Home » Archives for July 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
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Essential Chess Tactics and Combinations
As the famous saying goes ãChess is 99% tactics.ä What are chess tactics? Tactics are maneuvers that take advantage of short-term opportunities, often (but not necessarily) involving combinations or sacrifices. In this DVD, Susan will introduce the most common tactical elements in chess.
109 minutes
Grandmaster Susan Polgar:
- 4-time Womenâs World Champion
- Worldâs only Triple-Crown Winner (World Blitz, Rapid & Classical World Champion)
- 5-time Olympic Champion (5 Gold, 4 Silver, 1 Bronze)
- Currently Ranked #1 in the U.S. and the World
- 2003 Grandmaster of the Year and U.S. Open Blitz Champion
- Award Winning and Best Selling Author
- Founder of the Susan Polgar Foundation, a non-profit organization to promote chess for young people
In collaboration with FM Paul Truong:
- 11-time National Champion and Winner of over 120 tournaments in U.S., Asia and Europe
- Captain of the 2004 Historic U.S. Womenâs Olympiad Silver-Medalist Team
- Award Winning Chess Author and Trainer with 35 years experience
http://www.chessindia.net/community/...an-polgar-688/
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Saturday, July 30, 2011
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Learn How to Create a Plan in the Opening, Middle & Endgame
Planning in chess is essential throughout the entire game. On this DVD, Susan will teach you the general ideas and concepts for short and long term planning in the opening, middle and endgame. You will come away with a better understanding and insight on all three phases of a chess game. Your moves will have more meaning and purpose, which will result in more wins. So, sit back and let Susan teach you the foundation of essential chess planning.
109 minutes
Grandmaster Susan Polgar:
- 4-time Womenâs World Champion
- Worldâs only Triple-Crown Winner (World Blitz, Rapid & Classical World Champion)
- 5-time Olympic Champion (5 Gold, 4 Silver, 1 Bronze)
- Currently Ranked #1 in the U.S. and the World
- 2003 Grandmaster of the Year and U.S. Open Blitz Champion
- Award Winning and Best Selling Author
- Founder of the Susan Polgar Foundation, a non-profit organization to promote chess for young people
In collaboration with FM Paul Truong:
- 11-time National Champion and Winner of over 120 tournaments in U.S., Asia and Europe
- Captain of the 2004 Historic U.S. Womenâs Olympiad Silver-Medalist Team
- Award Winning Chess Author and Trainer with 35 years experience
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Blogurway
The Basic Principles of Chess
Susan will take you through 8 easy to follow, highly instructive games covering the basic principles of chess. This will help your understanding of chess and is guaranteed to improve your chess game. She will show you how to avoid the most common mistakes made in chess and give your chess game a strong, fundamentally sound foundation. This DVD was designed to help the novice to intermediate player; so sit back and let one of the Worldâs strongest players train you.
139 minutes
Grandmaster Susan Polgar:
- 4-time Womenâs World Champion
- Worldâs only Triple-Crown Winner (World Blitz, Rapid & Classical World Champion)
- 5-time Olympic Champion (5 Gold, 4 Silver, 1 Bronze)
- Currently Ranked #1 in the U.S. and the World
- 2003 Grandmaster of the Year and U.S. Open Blitz Champion
- Award Winning and Best Selling Author
- Founder of the Susan Polgar Foundation, a non-profit organization to promote chess for young people
In collaboration with FM Paul Truong:
- 11-time National Champion and Winner of over 120 tournaments in U.S., Asia and Europe
- Captain of the 2004 Historic U.S. Womenâs Olympiad Silver-Medalist Team
- Award Winning Chess Author and Trainer with 35 years experience
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Saturday, July 30, 2011
Blogurway
Beating the Sicilian: Grandmaster Bologan's Repertoire Vol.2 - Viktor Bologan (Full DVD) | Chessbase Fritz Trainer
The second volume of the Open Sicilian is dedicated to two very important areas: the most interesting opening of all time the Najdorf Variation, and also to the most romantic line in the Sicilian - the Dragon Variation. It’s actually enough to point out that both openings were played successfully by Garry Kasparov with Black. The author’s task was to give White some clear lines which will survive all kind of possible improvements from the black side and still be able to give White hope for an advantage. In both cases Bologan recommends a setup with f3, Be3, Qd2, the so-called English Attack. The similarity of ideas makes the job of memorising lines somewhat easier, and at the same time the traditional line by line approach allows the avoidance of any unpleasant surprises. Many mysteries under the surface of the Sicilian can be found by hard work and experience and the author really hopes that this DVD will help you in that! Video running time: 5 hours 40 minutes.
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Sunday, July 24, 2011
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My best games Yasser Seirawan (Full DVD) | Chessbase Fritz Trainer
Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan began playing chess in the summer of 1972 and by 1979 he had won the World Junior Championship and in January of 1980 earned his final Grandmaster norm. What had he learned in seven and a half years that propelled him so far so quickly?
In this, his first DVD, Yasser takes an engaging in-depth look at 22 games he played from the period 1975-1982, explaining his style, strategy and tactics against Larsen, Gligoric, Kortchnoi, Tal, Timman, Karpov and others. Yasser‘s engaging personality and desire to share his knowledge shines through as does the clarity and the ideas behind his moves. Running time: 5 hours
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Sunday, July 24, 2011
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My Life for Chess Vol. 1 - Viktor Kortchnoi (Full DVD) | Chessbase Fritz Trainer
Viktor Kortchnoi is doubtlessly one of the most electrifying personalities of the chess world. Still playing successful and attractive chess, the 73-year-old former double world championship finalist is also famous for his candid language. Kortchnoi was never one for mincing his words. Now you can experience this chess legend “live”: with the new ChessBase DVDs “My Life for Chess”, Kortchnoi has created a vivid memorial to himself and his great chess career. In Volume 1, he presents eight of his most brilliant effort from the years 1949-1979, among them games against Smyslov, Geller, Tal, Huebner and Karpov. In each case Kortchnoi describes in detail the story around the game, never beating around the bush, sometimes harshly criticizing his opponents, but also lavishing praise on them when this is warranted. A highlight is the game against Karpov from the match for the world championship in Baguio 1978. All in all, “My Life for Chess Vol. 1” offers more than three hours of first-class chess training, plus an extensive interview. A must-have for every chess fan!
Victor Kortchnoi, two-times contender for the world championship, is a piece of living chess history. In the 60 years of his career, “Victor the Terrible” crossed swords with practically all great players of the past and presence, including Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov. A relentless fighter at the board, he expressed his never-ending love for the royal game in a very simple phrase – “Chess is my life”.
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Sunday, July 24, 2011
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Beating the French Vol. 2 - Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Full DVD) | Chessbase Fritz Trainer
In his DVD series on the French Defence, Rustam Kasimdzhanov presents a promising White repertoire based upon 3.Nc3. Topic of the second DVD is the position following 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3. Very often this leads to a queenless middlegame or endgame with a white knight on d4 versus a bad bishop on c8 which offers White excellent winning prospects. In 12 video lessons Kasimdzhanov explains, in detail and easy to understand, how White has to proceed to be successful in this position. For players who prefer a dynamic middlegame with queens, he also shows (with games of Kasparov, Shirov and Kramnik, among others) how White can sharpen the fight and go for an attack on the king. Video running time: 3 hrs. 17 min.
Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Born in 1979, the grandmaster from Uzbekistan has for many years been known as a very strong and imaginative player. However in
2004 Rustam Kasimdzhanov (pronounced “Kah-zeem-jha-nov”) shocked the chess world by winning the FIDE world chess championship title, beating a string of
world-class players like Ivanchuk, Grischuk, Topalov and Adams in the process. Kasimdzhanov is a very deep player, who is able to explain chess ideas in an eloquent, lucid style, with a fi ne touch of humour. His lessons are both entertaining and instructive – perfect for students who seek to avoid “dry” theory.
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Saturday, July 23, 2011
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ChessBase Magazine 128 (Full DVD)
The first issue of 2009 looks back to the great events at the end of last year. The Chess Olympiad, the object of great excitement and expectation in Germany, constitutes, not only because of the number of games and analyses, the major theme of the DVD. Other highlights include the FIDE Grand Prix in Elista, the continuation of which is today something about which we must be anxious and the super-strong tournament in Nanjing in China. Amongst the star authors in this issue you will find Magnus Carlsen, Teimour Radjabov, Boris Gelfand, Loek van Wely, Vugar Gashimov and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Blogurway
ChessBase Magazine 130 (Full DVD)
The World Champion, the player who will perhaps be the next challenger for the world title (cover photo), a prime candidate for the title of Women’s World Champion, one of the world’s best chess trainers, one of the world’s leading endgame experts – all of these and many other reputed grandmasters annotate games of their own for this issue of ChessBase Magazine, or they present new opening ideas, or explain instructive middlegame ideas or review the events of recent months.
Introductory videos:
- Vishy Anand annotates FIDE Grand Prix
- Nalchik FIDE Women’s Grand Prix in Istanbul
- European Championship in Budva
- A system against 1.d4
- A rediscovery in the Grünfeld Defence
- Slav with 4...a6
Opening Surveys
Karolyi: English A18 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 The author analyses the Mikenas Variation with 3…d5 from White’s point of view and suggests 4.cxd5 (instead of 4.e5) 4…exd5 5.e5. Now 5…d4 and 5…Ne4 are the most important variations; in both lines White should achieve a slight advantage.
Stohl: Benko Gambit A57 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.Qc2
The setup for White investigated by Igor Stohl is really simple: White wants to play e4, but holds back on developing the Nb1 till Black has clarified his intentions about the b-pawn. The critical variation begins with 4…dxc4 5.e4 e6.
Marin: Dutch Defence A86 1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 Bg7 5.Nc3 0-0 6.Nh3 e6
When White plays 6.Nh3 he intends to play d5 and Nf4; Black fortifies himself against this setup with 6…e6 intending to follow up with …d6 and …e5. If White develops normally, Black has nothing to fear, but up until now more aggressive attempts have not yet led to success.
Skembris: Caro-Kann B17 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.Bd3 g6
6…g6 (instead of the very frequently played 6…e6) has a bad reputation, but Skembris manages to prove in his article that this is simply due to a few early traps. Black can hope for a good game after 6…g6.
Kuzmin: Caro-Kann B18 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Nc5
With this provocative knight move, White would like to create a weakness in the black camp, even if all he manages to do is to force the queen on to an unfavourable square. 5…Nd7 is worth consideration, but by far the most frequent move is 5…b6.
Postny: Scotch C45 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bb4+ 5.c3 Bc5
By choosing the side line 4…Bb4+ Black side-steps a whole heap of opening theory, but nevertheless manages to obtain good prospects for a level game. White must play 5.c3, after which it is not easy to develop the Nb1 to a good square.
Kovalov: Italian Game C50 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 Nf6 5.d4!?
This gambit leads after 5…exd4 6.e5 into the Max Lange Attack. 5…Nxd4 is weak on account of 6.Nxe5. Black must play 5…Bxd4 6.Nxd4 Nxd4 7.f4 d6. Movsesian (White) defeated Adams in this line – a good enough reason to study it.
Langrock: Ruy Lopez C68 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.0-0 Qf6
Black wants to protect the e5-pawn, just like with 5…Qd6, but without 6.Na3 being a danger for him. The main line is 6.d4 exd4 7.Bg5, but as Langrock explains, Black can equalise and here he has the advantage that there is so far not a lot of theory.
Marin: Ruy Lopez C93 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 h6 10.d4 Re8
In the second part of his investigations into the Smyslov Variation, our author examines a few side lines, which, however, also do not give White any prospect of an opening advantage.
Grivas: Queen's Gambit D38 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5
This is another part of a 1.d4 repertoire presented by Grivas. The author avoids the more intensively studied theoretical lines above all with an early Rc1 and nevertheless possesses prospects of a slight opening advantage.
Krasenkow: Grünfeld Defence D98/D99 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Qb3 dxc4 6.Qxc4 0-0 7.e4 Bg4
The Smyslov Variation 7…Bg4 has slightly fallen out of fashion nowadays, but Krasenkow has played it himself and is of the opinion that Black obtains decent positions.
Bojkov: King's Indian Defence E90 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3 e5 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Bg5 Na6 10.Nd5 Rd6
This article directed at the Exchange Variation of the King’s Indian is written from the point of view of Black and it is clear that the author has more in mind than simply a draw. He makes good use of his own (positive) experience.
Other columns on the DVD
Oliver Reeh: Tactics Our tactics expert Oliver Reeh has selected 29 games to which he has added training questions. Most of them come from the European Championship in Budva. In his video in Fritztrainer format he once more discusses his favourite combination.
Peter Wells: Strategy The second article on the theme of Weak squares will also help you to widen your chess horizons. The English grandmaster gives deep insights into the subject.
Daniel King: Move by Move In Daniel King’s column, every move for each side is provided with training questions from a certain point onwards. All plausible replies are taken into account and awarded points and / or feedback. For CBM 130 King has selected and worked on the game Hovhannisyan – Kurnosov, Moscow 2009.
Rainer Knaak: Opening trap This column is designed to complement the product "1000 opening traps". New or as yet undiscovered traps are presented. This time the subject is a trap in the Ragosin Variation of the Queen’s Gambit which has been missed by several strong players.
Fritztrainer The column contains an introductory text, which links to a total of five videos in Fritztrainer format. The authors are Adrian Mikhalchishin, Dorian Rogozenco, Lubomir Ftacnik, Andrew Martin and Nigel Davies.
ICCF Tele-Chess The database sent to us by the ICCF contains more than 1,000 games.
Karsten Müller: Endgames Karsten Müller’s endgame column contains two texts. The first one gives you access to four endgame videos in Fritztrainer format. The second text is devoted to the theme of liquidating to pawn endings. It has a second video as an introduction and is followed by 15 games, including the solutions to the endgame positions on page 26.
New DVDs
In the introduction to our new products, we also include Fritztrainer clips from the DVDs. This time we have videos by Alexei Shirov, Andrew Martin and Lubomir Ftacnik.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
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ChessBase Magazine 131 (Full DVD)
ChessBase Magazine 131In recent months the world of chess has seen two tragic heroes. For the first time in a long while Alexei Shirov won an absolutely top tournament in Sofia. But immediately afterwards he came in hopelessly last in the Poikovsky Tournament. Things were different for Vassily Ivanchuk, whose ELO-rating was recently in free fall. In last place in Sofia, he went on to celebrate a majestic tournament victory in the “Kings Tournament” in Bazna. Dortmund represented a pause for Shirov and Ivanchuk. There it was Vladimir Kramnik who took first place in his tried and tested manner – controlled chess with pressure exerted just at the right moment – for the ninth time.
Introductory Videos
Once more GM Karsten Müller takes a look in his introductory video at a few selected highlights from this DVD, e.g. the decisive moment in Dortmund in the game Kramnik-Carlsen or the tricky final combination of the victor in Poikovsky, Alexander Motylev, against Alexei Shirov. He also refers briefly to two opening articles from this issue which will certainly be received with special interest: Grivas' "Sicilian with 3.Bb5 – a repertoire for Black" and Kuzmin’s "The new Anti-Grünfeld" (with the move 5.b4).
Dorian Rogozenco casts his eye back over recent tournaments; this will be of interest since in recent months Sofia, Poikovsky, Bazna and Dortmund were four top tournaments. Out of the tournament in Sofia the Romanian GM has chosen to explain, e.g., the decisive moments in the final round game Shirov-Carlsen. Rogozenco goes into the tournament in Bazna in detail; it was the first world class tournament on Romanian soil. From it he presents the game Ivanchuk-Shirov, in which the future tournament victor first of all played a strong innovation and then surprised all with some fantastic resources which he found in the endgame.
M-Tel Masters Sofia
Grounds for joy for Alexei Shirov: it was not the serial winner of past years, Veselin Topalov, but the friendly naturalised Spaniard who won the tournament in Sofia this year and in doing so qualified for the Grand Slam Final in Bilbao. The decision as to who would win the tournament did not come until the final round. Magnus Carlsen, after wins in rounds 7 and 9, was half a point ahead of Shirov and Topalov. Since in his final round game Topalov could manage no more than a draw against Wang Yue, it was the Shirov - Carlsen game which would decide victory in the tournament.
Alexei Shirov annotated this exciting game in video format only a few days after Sofia. He describes the circumstances and his strategic thoughts before the final round. Decided not to shrink from any complications and happy with Carlsen’s choice of opening (Sveshnikov) Shirov went in for the sharper 9.Bxf6. He then deviated with 15.Qh5 from the present main line 15.Qf3 with which, e.g. Anand had been successful against Radjabov in Linares 2009 (see Anand’s audio analysis in CBM 130). The position on the board on the left had been part of Shirov’s preparation, but in the video he admits that after 21...Kh8 22.Nc2 Be5 Black has a strong initiative for the pawn he has sacrificed. Don’t miss Shirov’s extensive analysis of this highly tactical game.
In spite of his success in Sofia Shirov was not totally satisfied with the quality of his play. As he explains at the start of his second video, the part of his success which was due to home preparation was far greater than that of fantasy and creativity over the board. For his best game in the tournament Shirov has selected his draw with Dominguez, because in it both sides did not always make the objectively correct moves but the game was full of ideas. Dominguez surprised his opponent in the Najdorf Variation with 6.Bg5 firstly by playing the not very modern 7...Be7 and later with the double-edged 10...h6. In his video Shirov goes deeply into the opening phase and explains how he decided on the central push and pawn sacrifice. In an apparently critical position, Dominguez found in 18...0-0-0 a defensive resource, which Shirov praises very highly.
With his first round victory over Topalov Magnus Carlsen made it clear right from the start that it would be difficult for the Bulgarian to defend his title this time. Carlsen annotates this game in depth on the DVD. In the Moscow Variation of the Queen’s Gambit Topalov missed on move 21 a good opportunity to equalise immediately and even to obtain a slight initiative. Only a few moves later the Bulgarian – probably as a result of a tactical miscalculation – committed a major strategic error. Carlsen didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth and exploited the weakening of the black position logically with an attack on the king.
Karpov tournament in Poikovsky
The next tournament highlight began two weeks after Sofia in Poikovsky in Russia. There at the start was: Alexei Shirov. But the victor of Sofia got off to a classic bad start. In the first round he lost an extremely tactical game, which has been annotated in depth on the DVD by the victor Ernesto Inarkiev (Inarkiev,E - Shirov,A). This was immediately followed by three further defeats for Shirov including one against the future winner of the tournament Alexander Motylev, who for the first time was able to push his Elo rating above 2700 thanks to his success in the tournament.
In this issue Motylev annotates two of his wins from Poikovsky. In the game against Shirov, Motylev did not feel at all happy about the opening. As has happened in some previous games between these two opponents, it was the Four Knights Game that was played. In view of the lack of promising prospects, Motylev chose on move 12 the innovation Ne3. A dubious move, as the 30 year old Russian concedes in his analysis, because Black then gets the initiative and could have gained an advantage in the position in the diagram by 17...Nxb3 followed by 18...f5. But instead Shirov went in for the complications after 17...Nxd3 and went on to underestimate on several occasions the potential of White’s position. After only 25 moves he had to lay down his arms.
In the return round the young German had Black and had to be on the defensive against Dominguez. Meier may have lost the game, but as he points out at the start of his analysis it was the most interesting of his games in Havana. As expected, the opening was a Rubinstein Variation in the French Defence. In his presentation Meier not only goes into detail about the variation which Dominguez had already tried out on several occasions (11.Bb5) but also into basic considerations, e.g. what was Kasparov’s idea in 2002 when he introduced the move 7.c3. In the position in the diagram Meier played the new move 17...Qc6 with the idea of posting the queen more actively and getting more control over the white squares. But the Cuban once more showed a subtle feeling for the position and secured himself a slight long term advantage by creating an asymmetrical distribution of pawns with a pawn majority on the queenside. You should not miss Georg Meier’s video analysis of the game and Dominguez’ masterly handling of the bishop ending.
The Two Knights Tango as a weapon against 1.d4
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 – these moves bring about the so-called Two Knights Tango, which was created in the 90s and which since then has been on trial in practice. GM Lubomir Ftacnik presents in his video analysis White’s attempts at a refutation. Whereas 3.Nf3 gives Black the possibility of transposing to various well-known systems (e.g. from the Nimzo- or Bogo-Indian), Ftacnik recommends to White the move 3.Nc3. This leads to less well-known territory and offers plenty of room for creativity. His conclusion: for the moment there is no sign of a refutation of the Tango, and possibly, who knows, there may well never be one. In the Fritztrainer column you will find two further opening contributions in video format: Grünfeld Defence with 5.Bd2 by Mikalchishin and a repertoire idea 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 by Rogozenco.
From the opening trap to the endgame study
Training in ChessBase Magazine begins with the very first moves and takes in all phases of the game of chess. The Opening trap by GM Rainer Knaak can be used as early as move six this time. What would you play as White in the position in the diagram? Peter Wells' renowned Middlegame column is given over to the subject 'There is tension in the centre'. Recent master games constitute the basis of the Tactics column by Oliver Reeh and the Endgame column by Karsten Müller. And in Daniel King’s Move by Move the game Kosintseva–Bocharov from the Aeroflot Open 2009 adds yet another game with the Philidor Defence to your training plan.
Opening surveys
Karolyi: English A19
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 c5 4.e5 Ng8 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Nxe5
After 3…c5 4.e5 in the Mikenas System things start to happen, because White sacrifices a pawn and gets in return good play on the white squares. The author presents a repertoire from White’s point of view.
Skembris: English A29
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.g3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bg2 Nb6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.0-0 Be7 8.a4!? a5
The author sets about rehabilitating the move 8.a4 which has been written off as dubious. If White reacts energetically, especially with the temporary pawn sacrifice 9.d4, this should be successful and Black has to struggle for equality.
Marin: Dutch Defence A81
1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nh3 Bg7 5.Nf4
White wants to push his h-pawn to h6 and has been very successful with this idea. But Marin looks at it all from Black’s point of view and does his level best to find an antidote – successfully!
Stohl: Caro-Kann B10
1.e4 c6 2.c4 d5 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.exd5 Nf6 5.Qa4+
This side line is very venomous – if Black does not know what he is doing, he will end up stuck with a pawn deficit. White’s setup can even be employed against those who play the Slav, because it all starts with 1.c4 c6 2.e4.
Kovalov: Sicilian B42
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc5 6.Nb3 Ba7 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Qg4 Nf6 9.Qg3 d6
Can White get an advantage when faced with the tempting but also daring idea of …Bc5 and …Ba7? Our author is analysing from Black’s point of view, but nevertheless concludes that with accurate play White will achieve a slight superiority.
Grivas: Sicilian B51
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 (d6) 3.Bb5 d6 (Nc6)
The black setup can be used both after 2…d6 and after 2…Nc6. White gets nowhere with 4.Bxc6+, because later he cannot manage without d2-d4. Even in the main line after 4.0-0 Bd7 White cannot achieve an advantage.
Postny: Sicilian B96
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Nbd7 8.Bc4
What is attractive about 8.Bc4 is above all that Black, if he plays the usual moves, soon falls behind, Only 8…Qb6! is correct. Postny shows that after that White can achieve no more than equality.
Kritz: French Defence C16
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 b6!?
Here White must react energetically, i.e. with 7.Qg4, or else next comes…Ba6 with equality. The author gives glimpses of the correct way to play for both sides. If the order of moves is correct, he can see an advantage for Black.
Marin: Ruy Lopez C93
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 h6 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.Nf1 Bb7 13.Ng3 Na5 14.Bc2 Nc4
The third and last article on the Smyslov variation: 9…h6 looks into the move 12…Bb7. In his detailed analysis Marin comes to the conclusion that the move does not equalise completely. For that reason he would prefer 12…Bd7 as examined in CBM 129.
Kuzmin: Queen's Pawn Opening D02
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nbd2 d5 4.e3 Bg7 5.b4 0-0
The author calls this an Anti-Grünfeld System. In fact, the point of it is to render as difficult as possible the move …c5 which is so typical of the Grünfeld and in addition the white knight is better on d2 than on c3.
Krasenkow: Grünfeld Defence D81
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Qb3 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bg7 6.e4 0-0
Here the idea is to hold back the move Nf3, which naturally excludes variations for Black with …Bg4. The variation is still under discussion at the top level and obviously the last word has not yet been said about it.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Blogurway
ChessBase Magazine 133 (Full DVD)
Four highlights and a new number one. That is the summary of the autumn of 2009 in chess. It ran from the Pearl Spring Tournament in Nanjing with the triumphal success of Magnus Carlsen via the European Club and National Championships to the major high point of the year, the Tal Memorial in Moscow, which Vladimir Kramnik was able to take with half a point of a lead. The new (unofficial) number one in the FIDE world ranking list is now Magnus Carlsen, whose second place in Moscow was sufficient for him to push Topalov from the top spot.
