I just received my copy of ChessBase Magazine 129 today and
immediately read Evgeny Postny's article about the 5.a4 e6 6.g3 variation in the
Chebanenko Slav. I played this variation myself a couple of times, so it was
very interesting for me to see the state of theory in this variation according
to a top Grandmaster. In general, I was really impressed by the quality of
comments and the level of detailness offered by GM Postny. However, I think that
one of the variations in the comments to game Rodshtein-Glud could be improved,
which could lead to a different evaluation of the whole line. I am referring to
White's alternative on 14th move of the game Rodshtein-Glud, 14.Nd3, as was
already played before in the game Gelfand-Movsesian, Batumi, 1999. After 14.Nd3
Nd4 15.Bxb7 GM Postny correctly points out that 15...Nxe2+ is a mistake, but I
think that in the variation that follows - 16.Kg2 Bc6+ 17.Bxc6 Rxc6 - he gives
not the best continuation for White (18.Bd2, which leads to +/- evaluation),
while 18.Nce5 Rc7 19.Be3! seems to be just winning, because the Ne2 gets trapped
after the forced 19...Bxe3 20.fxe3 and will be lost. In fact, this variation was
pointed out in 'Schach' magazine, #9/2008 in an article about Arik Braun's
bronze medal at World Junior championship written by Dirk Poldauf.
What's more, the whole variation actually happened in my game in Bavarian
Oberleague a couple of months ago, when I played as White against Czech IM
Jirka. Unfortunately, I could not convert the advantage in the game, but my
analysis shows that the position is indeed won, see
http://cid-225a6fd74d49d832.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Terekhov-Jirka.cbv for
more details.
Another note is that it seems to me that even after more precise 14.Nd3 Nd4
15.Bxb7 Rc7! White's chances are currently underestimated. GM Postny provides
the following variation: "16.Kg2 Nxe2 17.Nxc5 Rxc5 18.Bxa6 Nxc1 19.Rfxc1 Rb8
with sufficient compensation". However, it is possible to improve on White's
play - 16.Kg2 Nxe2 17.Bd2! and it looks like White keeps an advantage, again
thanks to exposed position of Black Ne2, for example: 17...Rxb7 18.Nxc5 Rc7
19.Rfe1! Nd5 20.Rxd7 Rxc4 21.Ne5 Re4 22.Nd3 +-.
To summarize, I believe that 14.Nd3 offers White a better chance of getting an
advantage than 14.Bg5, as played in Rodshtein-Glud.
commented game Terekhov-Jirka
Best regards,
FM Andrey Terekhov
Bayern Munich
