ChessBase Magazine #159

Review by Prof Nagesh Havanur

Way back in 1980s and 1990s Jan represented the Western challenge to the Soviet domination of world chess. In a way he was a worthy heir to Fischer and Larsen. He also founded the New in Chess magazine that continues to thrive after 25 years. Nowadays Jan plays less. So it was a pleasant surprise to see him in Wijk aan Zee tournament this year. Playing in “B” section he shared second place with Baadur Jobava with 8.5/13. Not bad for a 62-year-old veteran, and the games were always interesting…

In the following position he missed a combination that he found only after the game. Can you see what he it was?

Black to play

In the “A” section Levon Aronian won, and in this issue you would find a special report and all the games. But the event everyone waited for was Zürich Chess Challenge, with Carlsen participating in his new avatar as world champion. He had come in for some serious criticism for his negative tactics in the title match at Chennai. In Zürich, however, he was a cavalier without reproach, playing in uninhibited style. Deservedly, he came first. But the tournament was not a one man show. Caruana won the rapid event and along with Aronian beat Carlsen, drawing close to him in the final rankings. This issue includes games from both the main event and the rapid tournament. Blitz games, however, are missed. The most dramatic encounter in the main event was obviously the game, Nakamura-Carlsen.

Here the critical position occurs after the 36th move:

In fairness to Nakamura it should be mentioned that he was in dire time trouble and took recourse to a move that turned out to be a mirage.

This issue also covers the Gibralter Open won by Ivan Cheparinov after a rapid tie-break with Nikita Vitiugov and Vassily Ivanchuk. I was curious to know what happened to Vassily. He survived more than one scare and went down before Vitiugov in a wild game.

Ordinarily rapid and blitz games are not annotated in ChessBase Magazine. Perhaps there is a need for change in this policy. Many players see ChessBase Magazine as an important source of annotated games. If such games are not explained in the magazine it is not easy to follow them. After a little search I found the game on the ChessBase news page itself, with fine annotations by Alejandro Ramirez.

This brings me to other sections of the issue. There are as many as 13 opening surveys from King’s Gambit to Queen’s Indian. Among them Moskalenko’s essay on the Budapest and Marin’s piece on the Winawer are noteworthy. However, it’s Martin Breutigam’s writing on King’s Gambit that is the icing on the cake. I used to believe John Shaw’s recent work, The King’s Gambit (Quality Chess 2013), was the last word on this opening. Breutigam’s analysis, however, advances the frontiers of theory further.

Of late contributors to CBM have shown a remarkable interest in the evolution of theory. In this issue landmark games by old masters, Rubinstein and Maroczy receive attention. So also games of Petrosian and Korchnoi. Every bit is relevant and nothing out of context. Garry would have approved.

In addition there are trademark sections on strategy, tactics and the endgame. In all there are 1759 OTB games of which 92 are annotated. Last, but not least there are 41 correspondence chess games annotated by Robert Alvarez and Juan Morgado. I would have loved to see a little more prose by way of explanation in their notes. These veterans know a lot, and we need to share their understanding.

The move that Timman missed (see above) was...

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All Opening Surveys in CBM #159

Check out if there are anything here that is suitable for you. There's a free sample at the end...

	Schandorff: English A37 1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nf3 d6 6.0-0 Bf5 The setup suggested by Lars Schandorff with 6...Bf5 has seldom been seen in practice so far. The intention is ...Dd7 followed up by ...Bh3. The plan is extremely simple, but generally achieves its aim – equality – quite safely.
	Moskalenko: Budapest Gambit A52 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.e3 Nc6 Richard Rapport’s spectacular win with black over Boris Gelfand caused Viktor Moskalenko to put these variations under the microscope. Surprisingly, it is hard to demonstrate an opening advantage for White and in practice Black scores well.
	Krasenkow: Benoni A70 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.Bd3 Bg7 8.h3 0-0 9.Nf3 b5 10.Nxb5 The setup with Bd3 and h3 is extremely dangerous for Black. Michal Krasenkow can, e.g., point to his score of 18.5 out of 20. Theoretically 9...b5 is the correct move, but our Polish author shows that the practical problems after 10.Nxb5 are all Black’s.
	Kuzmin: Pirc Defence B07 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nbd2 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bd3 0-0 6.0-0 Actually with this move order White does not so much want to play the Pirc as simply to avoid the Grünfeld Defence and the King’s Indian. Objectively speaking, Black can equalise, but as Kuzmin shows, in most lines White has a very comfortable game.
	Postny: Caro-Kann B12 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.dxc5 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.c3 e6 In this variation White absolutely wants to hang on to the c5-pawn, but in return Black may get the e5-one. But White then often gets the bishop pair and a lead in development. According to Evgeny Postny the best way to start is with 7.Be3.
	Szabo: Sicilian B81 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e6 7.g4 Compared to the Keres Attack, White often loses a tempo here. This makes it easier for Black to equalise, but the positions are very sharp. Krisztian Szabo demonstrates in his article that Black can count on equality both with 7...d5 and with 7...Be7.
	Havasi: Sicilian B90 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.f3 Be6 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 a5 In this variation of the English Attack, 10...a5 is not the main move (that is 10...Nbd7), but Gergö Havasi has had good practical experience with the move of the rook’s pawn. In his article the young Hungarian explains ideas, motifs and typical patterns.
	Marin: French C16 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 b6 Instead of knowledge of variations, what one needs to have in this very strategic system is an understanding of the plans for both players. Mihail Marin shows you how things are. There are 22 annotated games, many of which have extensive comments.
	Breutigam: King's Gambit C33 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 In the second part of his repertoire for Black against the King’s Gambit Martin Breutigam deals above all with 3.Bc4. His recommendation is 3...Nf6. He also examines the weaker alternatives on move 3.
	Antic: Bogoindian E11 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.a3 Who is actually favoured by the insertion of the moves 4...a5 5.a3? In any case Black should reply 5...Bxd2+ and a comparison with the 4...Bxd2+ variation comes to mind. Dejan Antic has a few interesting ideas.
	Skembris: Queen's Indian E12 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.Bf4 No other top player make have included the Miles Variation 4.Bf4 in his repertoire, but Spyridon Skembris, who has played the variation with both colours, is nevertheless surprised that there is no simple route to equality for Black.
	Stohl: Queen's Indian E15 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Nc3 The Queen’s Indian with 5.b3 is the main variation is this opening. The subsequent sequence of moves has crystallised out as the best in several games between Aronian and Karjakin. Igor Stohl brings you right up to date.
	Gutman: Nimzoindian E25 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.f3 d5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 c5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.dxc5 Qa5 9.e4 Nf6 10.Be3 0-0 Carlsen may have preferred 7...exd5 in his WCh match, but the alternative 7...Nxd5 is considered to be the main continuation. Lev Gutman has investigated the important variation with 9...Nf6 and can see a slight advantage for White.

Free opening survey - download a sample!

Michal Krasenkow: "A Challenger" (Modern Benoni with 7.Bd3 Bg7 8.h3 ... 9...b5 10.Nxb5)

Michal Krasenkow has an excellent performance with the line that he presents in his article: With the line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6 7.Bd3 Bg7 8.h3 he scored no fewer selbst einen exzellenten Score vorweisen: 18,5 out of 20!

After the usual moves 8...0-0 9.Sf3 b5 the Polish GM recommends to take on b5 not with the bishop but with the knight: 10.Nxb5. Here Black must choose between two replies, he plays either 10...Nxe4 or 10...Re8 - both moves were played about 200 times (Mega 2014).

But the first reply looses on the spot! White answers 10...Nxe4 with 11.Bxe4 Re8 12.Ng5!! and due to the threat 12...h6 13.Ne6 black is already on the edge of the abyss.

But Krasenkow also for 10...Re8 shows a forced line where Black can easily go astray, and even after the best movesc, things remain difficult
for him.

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