ChessBase Magazine #172ChessBase Magazine #172 (DVD + Booklet)
Date: June 2016/July 2016
Languages: English, German
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Level: Any
Price: €19.95 €16.76 without VAT (for Customers outside the EU)
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In a way this issue belongs to Sergei Karjakin who deservedly won the FIDE Candidates’ Tournament this year. While it has as many as 837 games, the pride of place belongs to the decisive encounter, Karjakin-Caruana annotated by the winner himself. A few questions remain. Soon after the tournament Karjakin gave an interview to the Russian media and mentioned how he felt when the crisis of the game was reached:
To Caruana’s credit, you can say that he did a very good job of making things sharper. After all, he had to play for a win with Black, and at some point he was outplaying me. But then, closer to the time control, he lost the thread and then I played 30.e5! giving up a pawn for the initiative.
Was he outplayed any time during the game? The annotations here do not say so. But if you read between lines you will find gaps. What a grandmaster leaves unsaid is what we need to explore and find out. That way we will be better prepared against an opponent who merely copies the moves of a grandmaster.
A tense battle! If you look at White’s position on the 27th move, you would see why Karjakin felt he was being outplayed at this point. While the engine suggestion, 27.e5! is better than 27.bxa4 in the game, one can be only glad that Karjakin did not make that move. In that event the combination with 37.Rxd5!! would not have appeared on the board. Currently 9…h6 line against the Richter-Rauzer Sicilian is under a cloud and Karjakin’s recommendation of 13.Nxc6 Qxc6 14. Bd3 could prove to be a critical test.
The second encounter of interest, Anand-Svidler from the Candidates’ is annotated by IM Sagar Shah. It followed an earlier game, Shirov-Onischuk, Calvia Olympiad 2004 that White lost.
This issue also features other heavyweight encounters from the Candidates’ like Anand-Karjakin in which the former world champion inflicted the only defeat on the winner of the tournament. Here it is annotated by Anand himself. While Vishy shone as white in flank openings he could not perform the same way with Black. Consequently he lost to Karjakin, Caruana and Nakamura. The major disappointment was the poor performance of Aronian.
However, he scored in Norway Tournament, coming second behind Carlsen. The world champion’s participation has become a benchmark for other players’ performance. In this event Aronian was the only player to beat Carlsen and the game is annotated by Mihail Marin. It should be noted that the same game is also annotated by Aronian himself in New in Chess Magazine and also 64 Review, a Russian chess magazine. While Aronian’s deeply personal commentary offers rich insights into the mind of a great player Marin’s analysis here is not without merit. He is an authority on the English Opening that was employed in this particular game. For reasons of space I shall only mention the point that he makes on the opening phase of the game.
It is clear from Marin’s analysis that Black remains a tempo behind with the line chosen by Carlsen. Thereafter if White plays 9.Na3, a line suggested by Magnus himself Black may have problems. After the advance, d2-d4, he can put pressure on Black’s queenside. Apart from the knight on a3 He also has a bishop on g2 and a semi-open b-file to do the job for him.
Besides the Candidates’ and Norway Tournament, the issue also includes games from the US Championship, Moscow Aeroflot and Bundesliga events among others. This brings me to other sections of the Magazine. There are as many as 14 opening surveys ranging from the Sicilian to the Semi-Slav Defence. Among them I would single out Robert Ris’ survey of a colorful line in the Italian Game.
The Max Lange Attack has a chequered history with some of the greatest players contributing to its theory, Steinitz, Tarrasch, Chigorin and Marshall among others. When you examine Ris’ analysis you would make quite a few discoveries.
Max Lange (1832-1899)
photo courtesy: Wikipedia
Where do we go from here? Black can play 16… Rd7 and go down to an ending with fighting chances. Or he can try 16…Be7!?, a less explored line. Both need more tests over the board. If you are still anxious about the Max Lange, you can always opt for the more pleasant 5…Nxe4, a regular line of Two Knights’ Defence.
Apart from these surveys, there are regular exercises on opening traps, middle game tactics and endgame technique. Mihail Marin’s column on strategy deserves a special mention. This time he writes on kingside majority, an important theme in attack.
There are 837 OTB games of which 115 are annotated. They include Kasimdzhanov, Marin, Krasenkow and Ftacnik among others. The Telechess section includes 20147 correspondence games of which 29 games are annotated by Roberto Alvarez. One can only ask for more.
Recommended – more info on the DVD is here
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Havasi: Reti Opening A11 Gergö Havasi’s suggestion – 3...Bf5 instead of 3...Bg4 – first of all covers an enormous amount of territory. But the material soon divides and becomes easier to understand. According to Havasi the setup is easy to learn. In Part 1 4.c4 and lines with d4 are dealt with. |
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Postny: Anti-Grünfeld A16 The Anti-Grünfeld variation with 5.h4 has become a Chinese speciality. Evgeny Postny considers ignoring the white advance with 5...Bg7 to be the best reply and points out in his conclusion that many lines remain unexplored. |
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Moskalenko: Dutch Defence A80 Our author Viktor Moskalenko considers the flexible 3...c6 better compared to the immediate 3...g6 and justifies this with a little known variation (4.Qd2! etc.). According to how White reacts to 3...c6, Black will either fianchetto his king’s bishop or not. |
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Kuzmin: Caro-Kann B11 The Two Knights System is becoming ever more popular and so Alexey Kuzmin offers in 3...Nf6 an equally good alternative to the popular 3...Bg4 4.h3 Bxf3. It is, however, left up to each individual whether to surrender the bishop pair or as in our subject area to prefer French type positions. |
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Sumets: Caro-Kann B12 In his extensive article Andrey Sumets treats above all the two main moves, 7.c3 and the slightly more modern 7.Nbd2. There are numerous transpositions and subtleties to be borne in mind. Although Black should equalise, this is not always so simple in practice. |
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Reinke: Sicilian Defence B20 1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.a3 Spurred on by Robert Ris’ article in CBM 169 Markus Reinke wanted in his researches to go into more detail concerning the Wing Gambit. In the first part of his article he examines the continuations 3...e6, 2...Nc6, 3...Nf6 and above all 3...d5. |
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Gavrikov: Sicilian Defence B22 The natural move 4...Bf5 is played surprisingly rarely. Viktor Gavrikov has examined those lines which are possible after it; the main variation arises after 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Be3. Black should be able to equalise and to do so he does not have to learn so much theory as is the case for other variations of the Alapin. |
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Stohl: Sicilian Defence B94 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7 This Najdorf variation continues to remain popular, but has been analysed in less depth than the 6...e6 lines. Igor Stohl investigates in Part 1 of his article the continuations 7.Bc4 and 7.f4. Black appears able to hold his own against the two most frequently played moves. |
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Ris: Max Lange Attack C56 The forcing nature of the variations in the Max Lange Attack has always enthused opening theoreticians. In his researches Robert Ris can make fall back on practical experience in the lines, but nowadays analyses are even more influenced by strong engines. |
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Szabo: Ruy Lopez C65 Sometimes variations disappear from practice (among top players) and one is not quite sure why. Recently Black has here been playing 7...Ne7 (instead of 7...a6). Krisztian Szabo has investigated the modern variation and is of the opinion that it is very playable for both sides. |
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Schandorff: London System D02 The fact that the London System has found its way into the games of the chess elite fascinated Lars Schandorff so much that he has written an article about it. In the diagram 7.Bg3 is the main move, but after 7...0-0 8.Bd3 b6 White achieves surprisingly little with 9.Ne5 and then f4. |
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Bronznik: Chigorin Defence D07 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.Nc3 e6 In the second part of his series on the Chigorin Defence Valeri Bronznik puts under the microscope the development of the bishop to g5. This can be played with or without the insertion of the exchange on d5. Black has no major problems, but he must be prepared for a long positional struggle. |
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Marin: Semi-Slav D45 With the early b3 White somewhat restricts Black’s options in this Anti-Meran variation. Mihail Marin spots “middlegames with a more stable character” and in his extensive investigations shows himself to be optimistic for the side with White. |
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Krasenkow: Grünfeld Defence D80 4.e3 is without doubt a modest attempt at combatting the Grünfeld Defence. Michal Krasenkow is convinced that Black has no trouble in equalising. Nevertheless, various variations require to be taken more seriously than just for the effect of surprise. |
