-square is a useful one for Black to pressurise the white ¢2-pawn! Black Plays 5...Ba5 ‘This has been dubbed the Winawer Declined’ as Black refuses the of- fer to capture on ci. ‘The key move after Led e6 2d4d53 Ned Bhd 4 e5 ch 5 ad Bad is 6 bal ‘This temporarily breaks the pin on the knight and so wins time for aggressive play after 6...ced4 with 7 Nb& or 7 Qg4. It has bean known for a long time that if 6...cxb4?! 7 Nb5! is very strong — 7.,.bxad+ 8 cl! and White is ready to launch a big attack involving Bxa3 and Nd6+. In that case the knight would wreak a wonderful re- venge on the bishop that dared to pin it! The Aggressive 7 Qg4 Here there are features akin to the Poisoned Pawn Variation in Chap- ter One as White often goes hunting with Qg4 and Qxg?. He smashes up the black kingside, but on the other hand his centre comes under intense pressure after the standard ...c7-c5 etc. Note that now the white centre is no longer supported by that apparently feable pawn on 2. Often Black ends up trading his dark-squared bishop for the knight on c3 (though not directly with Bucd+), It is worth comparing the position renched in Game 13 after 7Qa4 Ne7 8 bxaS duced 9 Qup? Rg 10 Qxh? NbeG 11 Nf (Diagram 4), with ‘that in the Poisoned Pawn Variation, White doesn't have any serious problems dawn the e-file, which is blocked after ...d4xc3, Because of this he hasn't been obliged to play Ned, so that the knight has gone to the more natural square f3, where it defends e5 or cari be used aggressively with Ng. The drawback to ‘this is that the ed-pawn isn't as secure as it would be after f2-f4. And in fact in Game 14 Anand does prefer 11 {4 to bolster c6 before devel- oping his knight to 63 Ag the knight isn't on e2, the bishop on [1 has freedom to be developed to d3 or possibly b5. On the other hand this too remains problematical as it would leave the g2-pawn hanging to » potential ...Rxg?. The Positional 7 Nb5 White decides he doesn't want to get involved in the excesses of a queen foray on the kingsido, at least not for the time being, and who can blame him? Instead he takes the chance to free his knight while Copyrighted Mat RCopyrighted Meter'The Winawer: Positional Main Lines he has the chance. Black's reply 7..B-c7 is practically forced os allow- ing a knight check on d6 would be painful. It is ironic that these two Pieces are still involved in their own personal war, though this time the knight is in the ascendancy as it can decide whether they are ex- changed by NxcT+. In this variation White is more interested in es- tablishing a positional plus in the centre by getting firm conteal of da than in blowing Black's brains out. The theory in the 7 Gig4 variation runs 6 b4 exd4 7 Qgd Ne7 8 baad In Game 15, White played 8 NbS dxc3 9 Qxg? Rg8 10 Qxh7 Nbcé. Now 11 NFS is Game 13 and 11M Game 14, In the 7 Nb6 line, it goes 7 NbS BeT 8 f4 when 8.08 is Game 16 and &...Bd7 Game 17. ‘These lines are much less critical than the Qxe7 line of Chapter One though, as will be seen in the games, there are some sharp tactical varintions involving pawn sacrifices. If you play this line as White, unless Black chooses the double edged 4...Ba6, it is pretty much ‘the: ory proof, Illustrative Games Game @ O Fischer i Larsen Candaates match, Denver 197% Led eG 2d4d53.Ne3 Bhd 405 NeT 5 a3 Bred+ 6 bxed 5 7 ad Preventing a block piece arriving on ad (as occurred in Game 6) and preparing to develop the queen's bisl tad, The less committal 7 Nf (Games 9-11) is more usual, Also, Black can insist on ..@Qa4 by playing straightaway 6...Qa5 as in Game 12. 7..Nbe6 § Nf Bd? @ Bad Qe7 10 0-0 ed 11 Bel fi 12 Rel Neo 13 Bai (Diagram 5) CopyniStarting Ou’ 4 Copyrighted Ma The French ‘This is n fnirly typical theme. White gambits « pawn in the interests of opening the position, acquiring the bishop pair and pinning down the black king — pretty good value for a measly pawn. 13..fe5 14 dxe5 Nexe5 15 Nxe6 Nxe5 16 Qd4 Ngé 17 Bhs KIT Avery brave decision from Larsen. 17..0-0-0 was possible us 18 Qa? b6 gets the quoons off and keeps White's advantage to a minimum, ol- though also possible is 18 a5, keeping the initiative. 18 f4 RheS 19 1 exf 20 Qadi+ KM This unpalatable move is more or loas forced as 20...He6? allows 21 Rxeé! RxeG 22 Quib+ Rfé 23 QdS+ Reé 24 RE1+ winning. 21 BE Neb 22 Qd4 Kg6 23 RxeS Qxob 24 Qud7 Rad8 25 Qxb7 (Diagram 6) Black has achieved an impressive centralisntion of his forces, but the most relevant feature of the position, unsurprisingly, is his shaky king. 25..Gea4? Black opts for a forcing continuation but Fischer handles the tactica brilliantly and emerges in a winning endgame. Black's best chance wns the cold-blooded 26...@xc3, daring White to do his worst after 26 QcG+ KgS, One possible line then is 27 ha+ Kixhd 26 Qe7 Qual 29 ‘Bel Quel+ 30 Kh? which appears decisive for White but now Black has the amazing defence 30,..Rd6!! which wins. Tt is not surprising that Larsen shied away from euch variations. 26 Kl Rd2 27 Qcé+ Reé 28 Bes ‘The bishop rushes to the defence and now Black hns nothing better than the game continuation. 28..RM+ 29 Kgl Rxg2+ 90 Kxg? Qd2+ 31 Khi Rxcé 32 Bxcé Qxc3 Giving up the a-pawn is hopeless, Bluck had to try 32...a6, 33 Rgl+ Kit $4 Baal g5 35 Bb6 Quc? 36 ab Qbz a7 Bdé+ Keé 38 a6 Qo3 39 Bb? Qeb 40 Rb1 cd 41 Bbé 1-0 Gane o Sheet Ml Wanehok ‘Horgan 1985 Led e6 2d4d5 3 Ne3 Bbd 405 Ne? 5 03 Buc3+ 6 bxcd ch 7 Nf QeT aha 8 ad Nbeé 9 Bd3 El7 would transpose to the previous game, but Black more opine prefors &...b6 planning to exchange light-squared bishops ‘by .,.Bin6, 8..Bd7 9 b5 h6 10 Bd3 Bad 11 deck An anti-positional move by which White seriously compromises his Pawn structure but hopes to benefit from the active piece play that heCopyrighted Matertiyg Winawer: Positional Main Lines generates with the opening of the position. 11..Nd7 12 Bhd An unusual but powerful way to develop the rook. This piece will find great activity along the third rank, especially from the g4-square, 12...Qa5 13 Be3 (Diagram 7) Diagram 7 Diagram 8 ignoring the attack on <3 Active rook! 14...Re8 14 Rb] Beé 15 Qd2 Qrad 16 Rgd KfS 17 Rbbd ‘The king's rook has been having a successful career along the fourth runk and 0 his colleague decides to join him, White's structure is horrible but his pieces are tremendously active and Black is strug- gling to coordinate his forces. 17..NG 16 BxfS exfS 19 Rgfé Qal+ 20 Qdi Qrdi+ ‘Tf 20._Qued+ then 21 Bd2 Qed 22 Hef and Rbf4 is coming, 21 Kxd1 Reg 22 Rxfs Kg 23 Rgd (Diagram 8) ‘23...Re7 A curious variation here is 23_.Nf8 24 REG! and suddenly Black can- not defend the b-pawn. 24 Rg’ Kh7 25 Bdd Rheé 26 Rfd Nf 27 Rigd gS 26 hage+ Naxgd 29 Rh Bd7 90 NgS+ KgS 31 06 ‘White has been angling to force open the kingside for some time and Finally achieves it with this pawn advance. 91...Bxe6 32 NreG RxeG 32 Rxhé Rel+ 34 Kd? Reet+ 35 Kd3 KES 36 RhS Red 37 Reed dxed+ 38 Hd? Rb1 99 c6 bach 40 Baal KeT 41 Bod RbS 42 RxbS exbs 43 0d Now with a bishop against a knight and an extra pawn, White wing easily, 43.bxed 44 Ked Nia 45 g3 Neé 46 Kucd Rd6 47 Bf6 KeG 48 gt KG 49 c3 Keé 50 BeS Nod 61 Kd Nd 52 Bg3 Ned 63 BE 1-0 Copyrighted Material 6Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The Franch Led e6 2d4d5 35 Ned Bbd 4 05 Ne7 5 a3 Bucd+ 6 bxcd ch 7 Nf b6 8 BbS+ Bd7 9 Bd3 Bat 10 h4 In the next gamo White tries 10 duch!? to lessen the following queen: side clamp. 10..h6 11 hb ed ‘The previous game demonstrated how active the white pieces can be- come when the game is opened up and so here Black opts for a strat- ‘egy of chosing the position. 12 Bet Kd7 (Dingram 9) Diagram: Black has a queenside clamp Ie looks peculing to send tho king wandoring off in the middle af the board, but the blocked nature of the position means that he is in no immediate danger. 13 Nh4 Qué 14 Bgt Qh7 ‘This manoeuvre, relocating the queen on h7, is now well known in the Winawer but whoever thought of it first must be a very imaginative player. 16 Rag NaG 16 Kh3 Ne7 17 Kf! Raf 18 Kgl g5 19 Nf Neé 20 Nha ff 21 exf6 Rxfé 22 Ros Bhi 23 13 ‘Until this point the game is balanced but here White makes a serious mistake in taking away this square from his knight. Much bettor was 23 Re®, planning Nf. 23..Q/7 24 Bd? Ne8 25 Bhd Quh6 26 Nyt Following his slip on move 23, White has now had to pay a price of one pawn to activate his knight.Copyrighted Materials» winawer: Positional bain Lines 26,.RG 27 Nf Qgé 26 Bafh exf (Dingram 10) Tt was perhaps not necessary for Black to give up the oxchange here but the resulting position is very instructive. It demonstrates how Placing simple numerical values on pieces, without considering all the features of the position, is unsatisfactory, White has a rook for a knight but the black knights are scarcely less active than the white rooks in this blocked position. 29 Red NMG 30 Qel Nh5 91 Ral Ned 32 Red White's rooks are so impotent that he is desperate to jettison one of them to free his position, 32...Qd6 43 Nhl Nxhl 34 Kxhi Need 35 dee Ge6 36 Bed Qed ‘37 Qd2 Reb 38 Bf f4 39 Rdl Kdé 40 Rel QfS 41 Rue’ Bred 42 Bd4 Bad 43 Qel Kd7 44 Qb1 h5 43 Qbd Bob 46 Qbl ga 47 fxgd hag 48 Gel Bad 0-1 Game 11 OO Nuen Mt P.Nikolic, 191 lede6 2d4d5 3 Nc3 Bb 405 cS 5 a3 Bxcd+ 6 bxcd NeT 7 Nf b6 8 BbS+ BdT 9 Bd3 Bad 10 deed An antipositional move but White is prepared to wreck his pawn structure in the interests of active piece play, 10...bre5 11 0-0 c4 12 Be? Ngé 13 Ng5 (Diagram 11) 1d.NeeS M4 fM Nda 15 Badd cxd3 16 15 e5 17 QhS White's attacking scheme is rather crude, but Black's lack of devel- opment makes it difficult for him to organise. defence. 17...Qe7 18 Neé White is anxious to prevent Black from playing ..0-0-0 but in fact he would do better to play 18 exd3 as 18...Ne6 19 (6 gxf6 20 Nxh7 gives Copyrighted Maternal wvCopyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The Franch White a very good position, 18..Kd7 19 Bg6 (6 20 Bed Na6 21 cud3 gé 22 Qed Bes 23 Nd4 A tremendous sacrifice from White that leaves Black with terrible long term problems on the dark squares. 23,..exd4 24 Bxdd h6 25 Qh3 g6 26 Rfel QM 27 Reé Rh6 26 Qed Res 29 Rel White's pirces are so active that he is scarcely missing his knight. 29...Ne7 30 Bod @f7 31 Be? (Magram 12) Cleverly creating space on the queenside for the queen to infiltrate. 41..Eh7 32 Qcd BbT 33 Qua7 Ket 34 Rbl Rxe7 34 Rxb7 1-0 Game 12 CiNijboer il P.Nikolic. ee Ledeé 2d4d54 Ned Bb4 4e5 055 a3 Bxcd+ 6 bred Qas!? A rare move to play this 20 soon, but one guining in popularity. 7 Bd2 Qad 6 Qb1 ct 9 hal? White grabs some kingside space. # Nhdt? Is an interesting alterna- tive, eg. 9..Ne8 10 g3 Bd7 11 Nf 0-0-0 12 Bh (12 hal? is worth a try, toa) 12.6 13 Qdl h4 14 gd £6 15 0.0 Ngo? 16 exf6 gxfé 17 gh Rdg 18 Nxe6 with unclear prospects in Krivoshey-Nikolaev 1995. 9...Ne6 10 hi hé 11 Ne? Nge7 12 Qel Bd7 13 gat 13 ¢4 wns o more natural continuation. 14...0-0-0 14 Bh3 HbS 15 Bed KaS (Diagram 13) Diagram 13 Diagram 14 Black's king js very secure The black knight stands proud Safely stowed, It's difficult for anybody to achieve much in such blocked middlegames, 16 Qd2 Reb 17 gd NbS 1B Ned Copyrighted MaternalCopyrighted Mater ote Winawor: Positional Main Lines 180-4) Re6 19 Bibl planning Rb4 may have been a preferable choice. 18...Re6 19 0-0 Rb6 20 4 g6 21 Kh? a6 22 Rf2 Nbc6 23 15? A dubious decision. It is very difficult for White to improve his poai- tion without this thematic advancement, but here it was much better to wait with active operations on the kingside. Now White gets an ‘unpleasant position. 23..exf6 24 gxfS Buft 25 BufS Naf 26 Nxf gxfS 27 Rxfo Nab Planning to transfer the knight to the blockading square e6 and open- ing the way for the queen. 28 Bf? Qd7 29 QM Neé 20 Qed Cad 31 Qdl NgS! 2 Bes Ned (Diagram 14) Now the consequences of White's unfortunate operation on move 23 are quite evident: His forces are totally uncoordinated, the black knight dominates over the white bishop, and White's queenside pawns are terribly weak. 33 Raf? Rb? 34 Rel Nxc3 36 QPS Ka7 36 e6 Red 37 RES? A mistake in a difficult situation. 37 ¢7 was better, 37...Rxe6 38 Qed Rel 39 Bxhé Rxc2+ 40 Rac? Qued+ 0-1 Now 41 R&2 Re? is winning, as is 41 Kh3 Ned, Gms SS OO Shirov Il Akopian Monga 2000 Led e6 2d4d5 3 Ne3 Bhd 4e5 c5 6 a3 Bab Another move entirely, and it retaing ita adherents amongst strong GMzg, This sharp line became very popular in modern practice, mostly thanks to the efforts of Akopian and the other Armenian grandmas- tere, Lputian and Vaganian. 6 bal? A gambit for activity. 6 Bd2 and 6 Qg4 are the main alternatives. At ‘Hastings 1986-87, Chandler tried 6 dxc5 va Lputian, but after 6... Bxcd+ 7 bxed the experiment brought him nothing, and he was lucky to drow. 6.cxd4 On 6..cxb4 7 Nb5 White gets very good play for his pawn. 7Qe4 ‘The alternative main line, 7 Nb6, is seen in Games 16 and 17. T..NeT 8 brad ‘White can play NbS hero too ~ see Game 15. S.udxed 9 Qug? Rgd 10 Qxh7 There is much similarity with the lines from the normal 5,..Bxe3+ Winawer here, but some nunnces too. 10..Nbed 11 Ni CopyniCopyrighted Material Starting Out: The French In the next game White defends the pawn with 11 f4. 11..Qe7 12 BEd BaT 13 Bg3 Shielding the g-pawn and so allowing the other bishop out to play. 13..0-0-0 14 Bd QuaS 15 0-0 Qed An attempt to improve on 15..Qa4 16 fel NgG 17 Qhé Bhs 18 Qe d4 19 Qe Nee7 20 Rabl BoG 21 Rb4 Quad 22 Redd BAS 23 Neh De Firmian-Lputian, Yerevan Olympiad 1996, when White had an edge, 16 QxfT A not vory successful try for the advantage in this double-edged line. White wins a pawn, but invites a powerful exchange sacrifice down the new Efile. Alternatives are: a} 16 Qhd a6 17 NgS BeS 18 Qf4 Ndd 19 fol NofS was unclear in 4, Polgor-Vaganian, Groningen 1993. b)16 Qh4 Re? 17 Rib] a6 18 hd Rdgd 19 Khe d4 20 Bed Ndb 21 BadS Qud5 22 Rdl NxeS 23 Neod QueS 24 Rudd Rug 25 fxg Boo 26 Rad £6 27 Red ReS 23 Hed Qe? 29 Rech+ becd 30 Qd4 was a White win in Lutz-Muoller, German Championship, Altenkirchen 1999, €)16 Rio] could be recommended; 16..Rh8 17 Qf? Rafe 18 eT NES 19 BafS Rhg6 20 Qhé HxfS 21 Qed was Dolmatoy-Lputian, Manila 1980. White won it, 16,.Rdf8 17 Qh7 Rxf3! (Diagram 15) (Dingraen 15 Diagram 16 ‘The Franch axchange sacritce lack is punished for his mistake 18 gafl Need 19 Bed Black would be doing very well after 19 f4 Nada 20 exda da. 19..d4 20 Rfel Bee Akopian bas grent compensation for the exchange. 21 Kfl Nufa 22 Buft Bxf3 23 Rei Bd 24 Kgl Kd? 25 Ral? 25 QE7! was unclear. Copy ied MaterialCopyrighted Material, winawer: Positional Main Lines 26...Qxa3 26 Qh4 Quad? Aterrible mistake, at the moment when Black could get a big advan- tage with the dynamic 26..d3!, og. a) 27 cxd3? c2 and the passed pawn is splendid; b) 27 Rud? Qel+ with excellent play; c) 27 Qfa dee? (or maybe 27...d2!7) 28 Rel Rgd!. 27 Rxeb! (Diagram 16) ‘The spectacular refutation of Black's Inst move. 27..Reg3+ On either 27_.Bxe6 28 Rudd+ or 27_.Kxe6 25 Rel+ the new attack crunches through. So Black tries this defensive method instend. 28 haga Nf 29 Qh7+ Kxeé 30 Qg6+ KdT 30...Ke6 31 f4+ Ked 32 Rel+ Kis 33 Gaff wins. 31 QxfS+ Ke6 32 Qf6+ KeS 33 Qe7+ Ked 34 Qed Ked 35 ft Black's queenside assets are frozen and White's mobile passed pawns quickly decide the game. 34...b6 36 15 Heé 37 Qie+ 87 Qxd4 Qud4+ 38 Redd allows some counterplay after 38,05, S7...Ke5 $8 Geb Ke6 $9 Rad4! Qal+ 40 Kf2 Qhi 41 RxdS! ‘On 41 Rd3 bal Is tricky. 41...Qxdb 42 Qucd+ Kd6 43 Qdd ab He also loses after the exchange of queons, 43...Qud3 44 cxd3 a5 45 Ke3 ad 46 Kd? Red 47 g4 a3 48 Ke? ba 49 KbS Kio 50 dd ete. 44 Ke3 ad 45 Qud5+ Kad5 46 Kd? bé 47 Kel 1-0 and White will win after 47...Ke5 48 gi KiG 49 Kb2 Ked 60 03. Gane 14 Ol Anand @@ Khatitman Linares 2000 Lede6 2d4d53.Ne3 Bhd 4e5 c5 503 Bad 6 b4 add 7 Qt Nev 8 bxa5S dxe3 9 Qzg? Rgd 10 QxhT Nbeb 11 f4 ‘The other way of hanging on to 5. 11..Qenb 11.47 is an option. 12 Rb1 Qe7 13 Ne2 0-0-0 14 Qd3 d4 15 Ngd Ngo 16 Be? Nh4 was the continuation in Sulskis-lvanoy, Pardubice open 1996, where Black wan. 12 Nf Bd7 14 Rb1 ‘Tho critical move. 13 Ng5 invites the dangerous exchange sacrifice 12.,Axg6! 14 fxg 0-0-0 15 Qxf7 NOS 16 Bld Qu4 as in Martin Gon- zalez-Comas Fabrego, Spanish Championship 1994, where Black won. ‘The white queen is a bit out of it and Black's active pieces genorate much play. Copyrighted Material “4Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French a2 148..0-0-0 14 Qa (Magram 17) Diagram 17 Diagram 16 A similar position to Chapter One White consolidates his extra pawns Back home, after having inflicted her damage. 14... 15 Bgl And certainly not 1h Rb5? Qad 16 Qued Rxg2! 17 Be? Qubs with o big advantage for Black. 150d Bidding for active play before White gets his act together. 16 gal A natural and strong move. 16..Nfe7 LT Red Bed 18 h4 NES The bid for play with 16.16 19 exff Bg6 fnils to 20 fxe7! Hud 21 exdBG}+ QhdB 22 Badd and wins, and 18...Nd6 19 Ngo is good for White too. 19 Rgl Ned Otherwise from whore is the black counterplay to come? The white pawns are already steaming away on the kingside, 20 Bxed deed 21 Qxed Ne7 Khalifman enjoys considerable activity, but it hardly looks like it is going to be quite sufficient for the pawns, but 21...Qxa3 22 Rb3 Qal+ 23 Kf isn't good enough either, 22 Bed Be6 23 RbS Kbs 24 Qucd Another one bites the dust. Note, again, the white major pieces all on the third rank. BQeT Nor does 24_.Qch 25 Be? Qued+ 26 Ruc3 Ndb 27 Red Ned 28 Red Nugd 29 Ng5 promise Black too many chances to survival, Copyrighted MaterialCopyriahtes M6, Winawar: Positional Main Lines 25 Bet On the immediate 25 h5 Ba! causes annoyance. 25...Nd5 26 Qed Qa5+ 27 Kf? Bad Maybe 27._.Rc8!? was slightly stronger. 28 Rb? Reb 29 Qdd Red In the case of 29..Rec? 30 Rxe? Bucd 31 ho it is difficult to believe ‘that it will be possible to stop the strong white pawns on the kingside. 0 Bdd Rees 31 Rel (Diagram 18) 31h Bue? 42 Axe? Rucd+ 33 Bxe2 Hxc2+ also looks very nice for ‘White after 14 Kgd. S1..Rd 42 Rebl Beé 33 Rb3 Rxb 34 Rub3 Nfé 36 Qb4 Nagi+?! A tougher defonce was 35.,.Qd5! when White counters best with 36 Bea! Nagi+ 37 Kel! Rha, still keeping a clear plus. 36 Kg8 Qd5 37 Bh7! Avnice move, quickly deciding the game in White's favour. 37..Qd1 37.Qd7 38 Rd3 Bad 39 Kags + 40 Kh3 Qxh7 41 cf Qh 42 exdd Qud+ 43 Kh? HS 44 Qd! tidies up and wins. 38 Kxgd Rd2 39 Kgs! Baf3 40 Bda Red? 41 Kee Safe in the hills, 41.06 42 Rbl 1-0 And now 42..Qd2 43 Qed? Red? 44 KalT wing easily. Game 15 CO Yermolinsky Ill Waganian mS _s Lede 2d4d5 4 Ne3 Bb4 405 c5 503 Bad 6 bd cxdd TQg4 NeTS Nb Another line, blending elements of 7 Nbb and 7 Qg4. &..Be7 9 Qag7 Kgs 10 Qxh7 a6 10... BxeS 11 Ni is fine for White. 11 Nxe7+ Qxe7 12 Ned BAT? 1:2..Qxe6 is a major and obvious alternative. Then 13 Qd3 Nbc6 14 Bb2 Bd7 15 0-00 Qfe 16 Nxd4 Qxf2 17 NYS Nf was about equal in Chandler-Vaganian, Manila interzonal 1850. Advor 13 Bb2 QI! leads to probably equal chances, as does 13.Gjc7 14 4 Nbeb 18 Qd3 Ni too. 13 Bb? 13 4 fails to hold on to 5 because of 12...Bad 14 Kdl Rel, shutting the white queen out of the new action zone at ¢2. 13..a8!? (Diagram 19) CopyCopyriphted Materta Starting Out; The French Diagram 19 Diagram 20 (Biack initiates: counterpiany ‘The black places cominate Aclever move, bringing the other rook into it. 14 Nudd If 14 f4 axb4 15 axbt Real+ 16 Beal Qb6!? and things will turn Black's way after 17 c3 QaT 18 Qbi d3! 19 Nd4 Nbe6 20 ¢3 Nada 21 exd4 Bb5. ‘M..QueS+ 15 Bed Nbeé 16 Rd If 16 Qd3 Block may entertain the complexity of 16,uxb4 (16.,.Axg2 is also worth a go) 17 0-0 baad 18 NG Qub2 19 Ne7+ Kd 20 NxaB. 16..0xb4 17 axb4 Rad 18 Nuch Or 18 BeS Rag? 18...Qub2 19 Nze7 RbS! 20 Qdd Kxe7 (Diagram 20) Taking stock, we see that White cannot hang on to his extra pawn whilst all of the black pieces are very well placed. 21 h4 Res He could also have gone in for 21...Qxb4+ 22 c3 Qed 23 hi. 22 Rd? Qub4 25 0-0 Raa! Shifting the white pieces away from defence of c2. 24 Qd4 Qudd 25 Rudé Rec? 26 BM bi 27 hS Red 28 Rd? f5 29 EbE Racd 30 Bed Re? 31 Ribl Rub? $2 Rxbz Res 33 f4 On 33 BxbS the pin 33,.RbS wins. 33...Rb8 34 KZ ba 35 Ke’ b3 36 g3 Rb4 37 Bd BbS a8 Bhi die 49 Kd? Ks 40 Kel Red+ 0-1 Game 16 CO Almasi lf Korchol European Cup Final, Budapest 1996. Ledeé6 2d4d53 Ned Bhd 4e5 06 6 03 Bab 6 bd oxdd 7 NBSCopyrighted a6" Winawer: Positional Main Lines Theory also respects this line, The character of the middlegames which stem from it is altogether more settled than those that arise af- er 7 Qea. 7..Be7 8 f4 nb Chiselling. In the next game Black plays 8..Ha7, 9 Bd? Nhe A novelty. 9..Ne7 10 N&S NEG 11 Bd3 0-0 12 BxfS exfS 13 Nixdd Neb 14 Nac6 bxeG 15 Nac? Que? 16 Bed £6 was equal in Minasian-Iputian, World Open, Philadelphia 194. Obviously there are similarities with developing the knight at 07, especially if itends up at {© anyway. 10 Bd3 Bal 11 Nxcl+ Qxe7 12 NS NIG 13 bS! (Diagram 21) An interesting way of shutting up the queenside. The d7 bishop is now gusping, If White had set his heart on it, he could have rounded up the d4-pawn. But instead ho plays it like a gambit. Tho result is 13...Qe5 14 Qe? 0-0 15 ad (6 160-0 Ned 17 Rfel 17 exfé!? deserved consideration, e.g. 17...Nxfl 18 fxg7 RT 19 Rxfl Fxg? 20 NgS with an attack and initiative, 11...Ned 18 Bel b6 19 oxf6 Raff 20 Neb Beé? Dafinitely misguided, He ought to have taken on e5. 21 Ned RAB 22 Qxe6+ BET 23 NhG+! (Diagram 22) An inspired sacrifice, but 24 Qf5! was also very strong, e.g. 24...Bg6 24 Qi Ra? 25 1 BIT 26 Nié+ Kha 27 Nxh7! vith a evomping attack. 23,..gxh6 24 Qxh6 Bg 25 Brgé Ra7 An admission that he is busted, but 25...hxg6 26 Qug6+ KhS 27 Qh6+ Kg 28 Red finishes the job. 26 Bd3 RgT 27 Nd7 Copyrighted Material 45Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French ‘The knight's first move of the game!! 28 Qeé+ Ref? 29 Bhé Red 40 1 NGS 31 Quit Khe 32 Re7 Re7 33 Qai+! 1-0 A nice finish to a beutiful game! Black resigned. The finale would be 39 Qgit Rxgi 34 fxg7+ KgS 35 gxfBR mate. Game 17 OHector Ml Barsov Vilengs GM, Yor 1255) Led eG 2d4d5 3 Ned Bhd 4 e5 ch 5 a3 Badl? 6 bd exd4 7 NbS BeT 8 fd Bd7t? &_Nh6 ONS BAT 10 Nec7+ Que? 11 Bdd a6 12 ad NFB 13 Qd? Neb 14 ‘Bb2 0-0 15 BxfS exfS 16 Bxd4 Nad4 17 Nxd4 led toa classic good knight againet bad bishop scenario in Almaai-Lputian, Pula 1997, and White won. ONadd ‘The character of these middlegames is determined by which bishops take/are taken by which knights, In Van den Doel-Lputian, Wijk aan Zee 1998, after 9 Nf3 BxbS 10 BsbS+ Nd7! 110-0 Ne7 12 g4 af 13 Bd3 hS! 1413 hegé 15 hegd NbG Black was very comfortable, and went on to win. 9 Nxe7#!? Que? 10 Nfa would be another kettle of fish. 9..Nh6 10 Nef Bb6 10..No8 11 Bb2 Nudd 12 Bxd4 NiS 13 Bf2 Bbé 14 Qd? Baft+ 15 Quilt was better for White, with her nicer bishop in Arakhamin-Shaw, Ed- inburgh 1999. 11 Bd3 Neé 12 cf Budat? An interesting novelty in a well-known position. Barsov prefers to keep a knight on the board, 12...Nad4 leads to a different balance of minor pieces, and after 13 cxd4 a6 14 a4 NIG 15 Bb2 Ned 16 Qe? Net 170-0 Reé 18 Bel Qe7 Black was doing fine in Minasinn-Lputian, ‘Lvov zonal 1990. 1 cxd4 Nf 14 Bb? Qbé 15 Bet Black has nothing to worry about after 16 BxfS exfb. 15..Na5 16 Kiet 16 bxaS!? was worthy of attention as 16,..Qub2 17 Qel Quel+ 18 Rxel Ke7 19 Kd2 and White keeps.a small edge. 16..Ned4 17 Bel hb (Diagram 24) 18 ¢3 0-0-4019 Rb1 Preparing to shift the {5 knight with 19 ha would permit it to lodge elaewhere after 19. hdl? 20 ga Nga. 19,16 It is clear now that it is only Black who can claim an advantage. CopyCopyrighted MOS yy Winawer: Positional Main Lines 20 a4 Kb8 21 Rel Bes! 22 Bd3 Bg A standard re-routing and activation of the bishop, which lands out- side the constricting pawn chain, 23 a5 Qcb 24 bi Qd7 26 Bd? Ref 26 Bhi Kas ‘26_.QET!? was on option, 27 Bes Qf7 28 Qual! It was much better to play 28 Bxed!? dxed 29 Rel Ne? 30 Reed Nab. Black has great compensation for the pawn, but White has something to suffer for at benst. 2B.ba! Boginning of the crucial attack. 20 Bxed 29 47! Nh6 leaves Black winning. 20...hag3+ 30 begs dred 31 Quct?? Final mistake. Good or bad White had to play 31 Rbel! Rha. S1..Nxg3t (Diagram 24) 32 Kxga On 32 Rb3 Ned+ 39 Kgl fred 34 fre Rh3! and Black wins. $2..Bxb1 33 exff 33 Rxb1? Qg6+ wins the rook. 33..gxf6 34 QeeG Rhge+ 35 Kft Qe6 36 a6 Too little too Inte. 36..Qg2+ 27 Ked RgoS 0-1 Copyrighted Material aTChapter Three The Winawer: Other Lines Black Plays an Early ...b7-b6 White Plays 4 e5 Ne7 5 Nf3 White Avoids e4-e5 Illustrative GamesCopyrighted Material The Winawer: Other Lines ‘This section contains an assortment of ideas for White and games with a quick ...7-b6 by Black. Black Plays an Early ...b7-b6 ‘This finnchetto doesn't come any earlier in the Winawer than after 1 e406 2d4d53.Nc3 Bhd 4 05 b6. Black prepares the immediate do- velopment of his queen's bishop. This may well be a sign that he in- tends ...Ba6 to exchange off light-squared bishops, though the former World Champion Tigran Petrosian, the arch priest of manoouvring in chosed positions, was wont to play ..Qd7, ..Bb7, ...Ne6, ete, and then castle queenside, Only Later would he think about clearing the way for the c7-ch advance. TIP: The black plan with ...Qd7, ..Bb7, ..Nc6 etc, can sometimes be ‘wewed as a mirror image of the black strategy In the main lines of the King's Indian Defence, One question that now arises is how Black intends to answer 5 Qed. In the style of Petrosian, Timman comes up with the retrograde 6...Bf8 in his game with Shirov, which ia Game 18. This looks faintly ludicrous, but Black is arguing that the white queen is worse placed on g4 than di and so the time Black spends undeveloping his kingside will be recouped later on when White is obliged to waste time re. positioning his queen. Timman scores a great success agninat Shirov, but the jury is still out on this idea, to say the least. Q TIP: A loss of time is much less important in a closed position. A refined version of Block's idea is sepn in Game 19, Black begins with 4...Qd7, so that be can answer & G4 with 6..15! when his queen defends g7. You may reeall this defensive motif from the game Kns- parov-Short given in Chapter One. As Black doesn’t need to play .-BfS, it makes Qg4 less attractive for White and he settles for the solid 5 Nf3, when 5...b6 was played, This looks okay for Black, but Karpov, ina rare outing with the Fronch, didn't know what to do and quickly fell into a bind. White Plays 4 e5 Ne7 5 Nf3 ‘This was an old favourite of English GMs Hodgson and Gallagher, In fact Joe Gallagher recently annotated one of his wina with it in New In Chess Magazine, so it is still garnering points him! Rather than 5 23, White makes a nonchalant developing move which, in fact, com- mits him toa pawn sacrifice if he wants to keep the edge. Theory says it is okny for Black, but over-the-board it is offers White attractive at- tacking options. It's all there in Game 20. White Avoids e4-e5 Aconsiderable number of players avoid 4 5, either because the rigidCopyrighted Ma Starting Out: The Franch nature of the pawn structure doesn't appeal to them or because they are frightened off by the huge amount of theory. White's option range from extremely solid positional systema to vio~ Jent attacking lines, None of these variations has ever achieved great popularity, though you should certainly know something about them if you intend playing the Winawer as Black, White Plays 4 Ne2 ‘This is the most popular of the 4th move alternatives, White overpro- tects ceo that if Bxcd+ he can recapture with the knight and keep his queenside pawna intact. Hence in this variation queenside cas- Uing becomes an option for White ~ something very unlikely to be good after § eb, Because he can spirit his king awny to the queenaide, White can look for a direct attack on the kingside. This line will ap- peal to players who likea ‘clean’ pawn structure and keep their pieces in a nice formation. However, you cannot expect a big attack from the first moves if you are blocking in your king's bishop with a knight on ¢2. There is also the downaide that the e4-pawn is boing left undofonded. After 4...dxe4 White will regain his pawn sooner or later, unloss Black dofends it with the loosening ...£7-[, but the fact remains that be can no longer cramp Black with e4-e5 as in the main lines. One very interesting ides for Black is 4..Ne6t? when if5 a3 Bxed+ 6 Nucd (the opening Joses ull point if White recaptures 6 bxcd) G_.dxed the d4-pawn is at- tacked, when White has to speculate with 7d5!? Thore are three games with 4 Ne 4. deed ia Game 21, 4._b6 (highly unusual) Game 22, and 4...Neé in Game 25, White Plays 4 Bd2 or 4 Bd3 ee Similar commonts to those on 406 cS 6 NEZapply to 4 Bd2, which commits White to a pawn sacrifice. You should tread carefully as Black in case you are meeting one of the specinlista in this system! Check out Gamo 24, In contrast 5 Bd3 is rather artificial looking and none too dangerous aa long as Black is careful not to fall behind in development, This is the sabject of Game 25. ® WARNING: These variations are tricky. If you want to play the ‘Winawer a8 Black you must have a look et these white options. = illustrative Games Game 18 0 Shirov Mi Timman GE Led e6 2d4d53.Ne3 Bhd 45 bé Copyrighted MatCopyrighted Material ‘The Winawer: Other Lines A more restrained system for Black, with the idea of ..Baé to ex- change light-squared bishops. 4...Qd7 (Game 19) leads to similar posi- tions, 5 Qgi BES Looks daft when you first see it, but hanging on to the bishop has its points, just an does busting up the white queenside with...Bxe9. And &...Bf8 is certainly not inferior to 5.26 or 5 KES. 6 Bes As you might imagine, there are many different formations for White, and not much theoretical consensus as to which is the best. 6..Qd7 6.16 was certainly an option. 7 BbS Neé § Nee? af 9 Bad ‘There have been some games where the white bishop has been ma- nocuvred around to c2 in this manner. This time it does not work out too well, S.ubS 10 Bb3 f6 11 exf6 Nxff 12 Qh4 Ne7! (Diagram 1) An imaginative and excellent continuation, involving the sacrifice of a pawn, 12...Be7 was more staid, 13 Baft Ng 14 QgS gxfB 15 Qxfé Bhe Stopping castling and with the threat of 15.RE6 trapping White's queen, 16 Qe ‘Only way out. 16...Qu7 17 Quad A better way of getting organised here might have been the line 17 eS? Bb7 18 Be? 0-0-0 19 Qat QIG 20 Nf RhgS 21 QhS!, when White Copyrighted Material a"Copyrighted Ma ‘Starting Out: The French would avoid a lot of the embarrassing congestion that came his way. 17...Bb7 18 NES 0-0-4) 19 0-0 RhgS 20 c3 Qf6 21 Qh BRB Hernuting to dé. Keeping the bishop does not scem so silly now, does it? 22 Bod Bd 23 Rael?! A mistaken plan. e6- is not vulnerable enough to warrant White at- tempting to hit it. 23 a4! was more to the paint. 23K Black has tremendous play for his pawn, with Shirov in the unfamil- ing situation of hardly having a decent mave. 24 Nga? Amore serious inaccuracy. He had to play 24 Qhe!. 24..NM 25 Qh4 QM (Diagram 2) ‘Once again Timman hopes to trap Shirov's queen, This time the ‘threat is 26... Be7 27 Quh7 Rh8, and there is not much to be done about it. 26 Nes On 26 Ned hb reinstates 27..Bo7 as a threat. 26,,.Be7 27 NxeG This is insufficient, but taking three pawns for a piece was the best practical chance, 27,.Bah4 28 Nuff Rdxf8 29 Bah7 Rg 30 Bed cb 31 Red 31 dxeh d4 92 Bod might have been a better try. 31..cad4 $2 exd4 Bd8 33 ReS Bea d4 Rdl Bed 35 f Bd7 36 KEE BRh8 37 Bf Rah2 38 Bed? Red? 39 Ke3 Nxg2+ 40 Kd3 0-1 Asplendid performance from Jan Timman. Game 19 Geller ll Karpow USSR Championship, Moscow 1976 Ledeb Arare and quite unsuccessful outing with this defence for Karpov. He must have picked up the idea from his own experience in making lit- the headway against it in his 1974 match with Korchnoi, from which he emerged as world champion. 2d4d5 3Ne3 Bhd 4 of Qd7 Aaidoline with the same idea as in Game 7 — to answer Qgd with ..15 defending g7 along tho rank. 5 Nf bo 6 Bd2 6 Bd3 was an alternative. 6...Bab ‘The standard bishop awap.Copyrighted Material The Winawar: Other Lines 7 Bxaé Nxné 8 0-0 NbB Now might have been a good time to take on ci. 9 Ne2! Be7?! Probably taking on d2 was better. Anatoly did not really know what he was doing. 10 Rel! b& Very weakening, but ifc4 comes, White's initiative would be very hard to meet. 11 Nf hb Another ugly move, 11.Nh6 12 NhS NYS 13 g4 is bard to meet, #0 he Prepares the way into the game for the knight. However, it is nat wo have much of a role in this game. 12 bS Bas To discourage cé, but the bishop is offside here, 18 Rbi a8? (Diagram 3) Diagram 3 Diagram 4 ‘World champion at sea ‘Spectacular and decisive Another inferior move, Better to have pulled the bishop back, Med c6 15 ch Cutting off the bishop. Karpov hurries to rescue it, but it costs him a pawn. His game is already critical, 15..Bb4 16 Bel ad Asad necessity before White trapa the bishop. 17 Nd3 Bab 18 bxa4 baad 19 Quad Qa7 20 Bgh Be7 21 Rxbb+! Correctly preferring the initiative to just being a pawn up. ‘21...Qubs 22 Qucé+ Kis 23 Nfd For the exchange White has two pawns and a big attack, The vulner- ability of e6 and g@ makes the black position particularly bad. Copyrighted Material 53Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French 23..Ra7 24 Nhd Qes 25 Queéil! (Diagram 4) Wor! 25...fxe6 26..Que6-26 Nxe6+ fxe6 27 NgG+ does not help either. 26 Nhgé+ Quiet After 26,.KI7 27 Nich+ KS 28 Nig6+ Black will have to give up his queen anyway. 27 Nagé+ He8 28 NxhS Rad 29 Rdl Nev 30 Bxe7 Kxe7 $1 Nett Kf? 32 Nf Bued 33 dxeS Rufd 34 Ret ‘They say that Geller thought for a long time before sacrificing his quecn on c6, He was thinking through the details of this rook ending. 45...Ke8 35 of Kd8 36 cT+ Keb 37 ga Rad What Geller most probably spent his time checking was the impor- tant line after 37.215 38 [4 gh 39 04! pxfd 40.05! feg3 41 a6! pxhd+ 42 Kh1 Rf 43 Ral and White wins. 38 ReG Rxa? 39 Reeb g5 40 Rdé Rd? 41 e6 KxeT 42 e7 1-0 and as 42.,.ReZ 43 Rad& Ree7 44 Rzgh leaves a trivially won ending, Karpov threw in the towel. One of the great games in chess literature, ‘Game 20 (Hodgson ll Kupreichik ‘German 1988 Idd e6 20453 Ned Bbt 405 Ne7 6 NEB Adevintion from the usual 6 03 in the first two chapters, 4.05 6 due Nbe 7 Bd3 d4 8 a3 Bad 9 b4 Nxb4 10 axb4 Bxbd 11 0-0 Bxed 12 Rbt A speculative gambit from Hodgson, 12..Qe7 (Diagram 5) Copyrighted MaternalCopyrighted Material iis Webi aiiis ios What would you now play with White? 1a Ngal? Probably not that. 13.Qxe5 Ld QS g6 15 he ‘The ¢3 bishop is not in the thick of things, you see? That's ane reason why Hodgson hoped he could have fun over on the other side. 15...Ng8 Not what you want to do, but 15,..Nf is met by 16 Bf exif 17 Nxh7 or ae oxi 17 Nxh7 and if the ¢8 bishop moves Rxb7 will leave Black right in it. 16 Qhé Ks So will castling by hand do the trick? Not really... 17 Bf Qd5 18 Bdé+ Kg7 19 Nxf7!! Splat! 19,.Kxf7 20 Qdsl ‘Thod! The queen lands and threatens mate at {%. 20.05 Only move. 21 Qfe+ Keé 22 £4! (Dingram 6) Introducing the new attackers of f1 rook and the {pawn itself. 22.04 23 1+ 1-0 A typical Hodgson game; wild, fantastical..and probably not 100% correct. ‘Game 21 (Cl Kharov i Beliavaky Novosibirsk 1995 Lede8 2d4d54 Ned Bb d Nez ‘This makes a change from 4 e5, Other ideas for White are 4 Bd? (Game 24) and 4 Bda (Game 25), 4..daed Block usually takes the pawn. More experimental options = 4...b6 and 4...Ne@ — are tried in the next two games. $03 Bev ‘Grabbing the pawn with 5...Bxc3+ 6 Nxcd f has a very bad reputa- thon, ever since Nimzowitech lost to Alekhine in 17 moves. But T would not be surprised if it turns out in reality to be one of Black's ‘botter lines. 6...Bxed+ 6 Nocd Not is well regarded os an equaliser. 6 Nxed b6T! 6._.N66 was a simpler and superior move, similar to the Rubinatein varintion (see Chapter 11) with White's king’s knight slightly mis- Copy ed Material 55Copyrighted Material Starting Out: The French Paced on e2, 7 N2e3 BbT 6 Qfa! (Diagram 7) Avery undesirable move to make. Forfeiting castling rights can hardly be right. He should have tried &..Nd77 9 Nd6+"? exd6 10 Qxb7. 9 Qed! Nob 4..Qud4 10 Que7! Loaves White better after either 10,.Qd7 11 Qgd ar 10...Bxe4 11 Bed! dS 12 QudS+ Bad 15 Nxed, 10 Bes Bh4 10...Nf6 11 Nafé Bxf6 12 0-0-0 is pleasant for White and 10,.Nxd4? 11 Budd Qed 12 Hdl wins for him. 11 Qfa go ‘This way out is not adequate. White will have the bishop pair and the superior pawn structure. On 11.15 12 0-0-0 Leaves White nicely placed. 12 NugS Bugé 13 QugS Qugi 14 BegS Nxd4 15 0-0-0 ch 16 NbSl (Offering the g2-pawn to activate his pieces, In particular White wants to get hia rook to d7. 16.05 White has massive compensation, in the form of initiative and devel. opment lead, after 16...Nxb5 17 BxbS Bxg2 18 Rhg] Bf 19 Rd? aé 20 ‘Bd Hef 21 Rdé bS 22 Ba 17 Nadd exd4 On 17..cxd4 White carries on opening up as quick as he can and stands clearly better after 16 £4! 16 (18...0xf4 19 Bxfd is nice) 19 Bh4 Kigi 20 fxeG feeG 21 Bet. Copyrighted MaternalCopyrighted Material The Wiaawer: Cthar Linke 18 ef! dxe3?! Probably his last chance was 18._f6 and 19...Rd, Now the white Pieces enter, 19 bac3 KgT 20 Bed (Diagram 8) 20... ‘2)...Bxg2 21 Rhgl and 20..Nf6 21 Rd followed by 22 Rd7 both leave him in fearful trouble, but losing the b-pawn like this, to deflect the white bishop away from control of f7, is not a lot better. 21 BubS 1-0 A sickened Belinvaky here threw in the towel. Pula 1998 = = Led e6 2d4.d5 3 Ne3 Bb4 4 Ne? bé A rarity, 503 BeT 5...Bxcd+!? 6 Nxed Ne7 7 Bad Baé § BxaG Nuné # eZ Nbo 10 Bes Nbc6 11 Bxe7 Nxe7 12 exd5 and here they agreed it drawn in J.Pedersen~J Soreasen, Danish Championship 1936, ont 6 e571 led to no advantage for White after 6.,.Ba6 7 Bea ch 8 Qdz Net 90-00 Hxe? 10 Bae? cf 11 g4 RbS in Mach-Moravcik, Slovak Team Championship 1995. 6..dxed4 7 Nxed Bb7 6 Qfa! Beé?! 8...Qnd4? 9 Nd6+ Bedé 10 Qxb7 Bxft 11 Qxaf wine for White, but 4_.c6l? was worth a go, with interesting play after 9 Bed Ni6 10 Bda Nbd7 11 Ngdt?, 9 Be3 NfG 10 NafG+ Bixfé 11 Bb6! (Diagram §) Diagram The bishop is pinned both want A rook goes Copyrighted Material sTCopyrighted Material Starting Out : The Franch A very important move, giving White the initiative. 11.07 ‘On 11...Bxb67! 12 QxaB Be6 13 Qxn7 0-0 14 Rd Qd6 150-0 White es- capes to safety with a big material edge. 12 Bxeé Qxe6 13 db! Qb7 15...Qxe2 14 dxe6 exposes Black to a fierce initiative. and on 13_.end57 14 0-0-0 Qb5" 15 Bda! Bedt 16 Rhel+ wins. 140-040 e5 16 NhS Nd7 16 Bhs! Now his other bishop offers itself in surprising manner too, ‘16...Rg8 17 h4 0-0-0 18 Nafé Nxf6?! Losing by force. A more persistent defence was 18...g¢xf6 19 hS Kbs 20 a. 19 Bug?! Rxg7 20 Qaf Rxgz 21 Qxfl Qaé 22 Qeé+ Kb7 (Or 22..Kb8 23 d6 exdé 24 Rade Red 25 Ques winning. 23 Qo6+! KeS 24 d6 Qb7 25 d7+ Kbs 26 Qf Regs 27 Rhgl 1-0 (Diagram 10) Black loses a rook ‘Gane 73 CLE.Berg M V.Potkin Werld Under 18 Championship, Oropesa det Mar1999 00 Led o6 2d4d5 3 Ned Bb4 4 No® Neé!? § a3 Bab!? 6 Bed Nge7 Raymond Keene drew attention to such an idea in his biography of Nimzowitach. 7 eS NBS Nga 8 b4 Bb6 9 g3 f would have been an interesting line. 8..Nae3 9 fred Qg6 10 QF 18 11 hd Qhe 12 exfé gxfé 13 bt BG (Diagram 11) Diagram 11 ‘The bishop on b6 never moves again Copyrighted MaternalCopyrighted Ma ia racials ok sce 14 Qh5+ Qg6 1M...Qech5 15 Nxh5 0-0 had to be okay, 18 Bds £5 The only consistent move, otherwise be has just lost a tempo on the line with capturing on h5 last move. 16 Nee? White will argue that the bishop at b6 is really a bit out of it in the given situation. 16...Ke7 17 Qf Rgé 18 Rh3 Bd7 19 Nid Qh6 20 cil Definitely the right plan, He opens up the game for his bishop and the black king is insecure. 20..dxed 21 Bxcd Rgt 22 Ngo? Ruhd 23 Rxhé Qxhd+ 24 g3 Qg5 25 0-0-0 Ref 26 Rh hé? Too ambitious. Returning it with 26._.Kd8 was safer. 27 RhS Qe? 28 Bxebil (Diagram 12) A spectacular refutation. The rook now constitutes an extra attacker, sa White goes to wark, ‘26..Lixed 29 NxeG Kxe6 30 Quii+ KdG 31 Qd5+ Ke7 32 Qo4+ Kd: 32... KIT loses to the same idea; 33 RMG+, 43 Redi+ 1-0 Black suffors massive material loss. Despite tho result in this game, the black opening experiment was not shown to he defective. Game 24 0 Grabarczyk Ml B.Socko Polish Championshia, Plock 2000 Led e6 2d4d53 Nc3 Bhd 4 Bde A quirky line, hardly ever seen at top levels. dudxed 5 Qed NOG 6.Qxd4 6 NS HS! is fun. 6 Qxg7 Res 7 Qhé bs 7...Nc6!? 6 0-0-0 Bd7 9 £3 Nxd4 10 Need Rg6 11 Qed Bad2+ 12 Rad Need 13 foed 05 14 c3 Ne6 bed to a swift draw in Yepen- Nice Olympiad 1974, 0-0-0 Bb7 9 Nha Anew iden, but it does not trouble Black much. 9 £3 Bxed 10 Bxcd Nbd7 11 BbS Qe7 12 d5!? 0-0.017 13 Bad7+ Nad7 14 feed Rag? 15 Quh7 exdS 16 exdh QeS+ 17 Kbi Bxd5! 18 Rxd5 Rxgl+ 19 Rdl Rxhl 20 Reh1 Qf 21 Rel NeS 22 Bb4 was equal in Leveille-Delisle, Quebec 1985. Copyrighted MatCopyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French 9,.Qe7 10 NbG Brd2+ 11 Red? RgG 12 Qf4 Nag 13 Rgt This move ia an indication that White's opening has not really worked. 18...Rg4 14 Qh6 Rg6 15 QM Red 16 Qhé RdS!? (Diagram 13) Bravely passing over the draw by repetition. 17 Be? Rg6 18 Qed Nba 19 NE Here if 19 Nen7? RaS 20 Qa3 Nbdb 21 Qxe7+ Kxe7 and g2 falls. 19..Rg7 20 a3 Nbd5 21 NudS endé 22 13 22 Nan 7? cf traps it. 22.06 24 Ned KES? Overplaying it, He should have preferred 23..exf3! holding equality in case of either 24 Qxf3 Ned 25 Need ded or 24 QeeT+ Kxo7 25 Bat Kd 26 Re? Rgg8. 24 fxed dxed 25 REL Re6 26 g3 b5 27 Bdl Rgé 28 Ref Kgs 29 RS Qds 20 hd Neb 31 Nud5 Bxd6 32 hb Rees 33 Qld (Dingram 14) 33...Re8 $4 h6 Kh8 35 Bh5 3 36 Red RS On 36..Bed 37 Quod Rued 38 dae5 Rxh6 29 Quh6 Haft 40 Bxf7 wins. 37 Qued (6 38 Re? Bed 30 Riv £57 40 Qe5+ 1-0 Gane 25 Cl Romanishin ll Belirvaky Boigrade 1583. Led e6 £d4d5 3 Nea Bha 4 Bada Oleg Romanishin is always springing new opening ideas on his oppo: nants. This one does not look very bright at all. 4uudxed § Brod NOG 6 BgS Nbd7 7 Nge2 hé & Bxfé Nxfé 9 BE 0-0 100-0 ch Copyrighted MaternalCopyrighted Material ‘tes Waawer: ther Linea Perhaps White had hoped that his £3 bishop would be strong enough to give him good chances, but...cé just puta it to sleep, 11 Ned Need 12 Bred Bde Romanishin’s opening experiment just handed Beliaveky the bishop pair and rather more than equality. 13 Qda ‘Threatening’ the h7-pawn, but Black reacts healthily by just advanc- ing on the kingside. 14 Bf 05 (Dingram 15) 15 dxe5 BreS 16 Qed+ Kh7 17 Rad! Qf6 18 Nd4 On 18 cd Bed Black is doing great. 18,..Bd7 19 3 Rae 20 Qad a6 21 Nbo BS 22 Ghd Re? 23 Nad gb! ‘Starting a strong and entirely justified attack, 24 gd gd 25 Byrd f4 26 Rfel 05! 27 Qed On 27 Qxe5 b6 forks two pisces. 27..Kg7 Black need only to organise his forces carefully. Beliavaky does the job with accuracy. 28 Nbi bé 29 Kh hS 0 Nd2 £3 31 BM ha (Diagram 16) With his kingside overrun White has no bope of halding out for long. $2 Red huga 33 fxga If 33 hxg3 RhS+ 34 Kgl Qg6 with decisive attack. 33..KhS 34 Bd3 £2135 Rxgd Bxgd 36 Qugd Qh 37 Nfl RgT $4 Qed Baga! 39 Nagd Rug3 40 QeG+ Rg7 41 Rf Qha 42 Be2 Qh3 0-1 On 43 Qed Qefl+! 44 Bxfl Rel is mate, or 43 QhS+ QxhS 44 BxhS Rfg8 and termination at gl. Copyrighted Material atCopyrighted Material ‘JNed HIS 4 B95 ded: The Burn Variation ‘The game transposes here from a Rubinstein variation to the Burn line 3 Ne3 NfG 4 BygS deed 5 Nxet Nbd7 6 fa. 6 he In the next game Black breaks the pin with 6.He7_ 7 Nxft+ Nufé 5 Bd?! 8 Bh4 is more usual and more active. Jonathan Speetman then sprang 4...¢6!? on Nigel Short in the 2nd game of their 1988 Candi- dates match. The idea apparently came to him in the back of a car whilst waiting for tickets for on international soccer game in Oslo, Adecade later Spoelman repeated the line against Plaskett, who went ‘§ Bed, castled queenside, blew his brains out with an attack, emerged two clean pawns up ina simple rook ending... and drew it. The failure to convert the advantage was described by IM Maleolm Pein I. most unforgivable’. Fair comment. 8..c5 9 Bda Qbét A rare chance for Black to initiate early complications in these quiet variations. 10 Qe? Qxb2 (Dingram 13) (Diagram 13 (Diagram 14 Yur yum! Black fades advantages Binek calls his bluff and takes the pawn. 110-0 Qbé 12 Rabl Qc7 13 of Be7 14 Riel exdd 15 Nxdd 0-0 16 NbS Qe6 17 Rha ‘This is about as far as White's compensation gets ...and it's not enough. 17...Rd8 18 Bf b6 19 Bb Bb7 20 Ryd Ned! (Dingram 14) Excellent defence! He gives back the pawn to enter a queenbess mid- dlegame with the advantage of the pair of bishops, 21 Bxed Qxed 22 Qued Bued 23 Bxhé Bgé 24 BEd Rd7‘Starting Out: TI Copyrighted Matertal h gorn. With 3.06 Black prepares ...c7-c5 asin the 3_.ch Tarrnsch, but first of all prevents the reply BbS+, Whether he should spend a move to achieve this isa moot point. Have a look at Game 66, 3...Nc6 - The Guimard Variation ‘The Guimard variation, 3..NoG, also has its adherents even though Black is breaking one of the fundamental rules in the French that you shouldn't obstruct the ¢-pawn from applying preasure on the oppo- nent's centre (if you compare this to 1 d4 db, the move 2 Med has few fans as it blocks the c2-c4 advance). Having played ..NoG, it is im- perative that Black find counterplay somehow and this can bo achieved with 17-16. S4ill, attacking a pawn chain from the front isn't considered as strong as hitting its support, as with ..cT-c5, so generally Black's set up gets the thumbs down, Of course this doven't stop itbeing a good surprise weapon. You can cheek out Game 67. Illustrative Games Game 63 Cl Adama lf Short Sarajeva 1599 Led e6 2d4d53 Nd? Be? A curio, used by Romanishin amongst others. IM Joksic observed ‘Af- tor this move White is in zugewang! Nat quite. 405 A lithe unusual. The next year Plaskett beat Short with 4 Ngfa Nig 5 ‘Bda!? 5 6 cd Ne@ 70-0 deed 8 Need, although this had little to do with the position which arose from the opening. The moat testing line is 4 Badd 65 5 dxch, as played in Games 64 ond 65, 4...05 6 Qgdl? g6 6 ducs!? An interesting treatment by Adams, who straightaway tries to make something of the alightly weakened dark squares in the black camp. 6.15 Ido not like this move, and am confident that later Short disliked it too, It further aggravates the dark square weaknesses. 7 Quo Nd7 8 BbS!? (Diagram 1) Allout to weaken Black's dark squares. 6..Qa5 9 Bad7+ Bed7 10 cd Ques 11 Net Bas 12 Nba Qe7 13 ha! To weaken his pawns now, 18..Be7 14 hS gxhs 15 BS The key to the Wwenkening process: the exchange of the dark-squared bishops, The black game is already critical, 16..Qg7 16 4 hé 17 Bhé Rh7 14 Ned bé 19 Nad? Qugat 20 Nag’ Copyrighted MatCopyrighted Material Tha Tarresch: Othera Kad? 21 Nah6 bb 22 Rho Setting off towards the black pawns. ‘22...Rf7 23 Rg3 NeT 24 Bxe7 Rao? 25 Rgé Rhs (Diagram 2) 26 Rdl Bbé 27 Rda af 28 Nfe+ Ke7 29 RudS! Bed 30 RxbS Bxfa ‘31 RuaS Kb7 32 RbS+ KaT 33 Nh BgS $4 Rg? Rhea 35 Reet+ Rue? 36 Rbd And the rest is just tidying up. 36...Re7 37 Nf Reb 38 Ndd Rdb 39 Ke? 1-0 Game 64 DAdams il Mororevich 2000 Led e6 2.d4d53 Nd? Bo7 4 Bd3 ch § drch NM 6 Qe? ‘The inferior 6 oxd5 is seen in the next game. 6,.Ne6 7 Ngfa Nb4?! 1s at think this quite works, Better just to have taken the pawn 8 Nba Nxd3+ 9 cxd3 ab 10 Bg Simple moves, very much in the style of Adams, secure Whito a big edge. 10...a04 11 Nbd? hG 12 Bef Bxf6 13 ¢5 BeT 14 Rel (Diagram 3) 14...Ra5 15 Qed 0-0 16 0-0 Bd? Black has no compensation at all for his lost pawn, 17 Red QaS 18 Ricl Red 19 Nfl Qo7 20 dé Qaé 21 Nga b6 22 08 Bed 23 Nho Adams switches his attentions to Moro's king. With Black still tied up dealing with the monster at c6, it does not Inst long. Copyrighted Material 47Copyrighted Material Starting Out: The French 23...Qb6 24 ga! Crude, but very effective. 24,.Ra7 26 g5 hxg6 26 Neg Rac? 27 Khi (Diagram 4) Clearing the way for the rooks to the mew g-file. 27... Rxe6 28 Racé Rxcb 29 Rg] Qxb2 30 Nrg7! Crash! 30..Qc3 31 Nxed 1-0 Led eG 2d4d53 Nd? Be7 4 Bd3 05 b.decd NOG G6 exd5 Probably not as good as 6 Qe2, 6..Qud6 7 Nefa Nbd7 8 Nb3 af! Better than just taking the c-pawn. He aims to boot the knight from it of 5, or provoke White into weakening himself in dealing with it, 9 cH QhS 10 Bed eb! 110-0 a4 12 Nbdt 12 Nidd Qg6 13 £43? might have been tried. 12..Nx06 13 Rel 0-0 (Diagram 5) 14 Nfl Rdf 15 Qed ef ‘The opening has worked cut marvellowsly for Short, 16 Nigd Qed 17 Ngé Qh4 ie i Leased 18,..h6, stranding the knight. Kudrin is proba- 18 Bes To meet 14...h6 with 19 Bxc5 and ef falls, Copyrighted MaternalCopyrighted Material ‘The Tarrasch: Others 18..Nd3 A splendid outpost for the horse. 19 Red] Ng4 20 Bugd Bxgd 21 Noxed Giving up the exchange for a pawn to reduce the pressure, but it does not help much. 21...Bxdl 22 Red! Nba 23 RxdS+ Rxd8 24 Qrad [ 25 Bes? A final blunder. 25 Ne3 was necessary. 25..Nd3 (Diagram 6) 0-1 ‘White must lose material, since if 26 Bue? QueT 27 Ned Qel+ 28 NfL ‘Qxf2+ and mates. Game 66 O Dvelrys il Dolmator USSR Championship, Odessa 1989 Led e6 2 didi 3 Nd? a6 ‘One idea of this move is to play ..ch and respond to duck with _.Bxcd and then slot the bishop back to a7. It also prevents the Bb6 ideas in the 3...c5 4 exd5 exd5 lines (Games 57-59), 3...06 atill retaina a rea- sonable reputation. 405 (Diagram 7) Tt makes sense to take play into something akin to the Advance Variation, as ...a6 is not that functional. Other treatments include leaving the pawn at e4, e.g. 4 NgfSch 6 e317. 4.08 Black might consider 4_.Bd7!? followed by Bb5 to exchange light- squarod bishops. 5 cd Neé 6 Ndi Nee? 7 Bd3 exdd 8 cxdd NO 9 Ne? BeT 10 0-0 Qbé6 11 ad BdT Copyrighted Material 149Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French 140 A sort ol Advance variation A sacrifice to open lines Now that the check on b6 is no longer there the d4-pawn really is en Prise. 12 Be? Reb ‘12...05!? was worth a look, 1d bd ab He could have casted, Black's king is still in the middle. Ready for an attack? OR: here we gol 14 baab NxaS 15 BxiSt? exf 16 Nf Qo6 17 e6!? (Diagram 8) ‘Opening him up for just the one pawn. 11... Bxe6 18 Neb QaG 19 Nxeé Quod He would rather take back with the pawn, but that fails to 20 Qh5+, 20 Bd? Qué 21 Bhi! Neg 22 Nach RuoG 23 Rel Reb A lnst desperate attempt to block the e-file, but his lag in develop- ment is too great. 24 Rel KT? ‘On 24..0-0 25 BreT wins. Black had to try 24_.Rxel+ 25 Quel Qeb though White is clearly better in the endgame. 25 Rxe6 feeb 26 BreT Kxe7 ‘The exchanges leave the king in the town square in his nightahirt. 27 Re7+ Kd8 28 Qel 1-0 ‘He could not hope to hove lasted out for long. Rare to see Dolmatov crushed like that. The moral of the story is: Castle Next Tima! Gane 67 © khalifman i Tienman 181 ledo62.d4d5 3.Nd2 No# 4 Ngfa Nii 5 e5 Nd7 6 Be? 1 (Diagram 9) Copyrighted MaternalCopyrighted Material The Tarranch: Others Texft Nxfé 60-0 Bdé ded ‘This is typical play in the Guimard Variation. It is White who tries to break up the black centre with c2-ed rnther than Black trying to do it to White with ..c7-c5. 8..b6 White would consider 4-ch if Black did not prevent it. However, this weakening of the light squarea now allows White to mount an early initiative. D0 exd6 exd5 11 Bb5 Bd7 12 Rel+ Ne7 1a Bxd7+ Qxud7 14 Ned QT 15 Qa4+ Kes ‘This king move now makes it very difficult for Black to coordinate his position. It: particular his king's rook remains a spectator to the end of the game, 16 Nfl Bue ‘This is really asking for it. He hod to try and play around the knight with a plan such as 16...Ng4 17 [4 b5. 17 deed Nga 18 Bfd ch 19 Nga Qe6 20 Begs Nh6 21 M4 (Diagram 10) Black has a temporary hold over £ but this will soon be broken. 21._NefS 22 Bxhé gahé 23 NxfS QxfS 24 Qe6 Material is level but the draughty position of the black king renders his position hopeless. 24...KgT 25 Qad5 Qafd 26 Red QS 27 Qb7+ Kgs 28 RN 1-0 Black never managed to move either rook. NOTE: The problem with having to make an enforced early king ‘move fs often not the immediate danger to the king, but the consequent Inability 10 coordinate the rocks. Copyrighted Material wtChapter Ten The Advance Variation Introduction Plans and Themes in the Advance 2) The Milner-Barry Gambit Illustrative GamesCopyrighted Material ‘The Advance Variation Introduction Inthe Tarrasch and Classical White plays 4 e5, but it is with gain of time by attacking a black knight on 6. Meanwhile in the Winawer he plays 4 05 as he hopes to prove the black bishop is misplaced on ba and, besides, the pawn is threatened with capture by deed. In con: trast, White plays 4 e5 voluntarily in the Advance and without gain of time, In some sense Whito isn't asking enough of the position: Black immediately knows how the pawn centre will look and can deploy his pieces accordingly. Por this reason the Advance, although a fully respectable opening lino, has never enjoyed the popularity of the other variations above. As usual in the mainline French, the d4-square is one of the focal points of the strategic battle. A typical main line runs as follows: Led e6 2d4d5 3 e505 4 cd Neé 6 Nf Bd7 6 Be2 Nge7 7 Nad exd4 8 oxd4 NM 9 Ne2 Qb6 10 0-0 (Diagram 1) ‘White Mas raeity Bick ‘You will notice that White played the rather tortuous manoeuvre with his queen's knight from a to 2 to defend the d4-pawn. And this was just as well, as Black has been able to attack it with the queen and ‘two knights. Because the centre is blocked, Black has been in no ‘hurry to castle ~ indoed his bishop is still sitting on 19. Wisely he pre- ferred to use the time to bring his knight to the active square on {5. Plans and Themes in the Advance The Advance Varintion is another line whore the key to the play is very much based on an understanding of the plana for both sides. Here we will discuss typical themes that arise from the diagram as these are characteristic of play in this line. Copyr ahECopyrighted Ma Starting Out: The French With his pieces tied down to the defence of d4 you might think White has a poor position. In reality in the contre it is a ‘draw’ though the status quo favoura White as it locks his space advantage in place. On the queenside Black has more chances of doing some attacking. For example he could play ..Rc8 seizing the open file (though there isn’t much to do there at the moment) or he could play ...Na5S with the idea of ...Bb6 to exchange off his bad" bishop for White's good bishop ms well as possibly playing ..Ned in some scenarios, Another plan is .-Nb4 to exchange off knights to weaken White's defences on the queonside, as well as preparing ...—bS as above, Finally, be could con. sider a pawn assault with 10.05. Of course, he might combine vari- ous elements from these ideas, Moanwhile White has to decide what he is going to do. He could try Bd3 and Bxf, but despite doubling Black's pawns this seems ineffec- tive; Black plays ...Re6 at some point with a very solid centre. It is worth montioning that Bd3 does at least set n good trap. Say in the diagram position play went 10...Re8 11 Bd3. Now it seems like Black can win a pawn with 11_.Nixd4? but this fails to 12 Nifeda! (the cor- Fect Way to capture, ao that Black can't save himeolf next move by taking on f3 with check) 12...Nadé 18 Bed BeS (Diagram 2} 14 b4! and Black ends up in trouble however he plays, for example 14.,.Nxe2 15 BxeS Qc7. Now, not 16 Bxe? b6 when Black survives, but instead 16 BAG! Qed 17 Qed! which attacks the weakness on g7 ond causes huge problema for Black. In fact Black always has to think twice before capturing the d4-pawn as traps like this abound in the Advance. The classic trap in the French is 1 ef e6 2.d4.453 05 c5 4 c3 Ne 5 ‘NES Qb6 6 Bd cxdd Tcxdé Nedd?? & Nad Qud4?? 9 Bbit and Black loses the queen, ‘That was a pleasant interlude for White, but returning to the dia- gram we still need to find a good plan for him. Rather remarkably, the best line involves g2-g4! Now when we first learn to play chess experience soon teaches us that advancing pawns in front of your king in this fashion is bound to lead to disaster. And this is perfectly true for open positions. But in semi-clased positions = for example in cer- tain lines of the main line King’s Indian or the Ruy Lopez — different rules apply. With ¢2-g4 White gains space on the kingside and ejects. the black knight from [5, which takes some of the pressure off the d4- pawn, @ Milner-Barry Gambit After | e406 2 d4d5 9 6 cS 4c3 Neé 5 NOS BdT White's most natural development for his bishop is 6 Bd3 which leads to a pawn sacrifice after 6..Qb6 7 0-0 cxd4 § cxd4 Nad4 9 Nxd4 Qud4 10 Ned (Diagram 3). Copyrighted Mua 144 yrCopyrighted Material Tha Advance Variation White has such a substantia! lead in development that Black can be thankful that the opening is the French — he wouldn't last another ten moves after such extravagant play in the Open Sicilinn! Now 10...qjue5 grabs a second pawn, but gives White a useful initiative af- tor 11 Rel QbS 12 Nxd5. Instead the preventive 10.06! to rule out Nbé looks good for Black. For example 11 Qe2 Ne7! 12 Khi (preparing £2-£4 to defond e& before NeG) 12...No8 13 4 BeS! and Black has a solid position and the upper hand. After the moves 1 ed e6 2d4d5 4 e6 cb 4c Ne § Nf Bd7 6 Be? Nge? 7 Nod exd4 8 cxd4 Nf 9 Nc? Black played the immediate 9.,.Nb4!? in Game 68. This should have been enough to equalise but he made an instructive error in the early middlegame, Games 69 and 70 feature 9...Qb8 when, according to how aggressive he feels, White can opt for 100-0 or 10 hal? In Game 71 the slower approach 3 e505 4 3 Ne 6 Nf3 Bd7 6.03 is mode to look much worse than it is after the active 6...f6, In fact the idea of preparing the b2-b4 advance makes niore sense when Black has played §.,.Qb6 rather than 5...Bd7, as Black can't so easily switch play toa kingside attack. You can find examples of 5...Qb6 6 a3 in Games 72 and 73, Finally in Game 74. Black foregoes ..Bd7 in favour of a quick ...Nge7. The point is to get the queen to b6 and both knights attacking d4 a tempo sooner than usual before White has had time to organise his defence of the pawn. It is interesting to see how Timman meets this threat. Illustrative Games Game 63 Ol Anand Mf M.Gurevich Manila Interzonal 1990 LedeG 2d4d5 305 ch 4cd Nei 6 NR BdT Copyrighted Material 145Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The Freach 148 ‘This has been the most popular move recently. 5..QbG (Games TZ and 74) is the traditional main line, and 5...Nge7 (Game 74) is also played occasionally. 6 Hel ‘The alternative 6 03 is seen in Game 71. 6..Nge7 6.16 is another important line. T Nad Going to c2 from whore it supporta d4. T..cad4 & exd4 NiS 9 Ne? Nb4 Major alternatives are 9...Qb6 (as in the next two games) or 9...Be7_ 10 Nxbd Bxbd+ 11 Bd? Qab A better way of handling it here might have been 11...Qb6! when after 12.03 Bxd2+ 13 Qed? Black gets the chance to trade off, mot the queens, but his ‘bad’ bishop with 14...Bb5 with equality, 1203! Bxd2+ 13 Qed? Qud2+ 14 Kxd2 1 15 Racl (Diagram 4) Diagram ‘White has an encigarne initieiive Now the endgame & winning: Vishy Anand has the open e-file, a bit more space and the slightly su- perior bishop. But still, it is not all that much. 15..NeT 16 ba Hde On 16...Ne6 17 b5!? NaS 18 Ke3 a6 19 n4 leaves White slightly the mare comfortable. 17 Bd3 Re8 18 Ruck+ Nxcd ‘18...Kxe8 was viable too, 19 g4 hott 19...Nb6! may have been better, when after 20 exf8 gxf6 21 g5 Nei+ 22 Bxed deed 23 gxfé Beé Black hes active play, and 20b5 Ke7 21 ‘Beli? ia not clear, Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Material ‘The Advance Variation 20 Nhd Ne? 214 White's space advantage on the kingside increases. 2L.ab On 21...fee5 White would have ‘broken the rules’ with the recapture 22 duoS!, thereby granting himself a nice pawn roller. 22 REL BbS 23 7 Anand proves a little too precipitate in making his advances, 23 Rel, Just maintaining the superiority in space, was superior, 23h5T! Tt might have been better to seck immedinte active counterplay with 29..Badd! 24 Kxd3 ho 25 Ng6 Rhé 26 Nid haga (or even 26_.exf!7) 27 NuxoG+ Kea 98 Nug?+ Kf7. 24 Ngé?! NxgG? And here too there was the cpportunity to go into the line given in the previous note with 24... Fda! 25 exif! Aneat wischenrug. 25_.g¢xf8 26 fxg6 KeTIt 24,..Hedd 27 Kd Ke7 (27.,.hugd 28 Rxf6 Ke7 29 g7 Ryd 4) Rpé is winning for White as the pawn ending following 30.K{7 31 Raga xg? 32 Rug7+ Kxgi 33 Ked is lost because of the outside passed h- pawn.) 23 g5! fxg5 29 RET and the rook’s arrival at the seventh rank is terminal, or 28...15 29 Kea like the actual game, 27 got ‘27...Bxd3 28 gxfé+. ‘28 BxbS axbS 29 Rel! (Diagram 6) 29..Kd6 30 Ked RgS 31 Kf b6 32 Re3 Ragé 33 Rh3 Now the g- and h-pawns are just too strong. $4...Rg8 34 RahS Ref 35 p6 Red 6 RgG! Redd+ 37 Ke3 Not 87 KS? Red! and after 88 Raga fxgt+ 99 Kiya Ke7 the black king gets back in time. #7..Red+ 38 Kft 10 ‘The g-pawn ts going home. Game 6 O Grischuk il Gulko Esbjerg 2000 Led e6 2d4.d5 3 e5 ch 4c3 Ned 6 Nf Bd7 6 Be? Nge7 7 Nad exdd 8 cad4 NG 9 Ne Qb6 100-0 The ambitious 10 hd is seen in the next game. 10...Re8 (Diagram 6) 10...a5!? is a move here too, wT CopyrtCopyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French 148 11 Khi ‘This was a new move. 11 a3, 11 h4 hd 12 BgS and even 11 gal? were all known, eg. 11 g4 Nfe7 12 Nfel hS 13 gxhS NiS 14 Bed NaS 16 ba B66 and chances were equal in Grosar-Poldauf, Austrin 2000, LLNaS 11L...h6t? would prevent White's next, 12 g4 ‘Typical in this line. ‘12...Ne7 13 Nfel!? Bhs M4 Nd3t Protecting the so important light-squared bishop from exchange. 14.517 15 gxhS NOG 16 Bed go?! Tt looks that the simple 16...Ne4 was stronger than this optimistic move. Bilack's anticipated play down the h-file proves insufficient. 17 hxg6 fxg6 15 Rel Qc7 19 Ndel Now switching the knight back for defence. After the natural 19 Rel?! QhT 20 Rg? Black could make a draw immediately with 20...Nh4 21 Regd (not 21 Aga? NES!) 21,5 and they repent. 19. Bee? 20 Qxe? Qh7 21 NIB gh With the sneaky intent of 21.,.Rxc3! 29 Que? Ngd+ winning the queen, 22 Rg2! (Diagram 7) 22..Nhd mah on 22... Ree? 24 Quek Ned+ 24 fxg! protects the queen with the 23 Naha! After the simple and strong 23 Qb6+ No6 24 Nh (or even 24 Nag5!?) Copyrighted MaternalCopyrighted Material ‘The Advance Variation ‘24._gxhd 25 Nel White could keep a solid advantage. The text gives Black a glimmer of hope in the unnecessary complications. 24.,.Rac2! 24 QbS+ Neé 25 Nf Bh6! 26 Bugs a6?! ‘The final mistake in time trouble, but even after the best move, 26...Rg8, White's advantage is obvious, e.g. 27 Rag] Qed 28 Bxht Ring? (28..Qhfd 25 QbS Ged 30 Que®! Qed 31 Rxgh+ Kd? 22 Rig T+ Nei 33 R&T! will win) 29 Kixg? Qgd+ 30 KA Qh3¢ (on 30..Qxfa 31 RygB+ KET 92 Qxb7+ wins) 31 Rg? Qxh6 92 Nel, etc. 27 Qb3 Bxgs 28 Nxg5 QOS If 28_.Nad4 29 Qad+ wins, 29 Nxe6! Ke7 30 Ng7 0 Qudb! did the trick too. 40...Qe4 31 Qab7+ fs 32 Neé+ Red 33 Qci+ KeT 34 Quhd Raf? 35 QgT+ 1-0 ‘On 35... Haed 36 Qga+ wins. Game 70 OO Mowseslan Ml M.Gurwvich ‘Sargevo 2000 Led 06 2d4d5 306 ch 4c3 Neé 5 NTS Bd7 6 Bod NgeT 7 Nad exd4 8 cxdd Nf 9 Ne? Qb6 10 ha Ambitious. 10.162? An interesting novelty in a well-known position. 10,..Bb4+ 11 KA ho: 12.ad BeT 13 b4 eB 14 g306 15 BAS fxeS 16 Bxfh exfh 17 deed led to a White win in Topalov-Nikolic, Monte Carlo 1997. Tom not sure that after 10...Nb4 11 Nub4 Qub4+ 12 Kf BbS 14 g4 Bue2+ 14 Kae? Qet+ Black has too many problems. 11 g4 Nidal? (Diagram &) 14 CopyCopyrighted Ma Starting Out: The French Atypical and strong knight sacrifice. Black gets a few pawns and the initintive for his piece. 12 Nexdé ‘On 12 Nfed4 Block gets his play in the event of 12..Nxd4 1 Quad ‘Bed 14 Qf feed 15 QaeS Bxfl+ 16 Kdl 0-0, or 12..Nxe8!?, or 12...ke5!, of 12... Bhde!? 13 Kl Nxeb. Mix it up the way you like it! 13.¢5 1813 Neh frei 14 Nba Black has loads of play after 14...Bd6_ 13..Be8! 140-0 ‘On 14 gxtG gxf 15 NxeS freh 16 BhS+ Ke? 17 Bgh+ Kdé the black king is snug and the compensation patent. 14... Nxfa+ 14...0-0 is not so accurate as after 15 gxf6 gxff 16 Bh6 RET 17 NxeS fxe5 18 BhS White develops excellent activity. 15 Nafa Qba!? Eyeing gt. 16 Nell? ‘Movesesian aims to shield his king with a knight on ¢2, and so offers a third pown for the piece, but 16 Khl Qg4 (or even 16...Bo6!7) 17 Rgl Qh3+ 18 Nh2 Qxh4, of 16 Bed Qe4+ 17 Kh Ba6'? look too dangerous for White, 16...Quh4 17 Ng2 Qb4 18 Bd3 0-0-0 19 a3 Qb6 20 ba Sern tries to organise a counter-attack against the black mon- 20...Bd4 21 Bed Kbs 22 Qi (On 22 Qed Bxed 25 fxe3 05 24 Qh4 RdfB keeps the kettle boiling, 22...Bxe3 23 fxe3 Rho 23... Rdfa!? planning 24..-h6, wns also to be considered. 24 Qgaet! If 24 Bah? BbS!? 25 Rf2 d4 with a steaming initintive. 24.05 2h Bah7 26...d4! ‘Gurevich plays the whale game with great energy. 26 Bed ‘On 26 exd4 RhS!? 27 g@ (or 27 BES? BxfS 26 Ruf Qud4+ wins) 27..Bb5 28 Rf2 Rudd with 29.,.Rhdé to follow is splendid, 26..Rh6 27 gxft ‘Opening all lines, but White is in a pickle. 27 exd4 Kha 28 Qf Rubs 29 Nel Qe doesn't look too good either. 27a 28 QU ‘On 28 oxd4 Rho 20 QY2 Rdh§, or 26 Qe? deed 29 Raol (29 Qxi6 e2+ Copyrighted MatCopyrighted Material The Advance Variation 80 REZ Qd4 wins) 29...02+ 30 REZ Rh1+! 31 Kahl Qxf2 and Block breaks i in. 28...Rdfe 29 exd4 Rha 20 Qd1 (5 31 Qd2 Rhhé (Diagram 9) ‘The finish of the gume is very close. 32 NEI? Desperation. None of 32 Be2 Beé 33 BafS Rh2, of 32 Bald Build 33 Rafi Rhi+, or 32 B45 Qd6 33 Bed! (33 deed Qhé+ or 33 NG! Rede! 34 Bg? Red) $3...Be6 34 d5 BbS was any better. 32...feed! 33 Nah3 Bxhd 34 Qh? Or d4 Rf2ed 35 Qxed Qe6+ wins. 34...Qud4+ 35 Khi e3 0-1 A splendid victory from Mikhail Gurevich. Game 71 Ol Adama ll Epishin Ter Apel 1982 LedeG 2d4d5 3 e5 6 43 Neé 5 NG Bd7 6 a3 fe Epishin secks immediate action, 7 Bds 7 bt fre5 6 bach ed 9 Nes NIG is a weirder line. 7..Qe7 8 0-0 0-0-0 8...f0e6 9 Nee Neeb meets with 10 BE Bdé 11 deed and Black cannot capture again on eS because of the check at hi. ‘8 BFA ed! And not §...g57 10 By g4 because of 11 oxf6. Instead Epishin shuts things down on one wing and goes rapidly to work on the other, 10 Be? hé!t (Diagram 10) Copy fed Material 1Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French 4152 lihd Very weakening, but 11 Bg3 {5 12 ha Bes! 13 Nbd2 BhS 14 BEd BeT ‘16 Qb1 R&S leaves him facing a quick ..¢5 anyway, possibly first. pre- pared by ...Qd8. One is left with the impression that Mickey did not really know what he wan doing in this variation. 11,.Be8! On 11.15 Adams may have had the (necessary) cheek to play 12 h5. But now the bishop nips outside the pawn chain to join the attack. 12b3 cxba 13 Bxbd BhS 14 Nbdd fxo5?! Simply 14,95! and then 15,..05 was tremendously strong. At the posi- tion's crossroads, Epiahin elects to attack with the pieces and not with the pawns, but you ought always to provide yourself with a good ren: son should you not choose the obvious move in any position. 16 dxeS Beb 16 Qb1 16 Qel Nge7 17 Bed looks stronger. 16...Nge7 17 c4 RAGS 18 Bhe BxfS 19 Nxf3 RxfS! (Dingram 11) An obvious but very strong sacrifice, ‘20 gxf3 Nd4 21 Kg? ‘On 21 Bal deed the black initintive is too powerful to be withstood. 21...NefS 22 Byd QUT! 23 f4 Neither 23 Bdl Qg6 nor 23 cxd5 Nahd+ 24 Bxhd Qxf+ 25 Kh? Qh 26 Qed Nebd is adequate either. 23.95 24 cxdS gafd 25 dee 25 Bxfd Nahd+ wins. 26...Qh5 26 e7 Nzhd+ 0-1 Now 27 Bxhd Qed+ 28 Bgd 13+ 29 Kh? Qh5+ 30 Kg] Ne? is mate. Adams annihilated. Game 72 (OLMansen il Antonsen Facum 1993 Lledeé 2d4d5 3 e5 5 4c3 Neé 5 NG Qb66 a3 Not even interested in the Milner-Barry Gambit: 6 Bd cxd4 7 exd4 Bd7 80-07. é..Nhe Uf Black wants to prevent b2-b4 then 6.04 ehould be played —see (Game 73. 7b cxdd Bexdd NIG 9 Bed ‘9 Bb? is possible. 9.16 (Diagram 12) 10 Bd Naed 11 feed ‘This exchange is occasionally seen in the French, It looks as if it Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Material Thee Advance Variation ought to be good for Black, who has gnined the bishop pair and dow- bled the white pawns. However, the f-file ia now dangerously open and the pawn on e3 serves the useful function of bringing additional defence to the white e4-pawn. Who is most favoured by this transac- tion often revolves around whother Hlnck can continue to undermine the position by getting rid of the white pawn at eb. This is the theme of the subsequent play here. (Diagram 12 Diagram 13 (Black attacks the contra Too many black weaknesses, ILufxed 12 bs White is fighting for 65 12..e4 13 bxe6 Bdé 14 0.0 0.0 16 Ng6 hé 16 Rxf8+ Bef 17 Need ded 18 Bued bred 19 Nd2 Baé 20 Qg4 (Diagram 13) The complications are at an end and White has emerged on top thanks to the numerous weaknesses in the black position. 20,..Qb2 21 Rdl Quad 22 QueG+ KhS 23 Qg6 Kg8 24 NM Bdé 25 Qed+ Khé 26 Nhd Qxed+ 27 Kh Be? 28 NgG+ Kh7 29 QfS Kgs 30 Qe6+ Kh7 31 Ne7+ KhS 32 Qge 1-0 After 32...Que4 33 Qued Bud] Black can wriggle but White eventually wins even more material, eg. 34 Ng6+ Kh7 35 NeS+ Kg 26 Quo Rd8 37 Qet+ Kh798 Qd3+ Kg8 39 Qad] Bxed 40 Qb3+ and wins. Game 73 CO Grischuk il Korchnod Biel 2001 Led o6 2d4d5 3 05 cS 4c3 Qb6 § Nf NeG 6 03 cd 7 Nbd2 NaS (Diagram 14) oe Another scheme of development is B Be? Bd7 8 0-0. 6...Be7 9 hd Bd7 10 Bh3 £5 11 exf6 gxfé 120-0 hG 13 Rel Nh6 14 Nh? 0-0-0 15 QuhS Rdgé 16 Qe2 f (Dingram 15) Copyrighted Material syCopyrighted Material Starting Out: The French 154 Black has a clamp on the white queenside and useful open files on the opposite wing. All in all, good compensation for a pawn. Diagram 14 Diagram 16 Fighting for tha b3-square Black has full compensation: 17 Ndfa Nb3 18 Bxh6é Rah6 1 xal would be a bad mistake after 19 Bf4 with Qe5 coming. 19 Rad] Bxh4 20 Nahd Reha White has returned the pawn in the hope of making something out of his dark square control but he never really gets anywhere, 21 Bg2 Rh7 22 NiS Nad 23 Qd2 Qdé 24 Ned Bad 25 Rbi Neb 26 Qfi Ke7 27 Re? Nued 26 Quod Quod 29 RxeS Kd6 30 Rbel Rh 31 Rbed f4 tM Gane 74 Ci Timea Ml Andersson Sigeman & Co, Malmoe 2000 Ledeé 2 d4d6 3 65 5 4cd Neé 6 NOS Ngee? 6 Edd cxd4 7 cud NM 8 Be? Alternatives here are: a) 8 Bx exfi 9 Ne3 BeG 10 Ned hé doesn't promise an advantage to White - 11 he g6 12 Bd2 Qb@ 13 Rbl a5 14 Ki Be 15 Kel Kd? 16 a Qa6 17 Bed 24 was equal in Adams-Vaganinn, Lucerne 1997, b) 8 Bed Bo7 9 Ned Nxed 10 fxe3 0-0 11 0-0 Bd? 12 03 5 13 exf6 Bxfé 14 Qe2 h6 15 Rad] Red and Black was very comfy in Jonkman-Glek, Vilisaingen 1996, &...Gb6 9 BxfS exfS 10 Ned Bes 110-0 After 11 Nez h6 12 h4 0-0-0 13 Kfl Kbs 14 Kg] Be7 15 Ab1 Black sacrificed a pawn to activate his bishop and gain interesting counter- play with 15.f4! 16 Nef BS 17 Ral Bed in Benjamin-Shaked, US ‘Open 1988. CopyrtCopyrighted Material The Advance Variation 11...h6 (Diagram 16) Diagram 16 (Diagram 17 (Black is acid in the centre Now i's not as solid as it seems it Nad Anew move, exploiting Black's "extra" _.Qb6, Henjamin-Edelman, New York 1952, saw instead 12 h4 BeT 13 NeZ 0-0-0 14 Rbi and Black did mot get enough when he gambitted 14.65 15 hagS hagd 16 BagS BxgS 17 NxgS Rh5 18 14 Rdh8 19 Nia Kbe 20 Kf2 and White consohdated his advantage. 12,.Qb5 13 Nel Be7 14 Be3 eS 15 Nd3 bé 16 Ned Qed Looks a Little bit risky but after 16..Qa6 17 Nf4 the pawn on d5 is weak. 17 Rel gol? 18 M4 ga Black loses a piece after 18..Nxd4? 19 ba. 19.a4 Nbat! ‘But now I do not see how White can get an advantage after 19... Nxd4f?, for example 20 NbS Nabi 21 Rect dxct 22 axbS RdS 23 Qad Rxd3 24 Ki Rd? with reasonable compensation for the queen, 20 NM Qué?! Andersson might have tried 20...NaZ!? 21 Nxa2 Qua2 22 Rech+ Buch. 21. NbS Rxcl 22 Bxcl Kd7? (Diagram 17) ‘The last mistake, 22,..Qb7! was much stranger, 24 Nxg4! The black queen is far away from the kingside, so it's logical far White ‘to attack there, 24.fxgd 24 ‘With a winning initiative, 24..Rg6 Copyrighted Material 155Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French 156 Or 24...15 25 feeG+ fee6 26 RIT wins. 26 fxeG+ fxeG 26 Bd2! 26 Bxh6l? was also fun and worth a punt. 26..Ne6 On 26..h6 27 Bxb4 Bxb4 28 Qe? is winning. 27 Bxhé Qc8 28 Rf Rhs 29 Nd6 Qys 30 Bg? 1-0 moo 31 Qrgd Nud4 loses to 2 Rxe7+! Kuo? 33 Bii+ KIS 34 Copyrighted MaternalChapter Eleven The Rubinstein Variation and Others The Rubinstein Variation The Exchange Variation The King’s Indian Attack Illustrative GamesCopyrighted Material Starting Out: The French The Rubinstein Variation ‘The Rubinstein Variation opens 1 ef ef 2 d4 di 3 Ned (or 3 Nd) 4..dzed 4 Nued Nd7, This variation has much in common with the Hurn variation of the Classical which runs 3 Ne3 Ni6 4 Bg deed 5 Nxed. However, the Rubinstein move order ia more flexible for White as he hasn't commit- ted his bishop to the g5-square. Therefore he has alternative schemes, ineluding a quick g2-g3 to put prossure on the b7-square. On the other hand, by adopting the Rubinstein move order Black has avoided the Classical 405 which, judging from recent games, is something to be pleased about! In fact, one of the best things about the Rubinstein is its universality = you can play it against both 3 Nd2 and 3 Ne3. Also there is rela- tively little theory to learn. TIP: The Rubinstein isa good choice If you are in a solid mood and are facing a highly aggressive opponent, Plans With 4. Nd7 Black prepares to challenge White's excellently placed knight on ed with &...Ngf6, Once the knight has been ousted or ex- changed, Black will be ready to attack the white centre with cT-ch. If he succeeds in dissolving the d4-pawn without incurring any weak- ness elsewhere or falling a long way behind in development, Black will have fully equalised. White for his part will try to prove that rather than freeing his game with ...c7-ch Black is clearing the centre to his detriment as his opponent's pieces are better able to utilise the resulting open lines. White will try to saddle Black will m positional weakness somewhere, for example a doubled pawn on f6 or difficulties in developing his queen's bishop. Than epic battle in Game 75, Kasparov tries a different method: he maintains a pawn on d4 with c2-cd and looks for an immediate attack, ‘This proved good enough to bambooile the surprised Ponomariov, but you can bet that theory scon began to draw its fangs. Instead of ‘S..NdT?! the solid 8.06! was good enough. Game 76 is worth looking at ifonly for the marvellous trap that White sets at move eight. The Fort Knox (Cheas doesn’t come much more aolid thon this’ Without any more ado Black plays 1 e4 e€ 2d4.d 3 Ncd deed 4 Need Bd7 and then 4...Be8, The reasoning behind this is hard to argue with: Black often struggles for the whole game to find a decent dingonal far his queen's bishop, so why not put it on eG at onoe? In combination with « knight on {6 the bishop either drives away or eliminates White's proud Jenight on e4, In such a quiet position Hluck can afford a slow but Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Mat°ti/y Rubinstein Variation and Others strategically well motivated plan. The drawback to Black's bishop manoeuvre is that he is more or less compelled to give up the bishop for a knight and so grant White the bishop pair. However, Black re- mains vory solid in his Caro-Kann like carapace of pawns after the bishop exchange and then ..c7-c6, ete. Note that as White hus the two bishops Black shouldn't be so keen for the centre break with —.c7-c5 as he is in the Rubinstein = such a move bocomes extremely double edged and has to be carefully considered. In both Rubinstein games given here Black becomes too complacent inside his fortress with the result that be is both ground down (Game 77) and blown away (Game 74). The moral is clearly that no position, no matter haw safe from attack by the opponent, can survive our own carelessness! TIP: The Fort Knox ls a good choice if you are In a very solid mood and are facing an extremely aggressive opponent. The Exchange Variation lede6 2d4d6 3 exd5 exd5 When Mikhail Gurevich, the great French Defence expert, played a match against a computer some years ago the computer was in- structed by ita programmer to play in as‘Un-French’ a manner as possible against 1...e6, The reasoning was that Gurevich was more likely to go wrong in unfamiliar territory. ‘The Computer duly came up with the French Exchange. Indeed the position after 3...exd5 is more akin to that in a Queen's Pawn Opening. Black no longer has to worry about how he is going to develop his queen's bishop, and after 4 Nf he can play 4...By4 without even having to accept an isolated pawn in return for the privilege, as occurs in the Tarrasch 3 Nd ci 4 exd§ exdS variation, Nor docs the black king's knight find itself de- prived of the fG-square by a pawn on e5, White's sole advantage is the extra tempo born of moving first. Yot for all this many French players don't like playing against the Exchange. T guess it is partly the ‘Com- puter’ factor above of being in unusual surroundings, but mainly it is because the positions reached are somewhat sterile. Indeed, Black of- ten answers 4 B43 with 4.,.c5 willingly accepting an IQP to make it a more dynamic game, Note however that thes is in response to the in- ferior position af the bishop at dd: much less appealing ia 4 Nf eS7! when the bishop can be developed aggressively without loss of time with & Bbi+. The computer's choice agninst Gurevich was also a shrewd paycho- logical choice (not a characteristic normally associated with computer play), as the Russian GM had Jost a heart breaking game as White against Nigel Short in the Exchange ~ have a look at Game 79, You will seo that the black bishop really enjoyed its ‘Un-French’ freedom on gd! Copyrighted Material 14Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French The King's Indian Attack Tn this line White avoids the main lines after 2 d4 with either 2.3 or 2 Qed. A structure is often reached similar to that in the Closed Sicil- ian, ‘Besides adding a lot of ideas to the French as Black, Alexander Moro zevich has almost single-handedly transformed the King’s Indian At- tack into a dangerous attacking weapon. The Russian GM Kirialeov ia one of the most difficult players to beat but ho is wiped out in Game 90 by the supposedly innocuous 2 Gje2. Morozevich has shown that it pays for White to delay the development of his queen's knight rather than play the routine 3 Nd2. This worth of this idem is seen if Block adopts the following popular set up: Lede6 2d3d5 3 Qet NIG 4 NI ch 6 g3 Ncé 6 Bg? BeT 7 0-0 b6 5 8 Qe7 (Diagram 1) and here White has the option of 9 Naa!, planning either to embar- rasa the black queen with NBS or retreat back to c2 and support a b2- ‘b4 advance to attack on the quoenside. The knight would be far bees offective on dZ, A Solid Versus the King's Indian Attack However, Black has a solid system against which Morozevich comes a cropper in Game 81, The pattern of black pieces is well worth remem- ‘bering. On the queenside he plays ...c7-ch and _.Nc6 and combines this with ..g7-g6 and a kingside fianchetto. And to avoid having his ‘knight attacked by e405 and shutting in the bishop Black develops his keing’a knight on e7.’The upshot of all this is that Black exerts ‘enormous pressure on the d4-square, This square is important bo- cause if White ever plans to gain space in the centre ho needs to play Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Mate'ty Rubinstein Variation and Others d3-44, when the pawn comes into the killing zone of the black pieces, The pressure along the a1-h8 diagonal also makes a White pawn ad- vance on the queenside problematical, and encourages Black to launch his own pawn storm against the target on c3. Illustrative Games ‘Game 75 (CO Kasparov ll Ponomarioy Linwees 2002 Led o6 2d4d5 3 Ne3 dxe44 Need Nd7 5 NOS Ngié 6 Natit 6 Bd would transpose to the next game after 6.Be7 7 Qe?, though Black might prefer 6_.Nxe4 7 Beet Ni6 8 Bg6 Qd61? 9 Bah gf 10 0-0 15 an in Anand.Spoelman, Linares 1901 ‘White can also play 6 BgS entering the Burn variation with 5..Nbd7 (Games 37 and 38). G..Naf6 7 od ‘Certainly less popular than 7 Bda_ 7..05 8 NeS Unusual. Garry hits upon a plan involving « sharp gambit. B&..Nd7 9 BbS Bdé 10 Qed! Very disruptive. 10...KFB. Not what you want to do, but 10.0-0 loses the exchange to 11 Bad7 Bud? 12 Bhé. 11 0-0!F ‘Yet another Kasparov sacrifice. This gambit yields compensation in the form of Black's uncastled king and development lng. But it is still speculative. 11L..Nxed 12 dxe5 Bxed 13 Bg BO 13.16 14 Rd] (/b6 15 Be3 yields real compensation too. 14 Radi Qe7 15 Qh4 Bxg5 16 Qxg5 Threatening mate. 16.06 17 Qh6 g6 18 Qhé* KfT Not. 18._.Qg7 because of 19 Rd8+ Eft 20 Bed+! Reed 21 Que 7+ xg? 22 Reef winning. How to continue? Has White run out of steam? 19 Rdal? a6 20 Rha! ‘No he has not. 20..axb5 is impossible because of 21 Qah7+ Rxh7 22 Rsh7+ and 23 Rac’. 20...Qe7 21 Bat Now attacking g6. 21.15 22 g4 (Diagram 2)Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French Hack attack! Black's position finally crumbles. He keops hacking away. 22...Qf6 23 Rd bb 24 Be? Preventing Black from developing his bishop at b7 because of 25 Rd7+ ‘winning it. 24.05 25 Rhd3 Ra 26 Rd6 Qg7 27 Qed ReT 28 ad Prising his way into Ponomariov's defences. hed 24 .bxa4 29 Hed+ is dreadfully strong. 29 axbS axbS 30 BubS Qe5 31 Qe5 ‘There are just too may white men swarming all over the black camp. Something will surely give. 41..Qe7 32 Qh6 Beé 33 Qf Bed White threatened 34 Rxeé! Kao6 35 Bed+ Kft 36 RdG+ Ke? 37 Reé and 38 Qel+ follows with a decisive penetration. 44 Qh6 Bebé 36 gxfs gxfS 36 Bed (Diagram 3) ‘The final switch of direction. 16.,Q16 37 Bh5+ Ke7 38 Rxebt! 1-0 Black resigned, ns 38..,Kxe6 loses to 39 Rd6+ and 38...Qreé to 39 ‘Qg7+. An important win for Kasparov, teaching the teenage new World champion who's bows, Game 76 CO Gross im Bisiny Crech Championship 1998 Lledebid Ned dxed 4 Nxed Be7 5 Nia Nie 6 Bd3 Nbd7 7 Qe? Nxed 8 Bxed (Diagram 4) Copyrighted Materialci Mater Spymionted M382" ubinetein Variation and Others Brack has equalised 8..a68!? "There are tactics oven in quiet positions. Many players have fallen for the trick &...Nf6? 9 Bab?! and White wins a pawn after 9..Bxb7 10 Qb5+ and 11 Qub7, Black's move 8...06 prevents this. §,.c5!? is more common when § Bed 0-0 10 0-0-0 Nie 11 Bd Qc? 12 dxch Bxe6 13 Bei Be7 14 Kb1 left White more active in Keres-Pavey, USSR-USA 1954. 20-0 NMG 10 Bas Ofcourse 10 Bxb7 doesn't work now. 10..b6 11 Rd It's always a question where to put the rooks and in this case it seemed moro suitable to place this rook on ¢1 and the second one on di. 11... Bb7 12 of ch 13 dxeb Buch 14 Bgs QeT 14...Qc7!? was another development, 15 Nd2! Rd 16 Bed hott Tt was probably more accurate here to have played 16...0-0 17 Bxfé gxf8 18 Bxb7 Qxb7 19 Nos Bo7 (19...Bd4? 20 Rand! Rudd 21 Nafé+ Kg? 22 Qed) 20 Qf Kh8 when after 21 bé White has ot beat only « alight pull. 17 Bxfé gxf6 18 Qs! A serious inaccuracy letting Black equalise. After 18 Bxb7! Qub7 19 NfS BeT 20 Qed Kis 21 Rrd8+ Bed8 22 Rd) Be7 23 QM White's ad- vantage is quite significant. 18... Raed 1 Need Bd4 It's now more or less equal. 20 Rd2 f 21 Ng3 0-0 (Diagram 5) Copyrighted Material 163Copyrighted Material Starting Out: The French 22 Radi Be6 23 QM Rad? 24 Red? Kh7 25 h3 Redd 26 Nfl ab 27 ba Rad? 28 Qud2 Qf6 29 047! Unnecessarily creating a weaknesa for himself at b3. 29..Qe6 90 g3 Qed 31 Kh2? Simply blundering a pawn! After the correct 31 Ned Kgé 32 Qe2 e5 43 gd! White still has good drawing chances, 31..Qbl Winning. 92 Qe? Qrb3 33 g4 Qrad 33__Exgal? $4 haga Quad 36 Qet+ Kg8 would also have done the trick. ‘M4 gxfS Qd7 35 fxeG Ques ‘The reat is easy: White simply can't stop the a-pawn. 86 Qdd+ Qe 37 QS a4 38 Ngdad 39 Ned Hdl? 39..a2 40 NfG+ Kg 41 NeS+ KES 42 Qa8 a1Q was another way to fin- dah him off. 40 hd a2 0-1 Game 77 Cl Adams i Rozentalis Bekpade 1339 Ldde@ 2e4d5 3 Nd? dxed 4 Nxed Bd7 The Fort Knox variation, so called as Black plans to erect an unambi- tious but super strong structure. 5 Nf Bob 6 ds ‘The adventurous 6 Neg5!? is seen in the next game. 6..Nd7 7 cd Ngfe § Nxfe+ Nafe 8..gxf6!? 9 Bit Bd6 10 Bxd6 cxd6 11 Qo2 QuS 12 0-0 Qh5 13 Bed Bred 14 Qxed d5 led to equality in Schaefer-Dobosz, Cuxhaven 1995. ooo 9 Qez afi —the awap of the Fort Knox variation— 10 Qxf3 Qd5 11 Qad5 Ned5 12 0-00-0-0 13 Rdl Be7 14 Bd2 was then agreed drawn in Tvanov-MeDionald, Maidstone 1994, 0 Ne5l? was well worth a go. o..Bxf 9... BAG! 10 Qed Bxf3 11 Qxf3 c6 12 Bgs BeT 13 Rfel Nd 14 Bre? Nxe7 was equal in Van de Velden-Beals, Soest 1996. 10 Qxf3 Qd5 11 Qe2 Be? 11....Qh6!? practically forces White to exchange the queons, and on 12 Qxh& (after 12 Qe2?! Bdé 19 h3 0-0-0 Black ia the one who fights for the opening advantage) 12...Nh5 13 g3 NIG 14 a4 BAG 15 a5 any white advantage is symbolic. 12 Rel 0-0 13 Bid c6 14 a4 (Dingram 6) Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Materjal Spyrianes OTH Rubinstein Variation and Others Dlagram 6 Diagram 7 Black is sold but passive White intends a tater Eoogé ‘This type of position is quite well-known in modern chess: it arises from different variations of the Caro-Kann defence and out of some variations of the French. The plans of the both sides are clear: White, who has some advantage in space and the pair of bishops, will try to attack the black king, while Black, who has a rock solid but passive position, will try tofind his chances in a counter-attack or with some broak in the contre, 14... Rfd8 15 BeT!? Red 15... Rd 77! is met by 16 BoS and the black queen is in danger. 16 Bed abl? 17 Qc? g6 18 Radl Qd8 19 Qb3 Qd7 20 hal? Nga?! ‘This logical move proves to be a serious inaccuracy: the knight plays a very important part in the defence of the kingside and without it White's attack pretty soon becomes decisive. It was better to defend with 20.h6 21 3 Ng4 22 BE Bis 23 Bet Bgl 24 Bia NIG with w solid ‘position. 21 hG Nxeb 22 dxeb ‘Opposite coloured bishops reduce winning chances in endings, but of- ten enhance them in attacks. 22..Qc8 Sad necessity. On 22.Qc7? Adams could break in with 23 hxg6 hag6 24 BxgG! fxg 25 Quet+ KhS 26 Rd7 Qe 27 Rel. 23 Red Bgé 24 Rh3 Qc7 25 Rel Rade 25...BM 26 Qc2 Bxed dove not work because of 27 hagé hxg6 25 Bxgé! fag 29 Qxg6+ Qg7 30 Qh5 and the attack is too strong, e.g. 30...Be7 (30,,Bf4 31 hd wins) 31 Rhd (31 Red Rada!) 31_. Kis 32 Red Qf6 33 Rgé and White is winning. 26 Qc? (Diagram 7) Threatening to take on g6. Copyrighted Material 165Copyrighted Material Starting Out: The French 166 26...ReT 27 Red! Bringing the last. piece to the attack. 27..Red7 28 Rg3 Bh6 29 hag6 hxg6 30 Rha! Bet 31 fF! White's play is very simple, logical and at the sume time lethal! Now the situation in the centre is stable and he may prepare for the deci- sive blow. 31..Kf8 32 Kh?! Rd 33 Rh7 R&d7 34 Bagel All the white pieces take the ideal positions and it's time to decide the game with this sacrifice, ‘W4.fag6 35 Qugé KET 36 Qho! Bxed 36,.Rxfa 27 Rgag? Qug7 38 Reg? Kxg? 39 Qg5+ or 36..Rd2 47 Rhxg7! Rxg7 38 Qh8+ both win. 47 Qhé+ Ret 47...KeT changes nothing: 38 Raf?+ Kxf7 29 Qh7+ ie 40 fueh+ Qed 41 Qg7+ KGS 42 Qpe+ KM 43 Qed mate, $8 feeS Queb 39 Qugt+ 1-0 Typically accurate play from Adams. ‘Game 78 OKetronias Mi Ansstesian ‘Yereman 2000 Led o6 2d4d5 3 Nd? ded 4 Nxed Bd7 § Nf Boé 6 Nogt!? Bo? 6..Nd7 7 Naf fl? Kal? § NeG+ Ke8 9 Bet Bxg? 10 Rgl Bab 11 Nxeé gave a tremendous atteck for the plece in Hector-Lyrberg. Geneva 1996, ESS Nat sonliga 1994, White won afte 11 Nxht. b) White also had a strong attack with another kind of sacrifice after 7...Nf6 B Qe2 h6 9 Nae6 Bxfa 10 Nxg7+ KES 11 gxfa Kxg7 12 Bd2 Net 13.c3 Qd7, Kartmann-Czech, Bruchkoebel 1993. The g-file is draughty. 8 Qo? Ngf6?! (Diagram &) It's amazing that so strong a player os Anastasian didn't know that this variation lends to an almost lost position right after the opening. 5..Bafd was necessary. 9 Naf! Bb4+! If 9..-KxfT 10 NgS+ Ke8 11 NeoG Qe8 12 Nagi+ KfS 1 Ne6+ Black is getting hammered, Or if 9...Bxf3 10 QxeG Bag? 11 Rg] Bis 12 NxdB Kad8 13 Qha ReS 14 Bed g6 15 0-0-0 and White won in Namyalo- Rabl, Wuerttemberg 1697, fT! Kf? 9 NoS+ KIB 10 Ngé+ Kea CopyrtCopyrianies S695 mubinstain Variation and Others a Diagram o Dingram What is the knight doing on gi? White is already winning 10 ¢3 Bxff 11 Qret+! Qe? 12 Que7+ Bxe7 12.Kxe7 13 Nah8 Beg? 14 Rel and wins 13 Nxh8 (Diagram 9) White already hus a rook and two pawns for the pair of minor pieces and if he wins one more he will have the material advantage. In the game Black experiences enormous problema in rounding up the ‘dead’ knight at hB. 13...Bd5 14 0-0 Bg On 14..0-0-0 15 Rel Bi 16 c4 By 17 BgS g6 18 Bxgé hag 19 Nagt White is winning. 15 Rel Kf 16 h3 Bd 17 Bg5 NbG On 17_.c6 18. decd Nxch 19 Be2 Hd 20 Rad] Bea2 2] Brh7! wins. 1863 Nbd5 19 c4 Nid 20 BS Rd& 21 d5 a5 22 Red! Preparing the attack against black king. White's pawns restrict all the black pieces and inn couple of moves he creates strong threats on the kingside. 22..b6 23 g4 Naé 24 Rfa! Neb 25 Bd! 1-0 Game 79 OO M.Gurevich ll Short Manila Interzonal 1980 Ldde6 2eddh 3 ends Mikhail Gurevich had led the Interzonal all the way and now needed only to draw this game to qualify for the Candidates matches, Short needed a win, S.exd5 4 Nf Bed An active continuation, More usually Black is happy to equalise with 4..Bd6 or 4... NIB. 167Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Gut: The French 168 5 h3 Bhé 6 Be2 6 Qe+ Qe7 7 Bed is more testing, planning Ne3 and 0-0-0. 6..Bd6 6...NoG 70-0 Bdé 8 Ned Ngo7 9 Hed 16 10 Qd2 BIT 11 Rael was Mar: shall-Capablanca, St, Petersburg 1914. 7 NeS (Diagram 10) Diagram 10 Diagram 11 ‘White plays for a draw (Glack breaks in on the queanside ‘He exchanges as many pieces as possible, 7..Bxe2 § Qxe2 Ne7 90-0 9 Qb5+7! does not win a pawn after 9. Nbc as dd is attacked. 9...0-0 10 BE Ref 11 Qg4 Bred 12 BxeS Ngo Pah deple moves Short has brought about full equality. But he had to win. 13 Bga Nd7 14 Nd2 NEG 15 Qf3 ch 16 Qb3 Qhél? 17 Qxbs _—« He must have beon over the moon. But Short keeps trun: 1T..0xb6 18 037! ‘16 ad! would have stopped any of the subsequent queenaide shenani- gana. 18...Ned ‘18..Rez 19 Rid] Net 20 Nxed dxe4 21 Racl bod to nothing. 18...Nh5 19 Be? Nhfi 20 Bxb6 Raé 21 Bei bi 22 Bdé Ne2+ 24 Khl Neda 24 ca!? with balanced chances was proposed as an odd sidelino, 19 Nxed Reed 20 Rfdi b§ 21 KM #6 22 13 Reé 23 Rel Kf 24 RueG Another exchange, but Short has not run out of steam yet. ‘24_.KeeG 25 Rel+ 25 Bel!?, off to b4, was another set up. Copyrighted MaterialCopyrighted Mate @ Rubinstein Variation and Others 26...KdT 26 Ke? 26 Bh2!, meeting 26.45 with 27 e4, might have led to a more deair- able arrangement of the kingside pawns. 26_.h5 Probing. 27 Kida hé 26 Bh? Ne7 29 BM Ni 30 Bdz bé 31 Red Tf 31 Bb Re (intending ..c5) 32 Re? cS 33 Bed Ra, 91..c6 32 Bed bal (Diagram 11) 39 axbd od¢ 34 Ke3 Ndé 35 Rel Rad 36 Kd? Rubd 37 Ral Reb? ‘38 Ral+ Keé 39 Regi bS 40 BfZ b4 41 Kel c3 42 Bxhd NG 0-1 After 43 Rh7 Ned is terminal. ‘Short played this right down the line!" -M.Chandler, Nigel regards. this as his most memorable game. ‘Game 80 (Cl Morozevich Ill Kiriakew SiFetenbuy 1897 Led 06 2 Qez (Diagram 12) ‘Chigorin’s move, but not too critical an idea. If you have red some- where about not developing the queen too early and nat putting it in front of your king's bishop, then we may have read the same books. 2.06 ‘The Sicilinnesque 2...c5 is the next game. 33 dxeslt 3..NeTI?. 4dxe4 b6 5 Nf Bes 5...Ba6!? looks mare logical, for example 6 c4 cb 7 Ned Ne7 4 Bla Ngo Copyrighted Material 169Copyrighted Material Starting Out: The French 70 9 Rdl Qe8 10 Bel Be7 11 h4 Neé with equality in Bakhtadee- Rabinovich, Tallinn 1997. Ged a5 Kiriakov is determined to gain a tempo by developing his bishop on the white queen from w6. He also secures the posit af hia cS bishop, but it doos mot look right there te me, and he soon abilfts it. 7 Qct NfG 8 BgS hé 9 Bhd Be7 10 Naat? Acute move, but the normal 10 Nbd2 was good too. Moro lures the black king's bishop off to amash up the queenside pawns. But that costs an important potential defender. 10...Nfd7 11 Bg3 Brad ‘On 11.00 12 Nb Naé 13 0-0-0 White has o big advantage in space, 12 bund Baé 13 c4 BbT 14 Rdl Qc8 15 Bez 0-0 16 0-0 Net Black's game looks comfy enough. 1765 Ne7 18 Nd4 Ned 19 1 Ni 20 Bit Nxd4?! It was stronger to play 20._RdB! and Black has enough compensation mn after 21 NxfS exf} 22 Rxd8+ Qxd6 23 Bxed buch 24 Qxi5 21 Badd! A new attacker makes his appearance, 21..Rd8 22 Rg (Diagram 13) 22...Rd7 It would have been wiser to have supplied himself with another de- fender by 22..Nd7! when he is holding out after, e.g. 23 £4 NIB 24 Bh4 Rd7 25 15 exfS 26 Quis Qes. 23 Bhd Khé 24 Qel Qs On 24._Kh7 White may immediately do the business with 25 Bf6! exfG 26 exfé QP 27 Qi4 Rad 25 Rg7+ Qug7 29 fxgT KxgT 30 hd, etc, 24 Qed Nad Hoping to trade queens, but now the knight's even further away from the scene of the action. 26 Khi Qed 27 Qf4 Rys 28 Ral Nes What else? 29 Rad? Four attackers now. 29,.Nxe2 30 Qxh6+! 10 30...gxh6 31 BiG+ Kh7 32 Rafi+ Rg? 33 Rixg?+ KhS 34 RgS+ mates, Game 61 Oldoregevich ll Bolmatow Russian Cup 1957 Led e8 2 Qe2 cS 4 ga Ne6 4 cd g6 5 Bg? Bg? 6 f4 Nge7 7 NES dé a Copyrighted MaternalCopyriphted Materyhg Rubinstein Variation and Others 0-0 0-0 9 d3 (Diagram 14) Diagram 14 Diagram 15 From the French to the Sictian A ctitical moment inthe game: Play has veered back into something like a Closed Sicilian. 9 Nad RbS 10 Khl db 11 5 Qa5 12 Ned b5 13.03. d4!? M4 cadd cxdd 15 Néxd4 Ned 16 Nxd4 Bb7 17 b4 Bxg?+ 18 Qug? Qb6 led to chances for both sides in Fedorov-Zakharovich, Minsk 1997. S..b5 10 Bes On 10 a3 Black would keep on trundling with 10.05. WO.bt Dolmatov has already solved all openings problems. 11 Rel A now move, but neither did 11 Qc? cause Black any problems after 11...Qa5 12 Nfdz baed 14 bxed Bab 14 Rd Réc8 15 Net Qc7 16 BEE di in Huseinov-Budnikov, Azow L891, LL.bxed 12 bxcd Bab 11 Nbd2 RbS 14 BE QdT He might have considered the line 14,f!? Lied dueG 16 fxeh Qe7 17 Buch Nxed, 15 Nbo ob 16 1! A correct and brave decision. If White plays passively, Dolmatoy will get the initiative on both sides 16...gxf8 17 Bh3 Ge’ Accurate defence. On 17...Qe7 18 exfS e4 19 NegS Bxd3 20 Qh h6 21 f6 White developa a mighty initiative, e.g. 21_.hxg5 22 Bxgh!, or 21..Bafé 22 Neé! Be? 23 Qxh6 fxe6 24 BxeG+ RET 25 Qxf6 winning. 18 exfS e4 19 Ngé (Diagram 15) 19..Nd5! 19...0xd3? would have been very dangerous, viz 20 Qh5 hé 21 Net (21 6 Nd5 holds out) 21..Nd5 22 Bab Qeed (or 22...Bxh6 23 Qxh6 Qued 24 Rel) 23 Rel! Qed 24 Bixg7 Kxg? 25 (5+ Khe 26 (6 Naf 27 Quite m Copyrighted MCopyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French 12 Kgd 25 Qg5+ Khe 29 Qho+ Kgs 30 Bi and White is winning. Instead Sergei Dolmatoy gives a pawn for active play, 20 Nxed Not 20 Qh5? as 20,.N6 seals everything up in Black's favour, 20...Qxed! 21 deed Bxed 22 exd5 Ned 23 Bg? tice Bf Bgd.or 23 BM Ried are all nice continuations for 23._Rfeb 24 Bf Rbé! 25 Bgs hé 26 Bhd Nd7 27 ba hS 28 BEL? A mistake in time trouble, but any case Black had more than enough compensation for the pawn. 28..Bxfl 29 Kafl ReS 30 BAB Or 30 ga hxgd 31 hygd Ret, 30..RxfS+ 31 Kg? RbT 32 Real? Nfe Not falling inte the trap. After $2_.Red5? the situation would be changed completely: 33 NaS! RbS 34 a4 Rbd 35 NeG Red? (35..Rd3) 36 Ne+ etc. 33 Nab? White's last chance was 33 Bxfé Exfé 34 Rf and he is only slightly worse. 33...Nxdb! White's pawns fall like leaves, and the final part of the game doesn't deserve any comment. 34 Rel Rd7 35 Reb+ KhT 36 Ned Nxed 37 Bad Nbb 38 Rd? Ndd 39 Bed db 40 Ned Red 41 Reed Bred 42 Badd Budd 43 Nf Bod 44 Rei dé 45 Kfd d3 46 Ned Kg6 47 Nod Kf 45 Rel Bb4 49 03 dz 50 Rdl Bed 51 Ned+ KeS 62 Ke? Red 53 Rbi Rdd 54 Ndi Regd 55 EbT Rg2+ 56 Kfl Rh? 57 Kgl Re? 68 Nxcd+ Kd3 $9 Kf Rel+ 0-1Index of Variations Winawer Variation lede6 2d4d53 Ne3 Bb4 405 4 Nge? 50; 4 Bd3 50; 4 Ba? 50 405 4...Ne7 5 NIS 49 5 a3 Bacd+ 6...Ba6 6 bd cxdd 7 Qed 32: 7 NbS 32 @bxed Ne7 6...Qe7 25; 6,.Qab 35 7Qe4 Tatas TN 7 Sha 34,8 BbS+ Bd7 9 Bd3 Bad 28 7.7 7...0-0 20, 7. JKEB 29 8 Qxgi 12 Classical Variation Led eG 2d4d5 3 Ned NMG4 Beh 4e6 Nid7 5 Noe? 65 5 f4c5 6 NES Nc6 7 Bed 7...cxd 4 65; 7...Qb6 69 13Copyri Starting Out: The Fr 4uudxed 4,..Bb4 505 h6 ¢ Bad Bed 7 bxed Ned 92 4...BeT 5 e5 Nid7 6 Bee $9, 6 ha 90 5 Nxed Be7 &...Nbd7 76 6 Bxft Bufé 75 6,.gxf 78 Tarrasch Variation led eb £déd53.Nd2 NMG a.BeT 155 4 Nefa 137 dexd5 4d 121; 4 end 122 405 Nfd7 5 Bd3 SM 0 5 Nef cS Ged M4: Ged 118 5.08 6 cd Neb 7 Ne? exd4 8 exdd (6 9 exfG Nafé 100-0 Bdé 11 Nf 109 Advance Variation LedeG2d4d5de6 cS 4c3 Neb 5 Nf Bd7 5..Qb6 603 157; ..Nge7 1d 6Bet 6 Bd I44; 6 ad 15 G..NgeT 7 Nad exd4 6 cxdd Nf 9 Ne? Qb6 10 0-0 147 ha lag Rubinstein Variation and Others ledes ida 243 160, 2 Qe? 160 2b d Ned dendS exd5 159 S.deed 4 Need Nd7 158 4..Bd? 158 Copy Material 174Material Copyrighted Material 15Copyrighted Material ‘Starting Out: The French Copyrighted Material 176