But of course
Anand chose the “the fighting alternative 13…axb5” (Stohl) and although he had
been surprised by the variation, he soon had an advantage. However, the young
Dutchman put up a stiff defence and in time trouble might even have achieved a
winning position. Seen from that point of view, his choice of variation was
perhaps not such a bad one. Postny and Stohl, however, considered above all in
their articles the more ambitious 13.Bh4.
Game:
Stellwagen,D - Anand,V 0-1
Further links:
Kasparov:
How to play the Najdorf Vol. 1
King: Power
Play 9 -
major pieces vs. minor pieces
Anand:
My
career 1 und
My career 2
CBM 117
A short
description of the articles in the CBM 117 booklet:
contribution Stohl
contribution Postny
And here
are the passages by Stohl and Postny dealing with the introduction and
13.Bb5:
by Igor
Stohl
Recently there
have been some interesting new games, which have ruffled the seemingly calm
theoretical waters of the notorious Poisoned Pawn line of the Najdorf.
However, to understand these developments in their proper context, a
historical explanation of some length is required. This is because in this
very concrete line even older games are relevant and necessary to grasp its
underlying tactical content.
The queen
sortie 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6!?
began to appear in international practice more than 50 years ago.
White's main initial reaction was the principled pawn sacrifice 8.Qd2
Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3, followed by the central break 10.e5!?. The idea
is very natural, White tries to blast open the position to utilize his lead
in development.

One of the
first to take up Black's side was Alexander Tolush, former trainer of the
future World Champion Boris Spassky and a grandmaster with a keen eye for
tactical complications. He realized that in order to keep the position more
closed, Black should at least partially open it with 10...dxe5 11.fxe5
Nfd7. In
Tal,M - Tolush,A 1-0
another future legend reacted with 12.Ne4. This move and the whole
brilliant attacking game are a good illustration of young Tal's style, once
jokingly described as "he centralizes his pieces and then sacrifices them".
Tal's idea, enriched with new content, will be the main topic of this
survey.
Two years
after his game with Tal, Tolush came to the rescue of his line with
12...h6!.

Although
12.Ne4 faded from the limelight, there has been some excitement in this line
as well, when White after 12...h6 came up with the surprising and
picturesque 13.Bb5!?.

However, Black came to terms even with this sortie. First of all, he can
practically force a draw with 13...hxg5 14.Rb3 Qxa2 (here
14...axb5 15.Rxa3 Bxa3 16.Qxg5 is rather risky, see
Quinteros,M - Browne,W ½-½
15.Qc3 axb5 (maybe even 15...Nc6 16.Bxc6 bxc6
17.0-0 and now not 17...c5? from
Sieiro Gonzalez,L - Vera,R 0-1,
but 17...Nxe5!? as in
Quinteros,M - Sunye Neto,J 1-0
deserves a closer look.) 16.Qxc8+ Ke7 17.0-0 Qa7
18.Rd3! Nxe5! and White should play 19.Nc5
(19.Rxf7+?! from
Papp,G - Womacka,M ½-½
is insufficient) with a perpetual as in
Shabalov,A - Areshchenko,A ½-½.
Apart from
this, even the fighting alternative 13...axb5!? 14.Nxb5
hxg5 15.Nxa3 deserves attention, when both captures on a3 are playable
and unclear. The relevant examples are
Garbarino,R - Saldano Dayer,H ½-½,
Platonov,I - Minic,D ½-½
and
Vogelmann,P - Loeffler,W 0-1,
and the latter game shows that Black can even strive for more than just
equality.
by
Evgeny Postny
The topic of
the current article is the following variation:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2
9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5

The history of
the Najdorf variation goes back to the middle of 20th century. The line with
6.Bg5 followed by the pawn sacrifice 8.Qd2 was the real test
for black players. The most aggressive line 10.e5 enjoyed great
popularity in the 50's-60's. However, Black managed to defend successfully
mainly thanks to Bobby Fischer who dared to accept the challenge almost
every time he faced the 6.Bg5 variation. He won several convincing
games in the 60's. After that, the pawn sacrifice gradually lost its appeal
and became a rather rare guest in top tournaments. It is easy to notice that
during the last few decades the line 6.Bg5 was moved to the theoretical
byways and was replaced by the English attack 6.Be3 and 7.f3.
However, just
a few months ago, the interest in the Poisoned Pawn Variation was reawakened
after two crushing wins by Teimour Radjabov, currently one of the world's
top players. I was especially impressed by his win over Sergey Karjakin, who
is well-known for his excellent opening preparation.
The move
10.e5 is a very logical decision, kicking away the defensive knight.
White is trying to use his advantage in development to immediately blast
open the position and attack the exposed black monarch. Concretely, this
move opens the d-file and exposes the square d8 to potential mating threats.
Also, after the black knight's retreat, the important e4 square is freed for
the white knight to join the attack.
One has to
note that the move 10.e5 is a committal one. If Black manages to
complete his development in peace, he might just remain with extra material.
That's why White's play has to be extremely precise and concrete.
10...dxe5 11.fxe5
Nfd7

12.Ne4

This is the
move that has become the matter of dispute nowadays. The main reply is
12...h6 (12...Qxa2 13.Rb3 - see
Tal,M - Tolush,A 1-0,
while 13.Rd1 h6 14.Bh4 can lead to the main line examined below).
13.Bb5!?

A spectacular
move. I can feel pity for the white players that this move leads to ... only
a perpetual check, nearly by force. An examplary game is
Shabalov,A - Areshchenko,A ½-½.
Both White's or Black's attempts to avoid the perpetual check and play for a
win do not work, as in the games
Quinteros,M - Browne,W ½-½
and
Papp,G - Womacka,M ½-½.