Inspiring: ChessBase Magazine #176

by Johannes Fischer
3/16/2017 – How to find new ideas in the opening - to refresh your repertoire or to surprise your opponents? Browsing through the ChessBase Magazine might help. The tournament reports in which top grandmasters analyze their recent games or the regular columns about the middlegame, classical games, the endgame or tactics offer a wealth of training material but the opening surveys inspire to try new lines.

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For instance, the Janowski Variation in the Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 a6!?), which poses White unexpected problems, 4.Qd3 as surprise weapon against French Winawer (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qd3!?) or Najdorf with 6.Nb3 (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nb3!?). This move shows that even in an opening that has been as heavily analyzed as the Najdorf it is possible to find new ideas at an early stage of the game. But with 6.Nb3 White wants more than being original. The ChessBase Magazine booklet explains the tricky ideas behind the seemingly harmless knight retreat:

„6.Nb3 is actually a waiting move. White is hoping above all that Black will close the c8-h3 diagonal and in doing so allow a rapid g2-g4. The most often played move 6...e6 is thus met with 7.g4. It is a Keres Attack in which White has moved his knight away from d4. That is certainly not optimal but nevertheless Black has to fight for equality too.“

The booklet also deals with other moves Black might play, explaining in each case which strategy White will follow then. Finally, the booklet concludes: "On the one hand Black has several good replies after 6.Nb3, on the other hand he still cannot yet be certain of equality and really has to know what he is doing."

This one-page introduction to the line explains White's ideas briefly and to the point. And if you also take a look at the survey on the DVD you do have a weapon against the Najdorf which might surprise players who do not follow the latest theoretical trends regularly.

One of the first players who realized the potential of 6.Nb3 was Polish Grandmaster Mateusz Bartel, who used this move to beat strong players such as Markus Ragger, Vladislav Artemiev and Radoslaw Wojtaszek. Other grandmasters quickly followed suit. One of them was Sicilian expert Wei Yi who tried the line against Gao Rui in the Chinese League and won a fine and energetic game.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nb3 e6 7.g4 With 6. Nb3 Wei Yi managed to turn a Najdorf into a Scheveninger. And after the retreat 6.Nb3 he now attackts with the g-pawn, heading for the Keres Attack. b5 8.Bg2 Bb7 9.g5 b4N A novelty which provokes White to a typical sacrifice. 10.Nd5 exd5 11.gxf6 dxe4 12.Qg4 gxf6 13.Be3 After the short tactical skirmish White is two pawns down the weak black pawns and the vulnerable position of Black's king compensate the material deficit. h5 14.Qe2 Nd7 15.0-0-0 Qc7?! After this natural move Black is in trouble. The engines recommend 15...f5 or 15...Rg8 and evaluate the position in both cases as roughly equal. 16.Bf4 f5 17.Bh3 0-0-0 Black managed to evacuate his king from the center but this does not mean that Black's king is safe. 18.Rd4 After 18.Bxf5 White is clearly better. But Wei Yi ignores the pawn and continues to put Black under pressure. 18...Bh6 19.Bxh6 Rxh6 20.Rc4 Nc5 21.Qe3 Rf6 22.Qd4 Qe7 23.Rd1 Rd7 24.Nxc5 dxc5 25.Rxc5+ Kd8 26.Qxb4 White regained both pawns but the black king is still exposed and the pawn on f5 remains weak. Rfd6 27.Rxd6 Qxd6 28.Qa5+ Ke8 29.Re5+ Re7 After 29...Kf8 White exchanges queens with 30.Qc5 and remains with the much better endgame. 30.Rxe7+ Kxe7 31.Qxf5 Qxh2 With perfect play Black might be able to draw this position. However, the vulnerable position of the black king and the weak black pawns make it difficult to play perfectly. 32.b3 Kf8 33.Kb2 Qd6 34.Qxh5 Qd4+ 35.Ka3 Bd5 36.Qh6+ Ke7 37.Qg5+ f6 38.Qe3 Qd1 39.Qc5+ Ke8 40.Qc8+ Ke7 41.Qc5+ Ke8 42.Bf5 Qc1+ 43.Ka4 Qf4 After 43...Qd2 44.Qc8+ Kf7 45.Qd7+ Kf8 White wins with 46.Be6 threatening mate while attacking the bishop which is pinned. And after Qd4+ 47.c4 Black runs out of checks. 44.Qxd5 e3+ 45.b4 Black resigned. After 45. ..exf2 46.Qd7+ Kf8 47.Be6 he will be mated. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Wei,Y2700Gao,R25521–02016B90CHN-chT12.2

Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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