The move 8...h5 had an enormous rise in popularity around the year 2006-2007 when expert Veselin Topalov started implement this idea into his repertoire. Black aims to slow down White's attacking aspirations on the kingside, but at the price of weakening his own position.
In this hour we will have a look at the ins and outs of this complex variation, though following the footsteps of the leading experts from the White side like Peter Leko and Leinier Dominguez are certainly a good start improving your understanding. They prefer the sharp 12.0-0-0 over castling kingside. Inspired by the recent game Aryan vs Donchenko from the Gibraltar tournament, I decided to have a closer look and used the idea at the first opportunity! I will share the key ideas for both sides by going through some recently played model games.
The live show is free to watch and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium accounts.
Warming-up: Black's 14...♝e7 is considered to be a mistake. Do you see why?
Move the pieces on the live diagram — solution below!
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