Review of the WR Masters 2023 with analyses from Aronian, Duda, Esipenko, Gukesh, Keymer and Praggnanandhaa. "Special" on Vishy Anand. Opening videos by Mendonca, Bauer and Marin. Opening articles from Caro-Kann to King's Indian and much more.
Here it is, the latest fashion, coming after years of only three moves played on serious level (4...Bb4, 4...dxe4 and 4...Be7). The new engines prove that Black's 4th move is not a pawn blunder but a sacrifice that promises sufficient compensation. It may still be a surprise for opponents not familiar with the current state of theory, and in modern chess, to be the player who came up with a surprise is already very important from a practical point of view! A professional like Matthias Bluebaum included 4...h6 in his repertoire and has already played it many times, showing that it is a serious move. Also, the fact that the best player in the world, Magnus Carlsen, chose this line in a few rapid/blitz games, adds to its good reputation.
From the diagram, 5.Bxf6 is pretty forced (after 5.Bh4?! g5! followed by taking on e4 and later counterattacking in the centre with c7-c5 gives perfect play for Black). After 5...Qxf6 6.exd5 is the most principled move (6.e5?! or 6.Nf3?! just gives a preferable position for Black, which you can see in the analysis of Shimanov,A - Carlsen,M 0-1). However, first I want to have a look at 6.a3.
A way for White to avoid forced lines with simplifications, and get a complicated position. Still, Black has the bishop pair, which will always promise them good counter-play. After 6...Qd8 7.Nf3 c6 8.Bd3 Nd7 followed by Be7 and 0-0 Black is safe, see Shimanov,A - Carlsen,M 0-1.
6.exd5 The most principled move, White takes the pawn.
6...Bb4! Pinning the knight and preparing 0-0 is the most straightforward. Now White has three main continuations: A) 7.Bc4, B) 7.dxe6 and C) 7.Bb5+.
A) 7.Bc4
A serious option. White puts pressure on the e6-pawn and prepares Nge2. The next moves are plausible: 7...0-0 8.Nge2 exd5 9.Bxd5 Rd8!
The rook on the d-file stands very well. 10.0-0 Bxc3 11.Nxc3 Nc6! 12.Bxc6 bxc6.
This position looks simple and relatively equal! However, Black's pawn structure is spoiled, and they need to be accurate in order to not be forced into a long-term unpleasant defence. I have deeply analysed two important games, which show the typical plans and concrete variations: Vokhidov,S - Bluebaum,M 1/2 and Brkic,A - Lupulescu,C 1-0.
B) 7.dxe6
Simple chess - grabbing the pawn and then finishing development. However, Black gets excellent piece play for the sacrificed pawn: 7...Bxe6 8.Nf3 0-0 9.Bd3 c5! 10.0-0 Bxc3 11.bxc3 Nc6.
One of the critical positions of the system. White's pawn structure is weak, and there is not the slightest trace of an advantage here! The position is just equal, and if White overestimates their chances, they could get into some trouble - as the following current game shows: Sindarov,J - Cheng,B 0-1.
C) 7.Bb5+
The most natural and direct way to keep extra material and simplify the position. 7....Bd7!. The most precise, trading the passive bishop c8 is logical. The following moves are pretty straightforward - unexpectedly, we will arrive at an endgame very soon! 8.Bxd7+ Nxd7 9.dxe6 Qxe6+ 10.Qe2 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Qxe2+ 12.Nxe2.
White obviously can force this position after 4...h6, and players ''before comp time'' would probably think Black is clearly worse and needs to fight for a draw, which is not much fun. This is an important point which makes all systems much more sensible for Black, because according to modern engines this position is ... just equal! The better pawn structure and more active pieces compensate for Black's pawn deficit. 12...0-0-0 13.0-0-0 Nb6!. The knight occupies a perfect place, ready to jump to a4, c4 or d5, and Black should keep all these options open as long as possible! See Anton Guijarro,D - Bluebaum,M 1/2.
Conclusion: 4...h6 is a new fashionable line in the French Defence. It's still quite fresh, and there exist many new areas for improvements. The detailed analysis shows that Black should not worry about sacrificing a pawn; according to the latest theory, they have compensation and great piece activity in all lines. I hope this article will enable you to add 4...h6 to your repertoire with a good feeling and to apply it in practice!
You can find Sergey Grigoriants' article with all games and analyses in the new ChessBase Magazine #213!
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The editors' recommendations: from first-class analyses from the WR Masters and the European Individual Championship 2023 to the video series "Fundamental Endgame Knowledge" Part 3 by Dr Karsten Mueller:
WR Masters 2023: The tournament winner, Levon Aronian, comments on two of his games. Plus analyses by Keymer, Duda and others. Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa each present one of their games in video! - European Individual Championship 2023: The winner Sarana comments on his groundbreaking game against Korobov, plus analyses by Shevchenko, Esipenko, Ponomariov and many others - "Special" on Vishy Anand: exclusive collection of 26 annotated games + contributions on strategy and endgame - French Gambit á la Carlsen: Sergey Grigoriants examines 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 h6!? – 0-0-0 against Bogo-Indian: Spyridon Kapnisis shows how White gets good play after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.a3, long castling not excluded! etc. etc.
WR Masters 2023: Levon Aronian gave his opponents, Gukesh and Nepomniachtchi, no chance in the tiebreak. The tournament winner analyses two of his games. Plus analyses by Vincent Keymer, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and others. Together with Sagar Shah, Gukesh presents his win against Praggnanandhaa in the video. And Pragg also demonstrates his game against Giri in the video!
European Championship 2023: Alexey Sarana prevailed over Kirill Shevchenko and Daniel Dardha thanks to a better second rating. The winner comments on his seminal game against Korobov, Shevchenko comments on two of his best games. Plus analyses by Andrey Esipenko, Ruslan Ponomariov and many others.
CBM authors analyse their favourite Vishy Anand games. An exclusive collection of 26 annotated games from 1985 to 2022 awaits you!
Christian Bauer recommends Black to play 5...Nh5 against the London System. Mihail Marin takes the game Esipenko-Aronian from the WR Masters as an opportunity to take a closer look at a Catalan variation that was popular in the 80s and 90s. Plus, Leon Mendonca shows how one should play against the King's Indian side line with 6...Bg4.
Christian Bauer: London System
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Ne5
Mihail Marin: Catalan
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 c5 4.e3 Nc6 5.Nbd2 Nh5
Leon Mendonca: King's Indian
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 Bg4
From Caro-Kann to King’s Indian – ChessBase Magazine #213 comes with 11 opening with new trends and ideas:
Evgeny Postny: Caro-Kann Exchange Variation with 8.Qe1
Petera Papp: Sicilian 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3
Tanmay Srinath: Sicilian Najdorf 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3
Sergey Gigoriants: French 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 h6
Krisztian Szabo: Petroff 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c6 9.Re1
Martin Lorenzini: Four Knights Game 4...Nd4 5.Bc4 Bc5
Christian Braun: Ruy Lopez Anti-Berlin 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bg5
Robert Ris: Queen's Gambit Accepted 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 Bb4+
Lars Schandorff: QG Exchange Variation with 9...Ne8
Alexey Kuzmin: Gruenfeld Fianchetto System with 7.a4
Yago Santiago: King's Indian 5.h3 0-0 6.Bg5
Rainer Knaak presents you with eight current traps - from the Ruy Loez to the Slav, three of them additionally in FritzTrainer video format.
Based on the game Predke-Spyropoulos from the Novi Sad Open 2022, Spyridon Kapnisis shows a weapon against the Bogo-Indian popular among club players: after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 a5 5.a3 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 d6 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.e4 e5 White surprisingly lets 9.0-0-0 follow!
With the game Szabo-Stepanencu from the Romanian Championship 2023, Robert Ris has not chosen a world-class game this time. But this encounter has it all! “An absolute masterpiece that I couldn't resist sharing with you.”
The game Karpov-Yussupov (1983) is a real masterpiece of positional play. In this encounter, the then World Champion demonstrated in exemplary fashion how to stop any active play by the opponent through perfect prophylaxis.
In the sixth episode of his training series, Jan Markos gives tips on how to play in an objectively lost position to perhaps avert defeat in the end!
Strategy expert Mihail Marin sheds light on the strategic skills of the 15th World Champion with a special focus on the categories "Pawn play", "Initiative" and "Dominance and blockade". Incl. video introduction and two training units in interactive video format!
In the tactics article with 37 games, tactics expert Oliver Reeh has compiled material from current rapid chess tournaments. You can solve his three favourite combinations move by move in the interactive video format with feedback function!
Dr Karsten Mueller continues his training series. Following an introductory video, your technique is called for in three interactive videos!
Order now in the ChessBase Shop !
Try out ChessBase Magazine now! Order the ChessBase Magazine taster package!
Read ChessBase Magazine for 6 months (= 3 issues) for the special price of only 39.90 € (instead of 59,85 € for buying them individually). As a thank you, you will also receive 3 months ChessBase Premium Membership free of charge.
*Bonus for new subscribers only, i.e. there was no CBM subscription for 12 months!
Save twice with ChessBase Magazine: For the annual subscription to ChessBase Magazine you’ll pay only €99.70 per year (compared to €119.70 for the 6 individual issues).
* Bonus only for new subscribers, i.e. there was no CBM subscription for 12 months! As a new subscriber you will receive the original ChessBase USB stick with 128 GB
