Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: A line against the Grünfeld: The Winsemius Variation

by Robert Ris
3/18/2022 – This week Robert Ris takes a look at the interesting line Richard Rapport used to defeat Grünfeld expert Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the Grünfeld and reveals a little secret about the move 12.Rc3!? in the Exchange Variation of the Grünfeld that brought Rapport a crucial win. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
By playing the London System, with 1.d4 followed by 2.Nf3 and 3.Bf4, White can avoid a theoretical discussion and instead use natural ability plus a knowledge of plans. The weight of the struggle tends to shift towards the middlegame, but White can also pull off devastatingly quick wins should Black be unaware of the dangers.

Richard Rapport is the man of the moment as he convincingly managed to win the 2nd leg of the GP series in Belgrade last week. His victory with the white pieces against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave impressed me a lot. Not least because of the cunning move 12.Rc3 in the Exchange Variation of the Grünfeld, a rare idea which my friend Jan Winsemius (+/- 1900 rated) had already shown me several years ago. 

In the game MVL went for 12...e5 and found himself in deep trouble soon afterwards. When I was analyzing this position with Jan I tried to refute his idea by playing 12...Rd8 13.Qd2 Nxd4, but he had a great trick in store for me. 

Exercise: Do you see White's idea? (Analysis)?

 
R. Rapport - M. Vachier-Lagrave, FIDE Grand Prix Belgrade 2022

You can move the pieces on the live diagram!

This week’s show

Watch previous shows

Recent shows

Many more Fast and Furious episodes are available in ChessBase Videos

Links

Robert is an International Master who mostly spends his time training and coaching talented youngsters. On the PlayChess server The Fast and the Furious is a popular show where he explains sharp opening lines for a wider audience. He is also a well-known ChessBase author who produced numerous DVDs and regularly contributes to ChessBase Magazine as well. Since 2015 he is the organizer of the Dutch Rapid Championships in his home town Amstelveen. He has started a YouTube channel with chess analysis as well.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register

We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.