Nimzo Indian strategic dream

Apologies that there have been no posts for a couple of days. I ended up in hospital on Sunday, but a raging temperature, two saline drips, and some awful headaches later, I'm finally starting to recover (I hope!).

Two weeks ago, I showed you one of my best games, where Black ventured an unusual move order in the Nimzo Indian to try and establish a strong knight on c4, but the idea was torn apart by immediate energetic play from White.

The game below, a strategic dream for any Nimzo Indian player, shows how strong the Black knights can become, especially if White plays negatively. It was played at Carlsbad in 1929 by the great Aron Nimzowitsch (who the defence was named after). White's play is insipid at best, but Nimzowitsch's handling of the Black side is exemplary:

Mattison - Aron Nimzowitsch, Carlsbad 1929
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Nf3 Bxc3+ 5. bxc3 d6 6. Qc2 Qe7 7. Ba3 c5 8.g3 b6 9. Bg2 Bb7 10. O-O O-O 11. Nh4 Bxg2 12. Kxg2 Qb7+ 13. Kg1 Qa6 14. Qb3 Nc6 15. Rfd1 Na5 16. Qb5 Qxb5 17. cxb5 Nc4



18. Bc1 a6 19. bxa6 Rxa6 20. dxc5 bxc5 21. Ng2 Nd5 22. Rd3 Rfa8 23. e4 Ne5 0-1

Revisiting the French

Position after 10 ... f6

Paul Dargan and I were discussing openings the other day, and briefly exchanged a few thoughts on French Defence.

The French has a reputation as a solid but un-adventurous defence, and I must admit that when I played it as a junior the games typically fitted that description. I would win by exchanging off pieces down the c-file and gradually exploiting weaknesses in White's pawn structure. As my opponents got better and this simplistic approach stopped working, I dropped the French from my repertoire and sought adventure in the Sicilian.

However, in reality, the French, and in particular the Winawer variation, can lead to some very dynamic and unbalanced positions where wild attacks rage. This game played in 1977 Candidates final match is a perfect illustration.

Boris Spassky - Viktor Korchnoi, Game 4, Candidates 1977
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Ne7 7. a4 Bd7 8. Nf3 Qa5 9. Bd2 Nbc6 10. Be2 f6

Here's where the fun really begins. Black had been getting into difficulties with 10 ... c4, so in the mid 70's Korchnoi started adopting the double edged 10 ... f6.

11. c4 Qc7 12. exf6 gxf6 13. cxd5 Nxd5 14. c3 O-O-O 15. O-O Rhg8 16. Re1 e5 17. c4 Bh3



18. Bf1 Nb6 19. d5 Nxc4! 20. dxc6 Qxc6 21. g3 Bxf1 22. Rxf1 e4 23. Qb3 Qd5 24. Rac1 Nxd2

Here, 24... Ne5 looks strong and is Fritz's recommendation. After 25. Rxc5+ Qxc5 26. Rc1 Nxf3+ 27. Kg2 Qxc1 28. Bxc1, Fritz considers Black is better, although both Keene and Timman consider White's co-ordinated Queen and Bishop give him the upper hand.

25. Nxd2 Qxd2 26. Rxc5+ Kb8 27. Rb1 Rg7 28. Rb5 Rdd7 29. Qe6 e3 30. fxe3 Rge7 31. Qg8+ Rd8 32. Qb3 Rdd7 33. Qg8+ Rd8 34. Qb3 1/2 - 1/2

Check out Jan Timman's excellent 'Art of Chess Analysis'for a thorough study of this game.

Speelman's Schliemann

Position after 12 ... Qh3

I have to admit I wanted to shout it to the rooftops the other day when I found out about Jon Speelman's coverage of my game against Colin Crouch (My head's subsequently reduced a little in size, although give it a while longer before normality returns). After all, Jon's one of England's greatest players, he qualifed twice for the Candidates matches, and as I posted previously on Chess Tales, he was once ranked number 4 in the world.

Despite this, I also have to admit to a shocking lack of knowledge of his games and results. One game that I do remember well though was in his Candidates 1/4 final match with Jan Timman in 1989. If my memory serves me right, it was the final game and Jon needed a win with the Black pieces to force the match into a play-off.

His choice of opening for the game was the Schliemann Defence (1 e4 e5; 2 Nf3 Nc6; 3 Bb5 f5!?), one of the wildest lines Black can adopt against the Ruy Lopez. Originating in the 1840's, and truly at home with the romantic gambit play of the 19th Century, it's certainly not something you'd have expected to see in a modern Candidates Match.

Play went down one of the main lines, where White hopes to prove that Black's queen is offside and to gradually pick off the weak Black pawns. As compensation Black has active play for his pieces, and as happened in the game, the Queen can actually prove to be well posted to support an attack.

I was so impressed with the game line, that I twice foresook my Sicilian and adopted it as a surprise weapon. The results were good: a win and a draw against strong opposition.

Jan Timman - Jon Speelman, Candidates 1/4 Final 1989
1 e4 e5; 2 Nf3 Nc6; 3 Bb5 f5; 4 Nc3 fe; 5 Nxe4 d5; 6 Nxe5 de; 7 Nxc6 Qg5; 8 Qe2 Nf6; 9 f4 Qxf4; 10 Ne5+ c6; 11 d4 Qh4+; 12 g3 Qh3 (see diagram); 13 Bc4 Be6; 14 Bg5 0-0-0; 15 0-0-0 Bd6; 16 Nf7 Bxf7; 17 Bxf7 Rhf8; 18 Bc4 Rde8; 19 d5 c5; 20 Rhf1 Kb8; 21 Bf4 Rd8; 22 Bg5 a6; 23 Bxf6 gf; 24 Qxe4 Qxh2; 25 Rh1 Qxg3; 26 Rxh7 Rfe8; 27 Qf5 b5; 28 Bf1 Re1; 29 Qh5 Qf4+; 30 Kb1 Qxf1 0-1

A best game

Position after 15 Bg5!

Yesterday, I put out an appeal to find the game score for one of my best chess performances. Big thanks are due to Paul Runnacles, who not only found the score, but also an article by Grandmaster Jon Speelman about the game. I didn't know it had been covered nationally, so Paul's discovery was a real treat.

I was going to annotate the game for you, a thematic Nimzo Indian Saemisch Variation where Black tried an unusual sequence to counter White's standard plans, but instead will give Jon Speelman's analysis and a little background to the game.

It was played in the final round of the Durham Open 2000, and I had the White pieces against International Master Colin Crouch. Colin led the event, but a win would allow me to catch him. To be honest, I shouldn't have been in the running: I'd lost badly in round 1, won in 2, and had a draw with Alan Grant (a 2240 player) in round 3. Amazingly, despite my 50% score I received a full point bye in round 4 (it was a very small field) to set up the encounter with Colin Crouch. I'll let Jon Speelman pick up the story:

The decisive action took place in the last round when Coathup, who is only rated 2130, unexpectedly defeated Crouch in the game below: while Grant won against Yugoslav Dusan Zdjelar, to share the spoils.

In a Nimzo-Indian, White's mobile pawn centre gave him some advantage after a dozen moves but Crouch's 12...h5 and 13...h4 and 14...g6, while thematic, simply didn't work and after 15.Bg5! Black is very close to, if not entirely, lost.

If 15...dxe4 16.fxe4 gxf5 17.e5 Nxe5 (17...Qd5 18.Bxf6 Qxg2 19.0- 0-0 is a better try but still foul for Black) 18.Qe2! White wins a piece. 19.g4! ripped open the kingside after which the admirably calm 22.Rh5 and 23.Qxf5 removed a vital pawn.

With 25.Bg5!, Coathup got the bishop out of the way prior to advancing the f pawn. An impressively smooth and unharried performance against an opponent who is not only a grandmaster but also rated nearly 300 points more than the winner.

Grandmaster Jon Speelman, The Independent, 20 April 2000

Thanks Jon!

Roger Coathup - Colin Crouch, Durham Open 2000
1 d4 Nf6; 2 c4 e6; 3 Nc3 Bb4; 4 a3 Bxc3+; 5 bc d5; 6 cd ed; 7 e3 Nc6

An unusual move. Normally Black plays c7-c5 to pressure the White centre, but Crouch had an interesting plan in mind to swap off the light squared bishops and manouevre this knight via a5 to a strong point on c4.

8 Bd3 Bg4; 9 f3 Bh5; 10 Ne2 Bg6; 11 Ng3 Bxd3; 12 Qxd3 h5; 13 e4!

For me this was the key move in the game. Black's play, albeit at the cost of several tempi, has all been directing at stopping it. If White doesn't play e4 now, Black will follow up with h4 driving back the g3 knight, and move the c6 knight to c4 dominating White's bishop. 13 e4 needed a lot of calculation though, in particular envisaging 15 Bg5 and analysing the variations (as given by Speelman) that follow.

13 ... h4; 14 Nf5 g6; 15 Bg5! (see diagram above) gf; 16 e5 Qd7; 17 Bxf6 Rh7; 18 Kf2 Qe6; 19 g4!



19 ... hg+; 20 hg Rxh1; 21 Rxh1 Kd7; 22 Rh5 a6; 23 Qxf5 Qxf5; 24 Rxf5 b5; 25 Bg5! Ke8; 26 Rf6 Na5; 27 Rh6 Kd7; 28 Rh7 Ke6; 29 g4 Na5; 30 f4 Nxa3; 31 f5+ 1-0

This was my maiden Open Tournament first place at standard time limits.

Bronstein and the King's Indian

With my eBay auction of a super book, "The World Chess Championship 1951", about to finish, it's a good opportunity to talk again about David Bronstein, who tied that 1951 match with Mikhail Botvinnik.

Full of enthusiasm, Bronstein was a great tactician who played adventurous attacking chess. He had deep views about the game and contributed some of our finest chess literature.

He was responsible for re-introducing the King's Gambit to top level play, but the opening he will always be most associated with is the King's Indian, where he contributed not only tactical, but also a wealth of new positional and strategic ideas.

This game against Pachman from 1946 showed a new way for Black to fight against the fianchetto variation, with Bronstein using a number of tactical shots to realise his goals in first the centre, then the queenside and finally also the kingside of the board (like the dutch football team of the 70's, this is 'total chess'):

Ludek Pachman - David Bronstein, Prague vs. Moscow 1946
(notes abridged from "Tactics in the King's Indian" by Gennady Nesis)

1 d4 Nf6; 2 c4 d6; 3 Nc3 e5; 4 Nf3 Nbd7; 5 g3 g6; 6 Bg2 Bg7; 7 0-0 0-0; 8 b3 Re8; 9 e4 ed; 10 Nxd4 Nc5; 11 Re1

After 11 f3 Black would get an excellent game with 11 ... c6 and 12 ... d5! Also bad is 11 Qc2 because of 11 ... Nfxe4; 12 Nxe4 Nxe4; 13 Bxe4 Bxd4.

11 ... a5; 12 Bb2 a4!; 13 Rc1 c6; 14 Ba1 ab; 15 ab Qb6; 16 h3 Nfd7! 17 Rb1 Nf8; 18 Kh2 h5!

White was planning to strengthen his position in the centre with 19 f4. But Bronstein is alert to his opponent's intentions: after 19 f4 he is ready to start a fight for the initiative on the kingside with 19 ... h4! 20 g4 Nfe6!, when the f-pawn also becomes a weakness.

Now the fireworks begin (RC):

19 Re2 h4!; 20 Rd2



20 ... Rxa1!; 21 Rxa1 Bxd4; 22 Rxd4 Nxb3; 23 Rxd6

The idea of this strong riposte is that on 23 ... Nxa1 there follows 24 Nd5! and 25 Nf6+. But, once again, Bronstein has foreseen everything.

23 ... Qxf2!

Now it is clear how important it was to advance the pawn to h4. Owing to this pawn it is now not possible to play 24 Qxb3 because of 24 ... hg+ 25 Kh1 Bxh3! 26 Rg1 Bxg2+ 27 Rxg2 Qf1+ 28 Rg1 Qxh3 mate!

24 Ra2 Qxg3+; 25 Kh1 Qxc3; 26 Ra3 Bxh3; 27 Rxb3 Bxg2+; 28 Kxg2 Qxc4; 29 Rd4 Qe6; 30 Rxb7 Ra8!

Black inflicts a blow on the enemy king from the queenside.

31 Qc2 h3+! 0-1

White has no satisfactory defence. On 32 Kg1 there follows 32 ... Qe5! 33 Rd1 Ra3! and then ... Ne6-f4.

Karpov French miniature

Anatoly Karpov played a sparkling miniature in the penultimate round of the Valjevo tournament.

It's a great example of how to take advantage of a slight slip by Black and dismantle a French Rubinstein (1 e4 e6; 2 d4 d5; 3 Nc3 de) setup.

International Master Georgios Souleidis has written a really instructive analysis of the game on his Entwicklungsvorsprung blog: Karpov kann auch taktisch.

Advertisement
Rosetta Stone - Free 2-Day Shipping in the U.S.

King's Indian Defence: fashion victim?

Martin Seeber writes for Chess Tales:

I was playing chess in the afternoon with my friend Roger, our top blogger. We even had a nice Czech beer to help the brains work better. Roger's a big fan of the King's indian so by game 3 I played d4 and we were on his battleground. I played g3 and advanced the centre pawns. Roger then announced that he had seen it all before or similar, it was an excellent practice game, first he dominated on the Queenside and then I hit back with a pawn sac. He played really well and I lost. Roger identified the game which was similar, it was Botvinnik vs Tal, once he mentioned it I remembered it too. When I got home I looked at my books, he was right, but of course Tal played it better than Rog! Botvinnik placed his queen on d3 instead of e2 but later it went back. I checked my theory book and it wasn't there- that's seriously out of fashion. I suppose it's not smart to tread a pathway where a world champion got murdered.

I think the King's indian is starting to fade as one of the top openings. I play it myself as black and its because I wanted to follow Fischer and Kasparov, not that I have any chance of playing like them but it's rather that their play has sprinkled magic dust on the board and one battlefield you remember is the King's Indian. Copy some of the moves and its like your recalling the action, remember when you're ten and its football and you are the players, we used to pick them, my friend was Pele and I was Alan Ball and when we scored we'd shout PELEEE!

The openings too complicated for me but who cares. It gives a disadvantage for black, that's okay we all play for fun don't we.

Getting back to my opening remark. None of the top players seem to play it and now Garry has left the world game maybe the young will grow up on slav defences and different Sicilians to the Najdorf. When Kramnik killed Garry Kasparov in the King's Indian could that have been the end of a chapter for the opening?

Then I checked back on famous moments in the opening:

Tal - Fischer, Bobby took a Tal pawn and asked him to prove it, well he did and its one of the best games ever.

Piket- Kasparov with Garry sacking on g3 with the black knight.

Okay its an addiction, maybe I'll leave the Slav alone for another year!

Martin

Openings on Chess Tales

I just prepared a reply to someone on a forum, and realised that we've reviewed ideas in a quite a few openings on Chess Tales.

Here's an index:

1. c3 Sicilian
2. Hawk Attack in the Exchange Slav
3. Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation
4. Nimzo Indian Sämisch Variation
5. Sicilian Najdorf Sozin / Fischer Attack
6. Queen's Pawn Game with 1 .. d6
7. Nimzo Larsen Opening (1 b3)
8. French Defence Advance Variation
9. Siberian Trap in the Sicilian Morra Gambit
10. Scotch Game: Mieses Variation
11. Grunfeld Defence
12. Bashing the Benko

I have notes that Yemen would like to see something on the Scandanavian with Nf6, and Prashant on the Queen's Gambit Accepted. If there's anything else you'd like to see, please let me know.

"Off-book" in the c3 Sicilian

Earlier today, I posted a position from Israeli International Master Yochanan Afek's column on Chess Vibes.

Yochanan and I have met once over the board, when he surprised me with a move in the c3 Sicilian that, despite being played by very strong players such as Michael Adams and Miguel Illescas Cordoba, doesn't merit a mention in either Chandler's book "The c3 Sicilian" or in Gallagher's "Beating the Anti-Sicilians".

Our game was published by Malcolm Pein in the Daily Telegraph, but unfortunately I was on the receiving end of a hammering!

Afek,Y - Coathup,R [B22]
Isle of Man, 29.09.2001
1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cd 5. Nf3 e6 6. cd b6 7. Bc4



Chandler and Gallagher only consider 7 Nc3, 7 Bd3 and 7 a3. Afek's bishop move aims for quick development and an attack on the Black king. In many lines White gives up the bishop pair with Bxd5 in order to leave Black with a compromised pawn structure.

7 ... Bb7 8.0-0 d6 9.Qe2 Nd7 10.Bxd5 Bxd5 11.Nc3 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 d5 13.Qg3 a6 14.Bg5 Qb8 15.Rac1 g6 16.h4 h6 17.Bf4 Be7?? 18.Nxd5 exd5 19.e6 Qd8 20.exd7+ Qxd7 21.Rfe1 g5 22.Bd6 1-0

My choice of 8. ... d6 has been played in other games, but it looks preferable to play 8 ... Be7, castle quicker and challenge White in the complications that follow. I foolishly lost another miniature at the Isle of Man two years later to Finnish FM Riku Molander again after 8 ... d6.

Here's an example of how play can develop after 8 ... Be7:

Schweber,S (2450) - Miles,A (2560) [B22]
Konex Buenos Aires (2), 1979

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 e6 6.Nf3 b6 7.Bc4 Bb7 8.0-0 Be7 9.Bxd5 Bxd5 10.Nc3 Bc4 11.Re1 0-0 12.d5 exd5 13.Nxd5 Nc6 14.Re4 Ba6 15.Rg4 f5 16.Rg3 Kh8 17.b3 Nb4 18.Nxe7 Qxe7 19.Ba3 Bc8 20.e6 f4 21.Rh3 a5 22.Qb1 h6 23.Ne5 Rf6 24.exd7 Bxd7 25.Ng6+ Rxg6 26.Qxg6 Bxh3 27.gxh3 f3 28.Bb2 Re8 29.Rf1 Kg8 30.Kh1 Qf7 31.Qxb6 Nd3 32.Bd4 Nf4 33.Qd6 Re4 34.Qb8+ Kh7 35.Be3 Nxh3 36.Qg3 Qf5 0-1

Schweber seems a keen practitioner of the line (is this the same Schweber who famously drew a won ending against Fischer?). Two Argentinean GM's, Najdorf and Panno, have played 7 ... Na6 against him in this position, intending to play Nac7 maintaining the knight on d5.

Finally to prove that even Grandmasters can go down quickly with the Black pieces in this line, check out what happened to Joel Benjamin when he tried 7 ... Ba6 against Michael Adams.

Does anyone know if 7. Bc4 is covered in the later books by Rozentalis, Play the 2 c3 Sicilian, or Collins, Chess Explained: The C3 Sicilian?

Nimzo Indian Sämisch: a favourite idea

The Sämisch Variation of the Nimzo Indian gives rise to some spectacular attacking games. I've already talked about Euwe's brilliancy at Zurich 1953, and one of my wins from the Northumberland Quickplay Championships.

One of my best games with the variation was played in the Kent League back in 1995, where a Bronstein idea, pushing the f-pawn down the board, brought me a miniature victory against a strong opponent:

Roger Coathup - Colin Gentile (201 BCF, ~2260 FIDE), Kent League 1995

1 d4 Nf6; 2 c4 e6; 3 Nc3 Bb4; 4 a3 Bxc3+; 5 bc c5; 6 f3 0-0; 7 e4 d6; 8 Bd3 Nc6; 9 Nge2 Ne8; 10 0-0 b6; 11 f4 Na5;

Najdorf tried 11 ... Ba6 in this position in the 1950 Candidates against Bronstein but went down quickly to the same idea: 12 f5 e5; 13 f6 Kh8; 14 d5 Na5; 15 Ng3 gf; 16 Nf5 Bc8; 17 Qh5 Bxf5; 18 ef Rg8; 19 Rf3 Rg7; 20 Bh6 Rg8; 21 Rh3 1-0.

Black does better to play 11 ... f5 stalling White's f-pawn, after which the game takes on a completely different character.

12 f5 e5?!; 13 f6!


















13 ... Nxf6?

After this Black is caught in a deadly pin on the half open f-file, and can't organise any reasonable king side defence. As we've seen in the Bronstein game, leaving the pawn on f6 also leaves Black in difficulty.

14 Bg5 Bg4

With Ne2-g3-h5 threatened, Black decides to exchange off the knight.

15 Qe1 Bxe2; 16 Bxe2 Re8; 17 d5 h6; 18 Bxf6 gf; 19 Qh4 Kg7; 20 Rf5 Rh8; 21 R1f1 Rc8; 22 Rxf6 Rc7; 23 Bh5 Rf8; 24 Bxf7 1-0

Chess openings names

How do chess openings get their names? Some are named after great players, e.g. the Najdorf and the Alekhine, some after the first person to document them, e.g. the Ruy Lopez named after a 16th Century Spanish bishop, others, such as the English, the French or the Catalan after regions where the leading exponents came from. Occasionally, the names are more graphic: the Dragon describing the shape of Black's pawn structure and it's ability to breathe fire, and of course the ramshackle but deadly Kalashnikov.

My favourite variation in the Sicilian has successfully featured in the repertoires of such great players as Kasparov, Anand, Portisch, Ivanchuk, Kamsky and Polugayevsky, yet takes it's name from a lesser known International Master Ilia Kan.

Born in 1909, Kan was definitely a very capable player, competing in 10 Soviet Championships and being awarded the International Master title by FIDE in 1951. However, naming the variation in the Sicilian beginning: 1 e4 c5; 2 Nf3 e6; 3 d4 cd; 4 Nxd4 a6 seems a strange choice; a search on ChessBase shows he played the variation 5 times (between '52 and '55), losing 3 and drawing 2 (against Averbakh and Spassky).

If you want to know more about this opening, I recommend John Emms book: Sicilian Kan (Everyman Chess)

Castling Queenside in the Sicilian

For me, one of the most interesting games in the second round of the Candidates was Sergei Rublevsky vs. Ruslan Ponomariov.

There are numerous lines in the Sicilian Defence where White castles on the queenside, Black on the kingside, and attacks then rage on opposite wings of the board.

It's a much rarer sight to see Black castling queenside in the Sicilian, with the c-pawn removed there is little cover for the black king, but that is what Ponomariov tried against Rublevsky:

1 e4 c5; 2 Nf3 d6; 3 d4 cd; 4 Nxd4 Nf6; 5 Nc3 a6; 6 Bc4

This is the move that Nigel Short used in his attempts to bash Garry Kasparov's Najdorf Defence during their World Championship match.

6 ... e6; 7 Bb3 Nbd7; 8 Bg5 Qa5; 9 Qd2 Be7; 10 0-0-0 Nc5; 11 Rhe1 h6; 12 Bxf6 Bxf6; 13 Kb1 Bd7; 14 f4 0-0-0



Ponomariov judged that his king would be safer tucked away on b8, rather than facing the full force on White's attack on the kingside.

I couldn't find any other examples on my databases of queenside castling in this line, although Malcolm Pein in his commentary for TWIC did find a short draw between Kogan and Efimenko after: 14 ... Qc7; 15 Nf3 0-0-0.

Rublevsky continued energetically:

15 Ncb5! Qb6; 16 Nxd6+ Qxd6; 17 e5 Qc7; 18 ef gf

but Ponomariov was able to develop good play against the White king. It'll be interesting to see if they repeat the line.

Scouring my books, I did come across a wild encounter where Latvian GM Igors Rausis, playing Black, also castled queenside in the Sicilian:

Ambroz,J - Rausis,I [B51]
Germany 1989

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nc6 4.0-0 Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.c3 Qb6 7.Ba4 Nf6 8.Re1 e6 9.d4 cxd4 10.cxd4 d5 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.Nc3 0-0-0?!



With the c-file open, this looks a crazy place to put the king.

13.Bxc6 Qxc6 14.Nxd5 Qxd5 15.g4 Bg6 16.Re5?! Qd7 17.Be3 Bd6 18.Ra5 b6 19.Ne5 Bxe5 20.Rxe5 f6?! 21.Qf3!



White has lost a rook, but has tremendous attacking chances the Black king. Incredibly, in just 14 more moves, the Black king ends up on g3 as the final piece in a mating counter-attack!

21 ... fxe5 22.Qa8+ Kc7 23.Qxa7+ Kd6 24.Qa3+ Kc6 25.Qa6 exd4 26.Rc1+ Kd5 27.Qc4+ Ke5 28.Bg5 Rdf8 29.f4+? [29.Re1+ Be4 30.Qd3 Qc6 31.f3=] 29...Rxf4 30.Bxf4+ Kxf4 31.Qe2 Kg5 32.Qe5+ Kh4 33.Rf1 Qd5 34.Qxg7 [34.Qe1+ Kxh3 35.Rf2 e5-+] 34...Kg3!



35.Qc7+ e5 36.Rf2 Rf8 37.Rd2 Qh1+ 0-1

Queen's Pawn Game with ... d6

In the mid 1990's, an unusual opening setup for Black sprung to prominence:

1 d4 d6; 2 c4 e5!?

Superficially, after the obvious response 3 de de; 4 Qxd8+ Kxd8 Black has lost the right to castle and consequently White appears to be doing well.




















Results with the line told a different story though, Chessbase reveals (upto 1998) that Black was scoring a staggering 71% with the line, and the best White could hope for was the occasional grovelling draw. Since '98, White's results, if anything, have been even worse.

A deeper study of the position reveals the reasons behind this:

1. Black's apparently weak king is under little threat with the Queen's off the board, e.g. after c7-c6 it can be safely tucked away on c7, and in some cases it's central position can even be an asset in quick transitions to a ending



2. The c4 pawn restricts the scope of White's light squared bishop, Black can latch onto it as an easy target e.g. with ... Be6. Shifting the pawn is a time consuming task that leaves other weaknesses in it's wake



3. Black has easy development with ... Nd7, ... Bc5 ideas, swapping the dark squared bishops and going into good knight / good bishop vs. bad bishop endings



4. Any moves of the e-pawn (to e3 or e4) give Black potential invasion squares for a knight on either d3 or d4



5. Black can play moves like ... f6 securing a strong central pawn on e5
   

It might not be terminal yet, but it's certainly no fun to play as White, and the opening definitely deserves a better name than "Queen's Pawn Game with ... d6". Suggestions for a name to roger AT 21thoughts DOT com.

So, should we give up playing d4 as White?

Well, perhaps not, Burgess and Pedersen recommend meeting 1 d4 d6; with 2 e4 transposing into a Pirc.

If this is not your cup of tea, my recommendation is not to take the pawn after 1 d4 d6; 2 c4 e5, but instead to play 3 Nf3 transposing into a line from the English opening (Chessbase reveals White scores a healthy 54% with this line!).

Some sample games:

Alexandru Crisan vs. Bartlomiej Macieja, Vidmar Memorial 2001 (a typical Black victory after 3 de de; 4 Qxd8+ Kxd8)

Jeroen Piket vs. Ilya Smirin, European Teams Championship 2001 (handling the White pieces after 3 Nf3 e4; 4 Ng5)

Queen's Gambit: Move Order Refinement

In two of my games at Hartlepool, Black sprang a 'move order refinement' on me in the Queen's Gambit Declined:

1 d4 d5; 2 c4 e6; 3 Nc3

and now instead of the usual 3 ... Nf6, Black played

3 ...Be7




















This can be a particularly useful idea against opponents, myself included, who like to play the Exchange Variation, as it prevents the usual: 4 cd ed; 5 Bg5.

White can try 4 Nf3 and then after 4 ... Nf6; 5 cd ed; 6 Bg5 but this rules out one of the most dangerous variations of the Exchange where White develops the knight on e2 rather than f3.

Alternatively, if White still wants to play the Exchange Variation, he can adopt a setup with the bishop developed to f4 rather than g5, i.e. 4 cd ed; 5 Bf4 c6.

There is a second idea behind 3 ... Be7 as well, and that is the quick development of the c8 bishop to an active post on f5, i.e. 4 cd ed; 5 Bf4 c6; 6 e3 Bf5. (If Black goes 6 ... Bf5 after 3 ... Nf6 rather than 3 ... Be7 then White has the move 7 Qf3 after which he will saddle Black with doubled pawns on f6)

The light squared bishop can be a problem piece for Black in the Queen's Gambit, from f5 it is not only posted actively, but also stops White's standard attacking setup with Bd3 and Qc2. White can try his own move order refinement with 6 Qc2 instead of e3 to prevent 6 ... Bf5, but then Black has 6 ... g6 or 6 ... Bd6.

My knowledge of the lines beginning 1 d4 d5; 2 c4 e6; 3 Nc3 Be7; 4 cd ed; 5 Bf4 c6; 6 e3 Bf5 was very limited, but I did remember that Korchnoi had won a game against Karpov in their 1981 World Championship Match with the super sharp reply

7 g4




















So, his was my choice in my 3rd round encounter with Andy Lawson at Hartlepool. After Andy's reply, 7 ... Be6, I knew 8 h4 was playable but wild, and instead adopted Korchnoi's choice against Karpov of 8 h3, and my initiative was enough force an advantage as Andy went wrong close to time control.

Coathup,R - Lawson,A [D31]
Hartlepool (3), 26.05.2007

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bf4 c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.g4 Be6 8.h3 Nd7 9.Nf3 Nb6 10.Bd3 Nf6 11.Ne5 Nfd7 12.Qc2 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 Bf6 14.Bf4 h5 15.0-0-0 Qe7 16.Kb1 a6 17.Rhg1 g5 18.Bg3 hxg4 19.hxg4 Bxg4 20.Rc1 Be6 21.Qb3 Nc4 22.Bxc4 dxc4 23.Qb6 Qd7 24.Na4 Bd8 25.Qc5 Be7 26.Qb6 Bd5 27.Nc5 Bxc5 28.Qxc5 Qe7 29.Bd6 Qe4+ 30.Ka1 Kd7 31.Be5 Rh6 32.Qb6 Ke6 33.Rxg5 Re8 34.Qc7 f6 35.Qd6+ Kf7 36.Rcg1 fxg5 37.Qxh6 Qg6 38.Qxg6+ Kxg6 39.Bf4 Rh8 40.Rxg5+ Kf7 41.Rg1 Ke6 42.Kb1 b5 43.Kc2 b4 44.a3 a5 45.axb4 axb4 46.Ra1 Rg8 47.Bg3 Kf5 48.Ra4 b3+ 49.Kc3 Ke4 50.Rxc4 Ra8 51.Rb4 Ra1 52.Rxb3 Bxb3 53.Kxb3 1-0

In the final round, Jimmy Simpson also played 3 ... Be7 against me. Suspecting he had specially prepared the line, and with me only needing a draw for the title, I adopted the 'safer' 4 Nf3 and went for a minority attack version of the Exchange Variation.

If you want to know more, I recommend taking a look at some of these books:

Bent Larsen vs. Boris Spassky, 1970

In today's post about the Nimzo-Larsen Opening, I mentioned the spectacular performance by Boris Spassky where he routed Bent Larsen, one of the world's strongest chess players. Spassky, playing Black, sacrificed a knight and a rook to decisively queen a pawn and win in just 17 moves.

Our scan, taken from Cafferty's book "Spassky's 100 Best Games", gives detailed analysis of the game, which was played in 1970 Rest of the World vs. USSR match.

For those who prefer to just bash through the moves:

Bent Larsen - Boris Spassky, Rest of World vs. USSR 1970
1 b3 e5; 2 Bb2 Nc6; 3 c4 Nf6; 4 Nf3 e4; 5 Nd4 Bc5; 6 Nxc6 dc; 7 e3 Bf5; 8 Qc2 Qe7; 9 Be2 0-0-0; 10 f4? Ng4!; 11 g3 h5; 12 h3 h4!; 13 hg hg; 14 Rg1 Rh1!!; 15 Rxh1 g2; 16 Rf1 Qh4+; 17 Kd1 gf=Q+ 0-1

Nimzo-Larsen Opening

My second round opponent at Hartlepool was Clive Waters. Although Clive and I have battled many times over the last few years, predicting the opening is seldom possible. I had the Black pieces at Hartlepool and prepared for this game by looking at the Torre Attack, the London System , and even some lines in the c3 Sicilian. It was a complete surprise, when after a few minutes thought Clive played 1 b3, the Nimzo-Larsen opening.

Black can play moves like Nf6 then e6 in response (or any number of other setups), but the most direct response is to 'accept the challenge' and setup a big centre with ... e5 and ... d5, which can quickly lead to very rich play. I don't know any theory in the opening, although I was vaguely aware of 2 games: Karpov beating Browne with 1 c4 c5; 2 b3 Nf6; 3 Bb2 g6?; 4 Bxf6! and Karpov soon had a winning ending, and a humdinger of a game between Larsen and Spassky, where Spassky had aimed for the big centre and won with a brilliant kingside attack (more in a later post).

So, our game continued:

1 ... e5; 2 Bb2 Nc6; 3 e3 d5; 4 Bb5 Bd6




















And now White can challenge the centre with the double edged 5 f4 looking to exploit the pin on the e5 pawn (g7 is undefended). When Black can continue with 5 ... Qe7; 6 Nf3 f6 or play 5 ... Qh4+; 6 g3 Qe7; 7 Nf3 Bg4 with a good game.

Instead Clive chose to increase the pressure whilst developing quickly with:

5 Nf3 Qe7; 6 d4 e4; 7 Ne5




















In this position, which has the characteristics of a reverse French, Black has a very interesting possibility: 7 ... Qg5! If White now captures on c6 he ends up in a poor position, e.g. 8 Nxc6 Qxg2; 9 Rf1 a6 with advantage to Black.

I didn't consider this during the game, and immediately replied with:

7 ... Bd7

and Clive continued his energetic 'forcing' line:

8 Nxd7 Qxd7; 9 c4 a6; 10 cd ab; 11 dc bc; 12 Nd2 Nf6; 13 Qc2 Bb4; 14 a3 Bxd2+; 15 Qxd2




















This is the position both players had envisioned back on move 7, and the question is how to assess it:

The position still resembles a reverse French in many ways. Black has a collection of weak pawns, e4, c6 and c7 (backward and doubled on a half open file), but they are difficult to attack successfully. As compensation Black's knight is superior to White's bad 'French' bishop, and Black can perhaps generate some counterplay down the a-file or against the White king once it castles (with 0-0, Re8, Re6, Rg6 etc).

My verdict: slight advantage to White. He can tie Black down to defending c6, but it's difficult to see how he makes progress.

The game continued:

15 ... 0-0; 16 0-0 Rfe8; 17 a4 Nd5; 18 Bc3 Qd6; 19 Qc2 Ra6; 20 Bd2 f5; 21 Rfc1 Rea8; 22 a5 b4; 23 Qc5 Rb8; 24 g3 Rb5; 25 Qxd6 cd; 26 Rc4? c5!; 27 dc dc; 28 Bc1 Rbxa5; 29 Rxa5 Rxa5

And Black, a pawn up, went on to win the ending. We'll look at the ending in detail in a later post.

Swapping the French bishop

Black's biggest problem in the French Defence is his light squared bishop that often remains passive, restricted by the pawns on e6 and d5. The problem can be so bad that French players are often willing to spend several tempi in the opening just to swap it off, e.g. in the Winawer variation:

1 e4 e6; 2 d4 d5; 3 Nc3 Bb4; 4 e5 where Black plays 4 ... b6, intending to follow up with ... Ba6.

The trouble with this Winawer line is that White can utilise the time gained to either attack on the king side or build a big advantage in development, e.g. after 5 a3 Bf8; 6 Bb5+ or an immediate 5 Qg4.

I prefer the early bishop swap concept against the Advance variation (particularly as players of the Advance variation are typically the sort who love their light squared bishop hitting against h7). In the Advance, a small change in move order, delaying Nc6, is used to 'disguise' the bishop swap idea:

1 e4 e6; 2 d4 d5; 3 e5 c5; 4 c3 Qb6; 5 Nf3 Bd7; 6 Be2 cd; 7 cd Bb5


















The bishops are coming off, costing White a key attacking piece, and the nature of the game becomes a clear battle between Black's play down the c-file and White's space advantage.

Note: Black played 6 ... cd first to avoid giving White the option to meet ... Bb5 with c4.

From this Kupreichik - Eingorn, USSR 1977 went:

8 Bxb5+ Qxb5; 9 Nc3 Bb4!; 10 Bd2 Qd3; 11 Qa4+ Nc6 with an equal game.

In my game against David Henderson from the Northumberland County Championships in 1994, David tried:

8 0-0 but after 8 ... Bxe2; 9 Qxe2 Nc6; 10 Nc3 Nge7; 11 Rd1 Nf5; 12 Be3 Be7 Black went on to win.

How not to play the Scandanavian Defence

A few weeks ago I was asked if I would suggest some lines for Black in the Scandanavian Defence following 1 e4 d5; 2 ed Nf6. It's still on the back boiler, but I couldn't resist showing this example I discovered of "how not to play the Scandanavian Defence".

The game was played at the Havana Olympiad in 1966 in the match between the USSR and Monaco. The first round of the Olympiad can throw up some terrible mis-matches, as witnessed in this encounter between future World Champion Boris Spassky and Mr Weiss from Monaco:

Boris Spassky - Weiss, Havana Olympiad 1966
1 e4 d5; 2 ed Nf6; 3 Bb5+ Bd7; 4 Bc4 Bf5; 5 Nc3 Nbd7; 6 d3 Nb6; 7 Qf3 Nxc4; 8 dc Bxc2; 9 Bf4

"From this point I stopped trying to guess my opponent's moves and I probably behaved somewhat tactlessly - I tried to sit at the board for as little time as possible" Boris Spassky

9 ... a6?; 10 Nge2 h6??; 11 0-0 Qc8; 12 Nd4 Bh7; 13 Rfe1 Rb8?; 14 h3 g5??; 15 Bxc7 Qxc7; 16 Qxf6 Rg8; 17 d6 Qd7; 18 Rxe7+ Bxe7; 19 Re1 Bg6; 20 Rxe7+ Kd8 and then Black resigned 1-0

You can find this, and 99 of Spassky's best games, in "Spassky's 100 Best Games" by Bernard Cafferty which has recently been re-released:

Chess improvement 8: Extending your repertoire

Garry Kasparov stated that a player should always be looking to broaden and deepen their opening repertoire. Some motivating factors for this might be:

• to find improvements and avoid variations that caused difficulty in previous games
• to surprise a regular or well prepared opponent
• to improve our chess playing ability by exploring different types of position
• the simple desire to try something new

I'll share with you a story about a technique that I used to extend my opening repertoire:

For many years, almost without fail, I've played the King's Indian Defence as Black against d4. My results were generally good, but I wanted to introduce some variety (regular opponents were well prepared for my defence, there were some lines were I didn't feel comfortable, and I felt that repeatedly playing the same strategic ideas by rote was stifling my creativity and making me lazy at the board).

Back in the late 80's I'd seen a game by Ljubojevic in the Semi-Slav that I really liked. I'd wanted to try the opening and plan, but didn't have the time / resources to build up a sufficient Black repertoire around the other alternatives that could follow 1 d4 d5.

Watching Kasparov's DVD review of the Queen's Gambit gave me the confidence to explore the opening further and led me to revisit Ljubojevic's game. Added to that line in the Semi-Slav, I also spent some time on the Cambridge Springs and on Lasker's early ... Ne4 in the orthodox Queen's Gambit Declined.

I wasn't happy with the position that Kasparov reached in the Cambridge Springs, so did a quick database search for other ideas tried by strong grandmasters: the search revealed 3 recent games that gave me a different approach to try in the variation.

Comforable that I now had a skeleton repertoire, I've been 'getting a feel' for 1 d4 d5 positions as Black by using it in Internet blitz games.

Summing up:

1. Base your explorations around a key game where you like the strategic plan and ideas
2. Try to find a good but easily absorbed overview of the opening (a DVD is great for this)
3. Make sure you can identify plans / positional concepts that you feel comfortable with
4. Use the Internet to build up experience and feel for playing the opening

Sicilian Morra Gambit: The Siberian Trap

Paul Dargan has sent me this interesting post on a clever trap that can net Black an early point in the Morra Gambit. It's worth learning the pattern: it came up in one of my Internet blitzes this morning, from a game that started as a Benoni.

Paul got a chance to re-analyse the trap on a recent trip to Amsterdam, about which we'll post more later.

"We had fun messing around analysing a line of the Morra gambit that was becoming popular round about the time I stopped playing seriously in the early nineties – that can lead to some quick points against an unwary White. This line didn’t have a name back then, I discovered it in a copy of the excellent, but now defunct, “Inside Chess”. Now it seems to be known as the “Siberian Trap” or “Novosibirsk” variation. [ed: "Inside Chess" was a publication from Yasser Seirawan. It moved online when the print version ceased, and then to a annotated game column on ChessCafe.com. You can pick up back issues of the magazine on Amazon's US site: amazon.com]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 dxc3 5.Nxc3 Nc6 6.Bc4 Qc7 7.Qe2 Nf6 8.0–0

All very typical Morra Gambit moves, that White often bashes out without too much thought

8... Ng4





















But what's this? Isn't Black meant to curl up and defend, trying to win with his extra pawn?

9.h3?? (or Bb3, Bg5, etc) 9... Nd4!–+

and Black is going to net the White Queen for two minor pieces due to the mate threat on h2.

Those interested in adding this line to their repertoire need to look at some of White’s more aggressive options – but note that Ng4 isn’t just a cheapo, the idea of moving the Knight to e5 to exchange one of White’s attacking minor pieces is positionally sound too. You do of course need to do some homework, I would suggest looking at:

9.Nb5 (Nd5 also gets played sometimes) Qb8 10.h3 h5 11.g3 from the diagram.

Or earlier deviations by White, especially 8.e5 Ng4 9.Bf4 d5 (f6?! Has a worse reputation) 10.Bd3 when both Bb4 and Nb4 are worth investigation."

Paul Dargan