HIARCS 13 – the Professional Openings Book

HIARCS 13 Professional Openings Book

By Mark Uniacke

The Hiarcs 13 Pro book is a very strong and varied opening book derived from top correspondence and over the board human games together with the best computer games giving a superb combination with the latest cutting edge chess theory and a wealth of novelties to provide a huge repertoire of finely tuned variations. In addition to this strong basis the book has many novelties and variations that have been analysed by HIARCS to eliminate mistakes and improve the quality of book. The book is right up to date as of mid December 2010 including even games from the London Chess Classic and Moscow tournaments.

With 2,925,276 positions, 382,899 variations and statistics from 678,641 high quality games the Hiarcs13 Pro book is a great resource for the active player who wants to be right up to date.

The Hiarcs 13 Pro book has a very large amount of playable variations which gives a lot of variety and means the book is able to address the needs of many different players, from human tournament preparation to online computer games. Despite having more variety than most other commercial books the Hiarcs 13 Pro Book is significantly stronger typically scoring 55+% in head to head matches between books with equal engines over 300 games. For example, in a match of 300 games against the highly rated Rybka 4 book, the Hiarcs 13 Pro book scored more than 55%.

Hiarcs 13 customers who already have the Hiarcs 13 Lite opening book will be delighted to know the Pro book adds up to 50 Elo to the strength of the program. The book is written by Mark Uniacke, the author of HIARCS, and he has been supported by Correspondence IM Harvey Williamson and computer chess expert Eric Hallsworth, both of whom are also part of Team HIARCS.

Buddies: Hiarcs author Mark Uniacke (right), Correspondence IM and Hiarcs collaborator
Harvey Williamson (middle) and Hiarcs user Vishy Anand (left), World Champion.

Below we are presenting just a small fraction of the new or reassessed material that is available in the Hiarcs 13 Pro book. Prepare to be surprised...

D97
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Qb3 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bg7 6.Nf3 0–0 7.e4 Na6 8.Be2 c5 9.d5 e6 10.0–0 exd5 11.exd5 Bf5 12.Be3 Qb6 13.b3 Rfe8 14.Rad1 Rad8 15.Na4 Qa5 16.d6 Rd7

17. Qb5 was played in Gyimesi,Z (2602)-Smirin,I (2702)/Pula 2001 ½–½. However, 17.Nxc5 is much stronger e.g. Nxc5 18.b4 Qa3 19.bxc5 Rxe3 20.fxe3 Ng4 21.Qb3 Qxb3 22.axb3 Nxe3 23.Nd4 Nxd1 24.Rxd1 Be4 25.Kf2.

B90
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 h6 8.Bh4 Be7 9.Qf3 Nbd7 10.0–0–0 Qc7 11.Qg3 g5 12.fxg5 Nh5 13.Qe3 Qc5 14.Kb1 hxg5 15.Bf2 Ne5 16.Qd2 Qc7 17.Nf3 Nxf3 18.gxf3 Bd7 19.Rg1 0–0–0

Played before is 20.Be3 f6 21.Qf2 Nf4 22.Bxf4 gxf4 23.Rg4 0–1 Kupreichik,V (2460)-Beliavsky,A (2460)/Leningrad 1974/URS-ch. However, 20.Bd4!? is stronger and was played recently by Harvey Williamson in 1-0 Williamson,H (2443)-Hiltunen,R (2429)/Jubilee Swiss CC 20...f6 21.Qe3! Rde8 22.Bb6 Qc6 23.a4 Bd8 24.Bxd8 Kxd8 25.e5 d5 26.exf6 Nxf6 27.h4! winning.

B84
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be2 e6 7.0–0 Be7 8.a4 Qc7 9.a5 0–0 10.Be3 Nbd7

In this position the usual moves are 11. Nb3 and 11. f4. However, an interesting possibility here is 11.Qd2!?, a sensible move connecting the rooks while waiting for Black to commit

B90
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Qd2 Be6 9.0–0–0 Nbd7 10.f4 b5 11.f5 Bc4 12.Kb1 Rc8 13.g4 Nxg4 14.Rg1 Nxe3 15.Qxe3 Qb6 16.Qg3 Nf6 17.Bxc4

Here previously Black has played 17... Rxc4 (Ni Hua (2701)-Vitiugov,N (2681)/Sochi 2009). 17...bxc4 seems to be an improvement.

B11
1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Bg4 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 Nf6 6.Be2 e6

7. 0-0 is the usual move here. However we have found the surprising 7.d4!? has a better performance in tests.

B90
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be6 8.f3 Nbd7 9.g4 Nb6 10.g5 Nh5 11.Qd2 Rc8 12.0–0–0 Be7 13.Kb1 0–0 14.Rg1 Qc7 15.Qf2 Nc4 16.Bxc4 Qxc4 17.f4 exf4 18.Bxf4 Nxf4 19.Qxf4

Top level players have played here 19..a5 and 19..Re8. However, experience in many computer games indicates that both 19..b5 and 19...g6 are worthy alternatives, e.g. 19...g6! 20. h4 f6 21. Qh2 fxg5 22. hxg5 Rf7 23. Nd4 gives Black a flexible position.

B90
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 Ng4 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Bg3 Bg7 10.h3 Ne5 11.f3 Nbc6 12.Bf2 Be6 13.Qd2 Rc8 14.0–0–0 Qa5 15.Nb3 Qc7 16.a3

Here 16...Bxb3 was played in 1-0 Topalov,V (2690)-Gelfand,B (2713)/Bugojno 1999/CBM 074. However 16...b5 has been tested in many computer games and this move appears to be a strong alternative and scores well for Black.

A33
1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 e6 6.a3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 b6 8.Qf4 Bb7 9.e4 d6 10.Bd3 Be7 11.Qg3

11...O-O has been very unsuccessful for Black. 11...h5!? appears a good alternative which has done well in computer practice, e.g. 12.0–0 Ng4 13.Be2 Rc8.

B27
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3 Bg7 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d5 6.e5 Nh6

7.Bf4!? offers White some chances to take advantage of the awkward black knight on h6, e.g. 7...Bg4 8.Qd2. Alternatively if Black tries to undermine the centre with 7..f6 the white f4 bishop is also well placed.

Leading to some of the sharpest variations of the Poisoned Pawn Variation. 10...h6 11.Bh4 dxe5 12.fxe5 g5! 13.exf6! gxh4 14.Be2 Qa5 15.0–0 Nd7 16.Kh1! Qg5 17.Rf4 e5 18.Nd5 exd4

This variation has become the mainline in the 10.e5 variations with theory largely expanded by thousands of high quality computer games. 19. Bf3 used to be the main continuation but fell from favour due to deep drawing lines, and 19.Qxd4 has become the recent mainline, but that to has many difficulties. 19.Bf3! Bd6 20.Qxd4 Ne5 21.Ne7! h3 22.Qxd6 Nxf3 23.g3 Qe5

24.Qd3! Apowerful move – White aims to use the d file to pursue the attack 24...Ng5 25.Rd1 Be6 26.Rd4 Qc7 27.c4 b6 28.Kg1 Nh7

29.Qe4! Current practice has this line as a draw with 29.Rd6 the normal continuation. However, we have found the new 29.Qe4! leads to an advantage for White.

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