Robert Ris’ Fast and Furious: A model game in the Sveshnikov

by Robert Ris
8/19/2022 – This week Robert Ris will have a look at a model game in the Sveshnikov, played by Fabiano Caruana (with Black) against Greek GM Dimitris Mastrovasilis at the Chess Olympiad 2022 in Chennai. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
In this video course, twenty-nine examples with multiple questions are presented in the interactive format, which is ideal for a range of playing strengths. Step by step you will be taken through the complex positions.

The attractions of the Sveshnikov

It was definitely not Fabiano Caruana's Olympiad this time, but his victory with the black pieces against Greek GM Dimitris Mastrovasilis was a true modelgame.

In the old Main Line of the Sveshnikov (9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 f5 11.Bd3 Be6 12.0-0) Caruana decided to avoid the most forcing lines arising from 12...Bxd5 (my recommendation for Black in the book The Modernized Sveshnikov) to keep more play in the position with 12...Bg7.

Very soon Black typically went ...f5-f4, releasing the central tension and getting prepared for a massive attack on the g-file. It all worked out perfectly for Caruana, who didn't let his opponent off the hook and finished the game in style.

Exercise: Now it's your turn to follow in Caruana's footsteps. How does Black give his attacking aspirations a new impulse?

 

Feel free to move the pieces on the live diagram!

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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.