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.
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