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The Legends of Chess tournament is a rich source of inspiration and a pleasure to watch. Last week we saw Ivanchuk successfully playing a King's Gambit, and this week he played the Sicilian Dragon, another favourite of so many chess fans. However, the game we will study is of a completely different nature: Kramnik playing a model game from the black side of a Carlsbad structure.
We will use the opportunity to talk about the different strategies that White can choose in this structure and the different ways in which Black can cope with each of them.
In the introduction to his DVD on the Carlsbad, Sam Collins notes:
What gives strong players the edge over their opponents is not some blockbuster novelty, but a deep understanding of the pawn structures to which their openings lead – an understanding that lasts into the middlegame and endgame, and is transferable between different openings with similar structures. [...] Long the playground of the world champions, whether with Karpov’s classical approach of Nf3 or Botvinnik and Kasparov’s incredible results with Nge2 and f3, the Carlsbad has an enormous strategic potential for White (exemplified by the legendary “minority attack”) countered by Black’s deceptively simple kingside counterplay.
Exactly what Kramnik is famous for: deep understanding of plans and pawn structures! In round 4 of the Legends of Chess tournament, he won his match over Peter Leko by scoring an instructional win from the black side of the well-known structure.
Warming-up question: What would you play here with Black?
The live show is free to watch for a limited time, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium accounts.
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