A new generation is on the rise in international chess. Nihal Sarin featured on the cover of this issue is the latest to join them. The young talent from India became an IM at the age of 12 years and 8 months. Currently he has a rating of 2471 and is training to become a grandmaster. That’s just by way of information to players who may be viewing this site for the first time.
Now a part of this DVD is devoted to interaction between him and ChessBase experts under the title, “How child prodigies think”. This shows him solving some tough positions in the middlegame and the endgame. If you are a young player you can also try your hand and see how you fare in these positions. Still questions remain:
“Is he all that good? How long would he last in a fiercely competitive chess scene today? Why only him? Why not others?”
There has already been a ceaseless debate along these lines on this news page. I would strike a note of caution and follow a policy of “wait and watch”. It’s too early to pronounce a judgment. Time will tell.
This brings me to the contents of this issue: It includes games from the Grenke Chess Classic, Gashimov Memorial and Zürich Chess Challenge. There are also games from other events like the Russian Team Championship, USA Championship and the Bundesliga 2016-2017 season.
The Grenke Chess Classic marked the return of Levon Aronian who finished with 5½ out of 7, ahead of Carlsen and Caruana with 4 out of 7 points. In this issue the tournament winner himself annotates his win over Naiditsch. However, the pride of place belongs to the Carlsen-Aronian encounter from the second round.
Carlsen and Aronian at play | Photo: grenkechessclassic.com
The young GM Aleksandr Lenderman recently won the U.S. Open with a score of 8.0/9. On occasion I have differed from his analysis and added a little more explanation for readers not familiar with theory. How should this game be viewed? I would strongly advise the readers to see it first without any analysis and then match their wits with the players and the annotators.
An incredible battle and Lenderman’s detailed commentary is worthy of attention.
The game is annotated in depth by Aleksandr Lenderman | Photo: Vanessa Sun
The Shamkir Chess (a.k.a. The Vugar Gashimov Memorial) Tournament was won by Shakhriyar Mamedyarov ahead of Wesley So, Veselin Topalov and Vladimir Kramnik. It’s not easy to cope with Shakhriyar’s hussar-style attacks. Kramnik was overcautious and outplayed by the tournament winner.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov vs Vladimir Kramnik in round six of the Gashimov Memorial 2017 | Photo: shamkirchess.az
However, he redeemed himself with an imaginative rook sacrifice against Harikrishna. In this issue the game is annotated by Tiger Hillarp-Persson. CBM 178 also includes games from the U.S. Championship and Bundesliga 2016-2017, a number of them annotated.
It was good to see both the Rapid and Blitz games from Zürich Chess Challenge won by Nakamura ahead of Nepomniachtchi, Anand and Kramnik. In this issue the winner himself annotates his game against Ian Nepomniachtchi who placed second. In my view this tournament deserved greater coverage with more highlights and annotated games.
This brings me to other sections of the Magazine. There are 13 opening surveys ranging from the Sicilian to the Slav. This time the French players are spoilt for choice with three surveys on the defence. Here I shall single out the analysis by Nadezhda Kosintseva (right) of 4.Nge2, an interesting gambit against the Winawer.
The line itself has a chequered history. It was introduced by Geza Maroczy against Jakob Seitz in Hungarian Chess Congress 1924.
Géza Maróczy, in 1906
Subsequently it was adopted by Alekhine who beat Nimzowitsch in a miniature in Bled 1931. Alekhine essayed it again in two games of World Championship Match 1935 against Max Euwe with a good score, +1, -0, =1.
Alekhine vs. Euwe | Photo: Netherlands Photo Archives
In recent days it has been played by attacking players like Gawain Jones and Jobava with varying results.
While I was perusing Kosintseva’s survey, I was intrigued by the following encounter. It employs an idea discovered by a French WIM, Sophie Milliet (above with teammate, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave). She had used the TN with success against Anna Rudoph in Saint-Quentin 2012. Two years later Jaroslav Polasek went on to follow the same line, met tougher resistance and lost! Kosintseva shows where he could have gained the upper hand, but leaves it to the reader to find out what went wrong afterwards.
This game is a cautionary tale. It’s important to consolidate your open from the opening in the middlegame and the endgame.
Apart from these surveys, there are regular exercises in opening traps, middle game tactics and endgame technique. I would like to make a special mention of the essay by Mihail Marin (right) on Sicilian strategy for both White and Black. As is known, Marin is a connoisseur of chess classics. The following position is taken from the second game of World Championship Match 1985. While the game itself ended in a tense draw, Marin shows how White missed a nuance that could have set greater problems for Black. Here A few words on this position may not be out of place. It arose out of the Sicilian Scheveningen, a regular battleground in Karpov-Kasparov World Championship Matches.
Garry Kasparov vs Anatoly Karpov, World Championship 1985 [photo Russian7.ru]
Until then Karpov had adopted the same plan, establishing a bind on the queenside before turning attention to the kingside. He was nearly invincible with this strategy winning a number of games. During the 1984 and 1984 Matches Kasparov sought to undermine this strategy with a dynamic demonstration of his own, taking extraordinary risks. Before you find an overview of the opening itself (it’s at the end of this review) you may try and figure out what White should play. Your move!
This brings us to the current issue. There are as many as 1169 OTB games of which 101 are annotated. That looks like a small number. But there is a lot to work on. Of late I have missed the Telechess section. Hopefully, the grandmasters would be back next time to present games from correspondence chess.
The solution to Marin’s Test on Strategy and a more detailed examination of the position is to be found in this commentary the World Championship Match 1985:
ChessBase Magazine 178: recommended.
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Papp: Scandinavian B01 (Recommendation for White): Although the world champion himself did not win against this variation (against Adhiban, Wijk 2017), Petra Papp convincingly shows that White can count on a nice advantage with this line of the Scandinavian. |
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Schandorff: Caro-Kann B19 (Recommendation for Black): 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 e6 8.Ne5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 Nd7 Instead of the usual 7...Nd7 to take control of the e5-square, 7...e6!? allows the knight sortie. In the position in the diagram the usual move is 11.f4 upon which Lars Schandorff recommends 11...Be7, immediately attacking the h4-pawn. White seems to have no chance of an advantage. |
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Stohl: Sicilian B55 (Recommendation for Black): 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3 e5 6.Nb3 d5 A safe counter against the Najdorf-avoiding variation 5.f3 is offered by Igor Stohl in the form of the immediate counterthrust in the centre. Above all, after the required 7.Bg5 you immediately have in 7...Be6 and 7...d4 two good possibilities to get a satisfactory game. |
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Ris: Sicilian B76 (Recommendation for White): As Robert Ris demonstrates in his article, White can count on a safe advantage when facing 10...e6. But a more critical move is 10...e5, though even then things are not easy for Black. But perhaps he can keep things on a level keel with a rarely played move. |
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Souleidis: French C01 (Recommendation for White): 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Bd3 Georgios Souleidis explains that this is of course only a surprise weapon. Black ought to be able to equalise in several ways, but the author’s investigations also make it clear that there are still some blanks in the theory of this variation. |
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Kosintseva: French C15 (Recommendation for White): 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nge2 In the Alekhine Gambit there have in recent years been a few new developments which Nadezhda Kosintseva examines in detail. Black can equalise of course, but in doing so he should not under-estimate the difficulties which crop up. |
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Lampert: Scotch C45 (Recommendation for Black): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Be3 Qf6 6.c3 Nge7 7.Bc4 0-0 8.0-0 b6 As Jonas Lampert establishes, 8...b6 has almost completely replaced the older 8...Bb6. From Black’s point of view what is especially attractive is the fact that 9.f4?! is the most frequently played move, but that after 9...d5! Black is the one at the steering wheel. |
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Szabo Ruy Lopez C63 (Recommendation for White): 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.d3 Compared to the more frequently played 4.Nc3 the move 4.d3 looks really tame. But in his repertoire suggestion Krisztian Szabo shows that White can count on a secure advantage in all lines. |
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Kuzmin: Slav Defence D15 (Recommendation for White): 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bd2 The position is also often reached via 4.Nc3 a6. The rarely seen bishop move has been played above all by Nikita Vitiugov. As Alexey Kuzmin shows in his article on the DVD, White has excellent chances of getting a small opening advantage. |
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Postny: Queen's Indian E12 (Recommendation for Black): 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5 7.e3 g6 With the fianchetto move 7...g6 Black is aiming for positions which are reminiscent of the Grünfeld Defence. Evgeny Postny is of the opinion that White is well advised to react dynamically. Nevertheless, in each case Black has several possibilities for equalising. |
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Quintiliano: King's Indian E94 (Recommendation for White): 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Na6 8.Be3 Ng4 9.Bg5 Qe8 10.Re1 Renato Quintiliano advocates a variation for White which Dejan Bojkov had already examined six years ago in CBM 141, but on that occasion from the point of view of Black. But recent developments permit the conclusion that White can get an advantage. |
