No.
51, December 23, 2009
OPENINGS
what’s hot and what’s not?
XIIIIIIIIY
Malakhov wins 9r+lwq-trk+0
9zpp+-snpvlp0
9-sn-+p+p+0
in Malakhov style 9+-+psN-+-0
9-+-zP-zP-+0
9+-sN-+-zP-0
By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris
9PzP-+PvLLzP0
9tR-+Q+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
The 62nd Russian Championship has started and at
the time of writing Svidler is leading with 3 out of Frequency
4. Malakhov won the European rapid championship
with an amazing ten wins and three draws. Korchnoi
versus Spassky is 2.5-2.5 with three games to go.
what’s hot?
The Ruy Lopez is doing its job in Moscow: Grischuk-Tomashevsky was
a white win in the classical Anti-Marshall, Sjugirov-Alekseev saw Black Score
working for his draw in the Closed Ruy Lopez and Sjugirov-Vitiugov saw
White beating the Open Ruy Lopez. Vitiugov looks remarkably comfortable
with the Classical French this year – his game with Svidler was no exception.
Svidler did beat Riazantsev’s Caro-Kann by using the Advance variation
(see PGN file).
Malakhov has his own way of handling the opening: while with White he
plays a solid 1.d4 and the Chebanenko Slav with Black against 1.d4,
against 1.e4 he displays a tricky, old-fashioned interpretation of 1...e5 in
Warsaw, beating both Ivanchuk and Shirov (see below).
Grischuk-Khismatullin wasn’t exactly testing the conclusion of last week’s
Kramnik-Adams in the QGD. In our Game of the Week Khismatullin-Svidler
Black shows how to deal with the Fianchetto Grünfeld. In the diagram
position White went for 13.¦c1. The match Kortchnoi-Spassky is not highly
theoretical, since Spassky has not much to offer against Kortchnoi’s French.
While Spassky’s Nimzo-Indian is not in danger either, Kortchnoi did grab a
sudden chance when Spassky misplayed an equal position. Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only
The first year of CVO is almost coming to an end and one thing is clear: the whole family of Slav openings seems to have paid the price
for its popularity and is no longer guaranteeing Black the easy life it did exactly one year ago. While Malakhov thrives on the Chebanenko
Slav, the somewhat compromised black queenside isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. The Semi-
Slav requires the knowledge of several only moves to stay in the game. Below you’ll find
two more Slav stories.
what’s Not?
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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not? No. 51, December 23, 2009
Svidler’s answer to the g3 Grünfeld
Starting with 1.d4 followed by a kingside fianchetto generally guarantees White a solid game,
but that doesn’t mean Black can’t play for a win. Whereas the Carlsen/Kasparov team prefers a
dynamic build-up with c5, Svidler shows that the solid c6 set-up is not without poison either.
22.¥a3?
game of the week Already the final mistake. Better is 22.£a3 ¤c6
23.¦xd5 (23.¥xf8? ¥xf8 24.£e3 ¦d8) 23...¤xe5
Khismatullin, D (2643) - Svidler, P (2754) 15.£b3 a5!? 24.fxe5 ¥d7 but it’s clear Black is on top.
Russian Ch Superfinal (Moscow), 21.12.2009 At first sight this move seems to be too 22...¥c6!
E60, Grünfeld, Fianchetto weakening, but as it turns out, White is unable to Had Khismatullin overlooked this move? Now
exploit the loose knight on b6. he doesn’t have any better than entering a bad
1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 c6 16.¦fd1 dxe4 position a pawn down.
This modest move has served Svidler very well XIIIIIIIIY 23.¥xe7 £xe7 24.¤xc6 bxc6 25.£xc6 ¥xb2
so far. A more dynamical approach is 3...¥g7 9r+-wqltrk+0 26.¦b1
4.¥g2 d5 which can be found in CVO 39 & 40. 9+p+-snpvlp0 26.¦c2 ¦fc8 27.£xc8+ (27.£xd5 ¦d8) 27...¦xc8
4.¥g2 d5 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.¤f3 ¥g7 7.¤c3 9-sn-+p+p+0 28.¦xc8+ ¢g7 29.¦xd5 £a7+! 30.¢h1 £f2 and
Even in quiet positions like these, move-orders White’s fate is decided by the e-pawn.
9zp-+-sN-+-0
are very important. 7.0–0 0–0 8.¤e5 would allow 26...a3 27.£xd5 ¦fe8 28.¦e1 ¦ad8! 29.£c4
the equalizer 8...¤g4!.
9-+-zPpzP-+0 29.¦xe4? fails to 29...£a7+.
7...0–0 8.¤e5
9+QsN-+-zP-0 29...¦d2 30.¢f1
Again the most precise way to proceed. 8.0–0 9PzP-+-vLLzP0 Again the pawn is poisoned in view of 30.¦xe4
gives Black the additional option of 8...¤e4!?. 9+-tRR+-mK-0 ¦xg2+ while 30.¥xe4 is met by 30...£a7+
8...e6 9.0–0 ¤fd7 10.f4 ¤c6 xiiiiiiiiy 31.¢h1 £f2.
10...¤b6 has a dubious reputation since the 17.d5?! 30...£d7
game Gelfand-Van Wely, Leon 2001, which the Khismatullin accepts the challenge, but soon With the idea to bring to other ¦ to the 2nd rank
Israeli won in brilliant style. will regret his ambitious attempt. After 17.¥xe4!? with 31...¦c8.
11.¥e3 Svidler was probably intending 17...a4 18.£c2 31.¦e2 ¦d4 32.£b3 ¢g7!
11.¢h1 has been tried a few times recently (18.£b4 ¤ed5 19.¤xd5 ¤xd5 when Black is XIIIIIIIIY
by expert Tkachiev, but without any particular doing fine, as 20.£xb7 can simply be met by 9-+-+r+-+0
success. 20...¦b8) 18...¤bd5 19.£e2 and the game is 9+-+q+pmkp0
11...¤b6 12.¥f2 ¤e7 about equal, but there is still a lot to play for. 9-+-+-+p+0
A prophylactic move. The knight is ideally placed 17...¤bxd5 18.¤xd5
9+-+-+-+-0
here to meet e4. 18.¥xe4 was possible, e.g. 18...¥c6 19.¥c5 ¦c8
13.¦c1 20.¤b5 with compensation for the pawn, but
9-+-trpzP-+0
White has tried various other moves here as well, hardly enough for an advantage.
9zpQ+-+-zP-0
but the general impression is that Black is OK. 18...exd5 19.¥b6 9Pvl-+R+LzP0
a) 13.e4 dxe4 14.¤xe4 ¤bd5 15.£b3 b6 16.£a3 19.¥xe4 ¥c6 with similar compensation as in the 9+R+-+K+-0
a5 17.¦fe1 ¦a7= Nikolic-Svidler, Bundesliga previous note. xiiiiiiiiy
2002. 19...£b8 20.¥c5 No hurry! Here the king is protected from any
b) 13.a4 a5 14.£b3 ¥d7 15.¦fc1 ¥c6 (15...¤f5 White can’t force a repetition with 20.¥c7 £a7+ check.
16.¤b5 ¥xb5 17.£xb5 ¤d6 18.£b3 ¤bc4 21.¥b6 in view of 21...¥a4!. 33.¢g1 ¦d3 34.£c4 ¥d4+ 35.¢h1 ¦c8 36.£b4
19.£a2 ¤d2 20.¦c2 ¤2e4 21.£b3 ¤xf2 22.¢xf2 20...a4! 21.£c3 e3 37.¥e4 ¥c5 38.£b5
¦a6= Karpov-Svidler, Odessa 2009.) 16.¤b5 21.£e3 ¤f5 22.£f2 ¥xe5 23.fxe5 ¥c6 and after White managed to stop the attack, but Svidler
¤bc8 17.e3 ¤d6 18.¤xd6 £xd6 19.¥e1 ¦fb8= 24.¥xf8 £xf8 his two connected passed pawns has calculated that the rook on b5 is unable to
Karpov-Kasparov, Seville 1987. provide Black with excellent compensation. offer any assistence on the 2nd rank.
c) 13.£b3 f6 14.¤d3 ¤c4 15.¦fd1 b6 16.e4 ¤a5 21...£c7 38...£xb5 39.¦xb5 ¦d2 40.¥f3 ¥d4 41.¦d5
17.£c2 ¥b7 18.e5 f5 19.b3 £d7 20.¦ac1 ¦fc8„ Less convincing is 21...¤c6 22.¦xd5 ¤xe5 ¦cc2 42.¦xd2 ¦xd2 43.g4 ¦xa2 44.¦xd4 e2
Bocharov-Shirov, Sochi 2007. 23.fxe5 ¥c6 24.¥xf8 ¥xd5 25.¥xg7 ¢xg7 26.¦d1 and resigned in view of 45.¥xe2 ¦xe2 46.¦a4
13...¥d7 14.e4 ¥e8 when Black will face some technical problems. a2. 0–1
14...dxe4 was tested in Beim-Smirin, Tel Aviv
1996 but after 15.¥xe4 ¥c6 16.¤xc6 bxc6
17.£d3 ¦c8 18.¦fd1 ¤bd5 19.¤a4 £a5 20.b3
¦fd8 21.¦c5 £c7 22.¦dc1 White had an edge.
khismatullin - svidler
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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not? No. 51, December 23, 2009
this week’s harvest
Scotch, 4...¥c5 5.¤xc6 1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.d4 exd4 4.¤xd4 ¥c5 5.¤xc6 bxc6 6.¥d3 £h4 7.£e2 ¤f6 8.h3 d5 9.g3 £h5
XIIIIIIIIY 10.£xh5 ¤xh5 11.¤c3 ¤f6 12.¥f4 ¥b4 13.exd5 ¤xd5 14.¥d2 ¤xc3 15.¥xc3 ¥xc3+ 16.bxc3 ¥e6
9r+-+k+-tr0 As we explained above Malakhov has his own approach in the opening (see also CVO 49). These days the autoreply
9zp-zp-+pzpp0 to 5.¤xc6 in the Scotch seems to be 5...£f6, but Malakhov returned to 5...bxc6, first played in 1842 according to
9-+p+l+-+0 the database. With 6...£h4 Black enjoys very active piece development, since 7.0–0 seems to run into ¤f6-g4. A
solid alternative for White is 8.¥e3, but it’s not clear whether he can claim his standard structural edge (we don’t
9+-+-+-+-0
think so). 8...d5!? is a really cool move, the point being 9.exd5 ¢d8! 10.0–0 ¥xh3!. White can more or less force
9-+-+-+-+0 the liquidation into an ending, but instead of the game’s novelty 11...¤f6 Black may stick to 11...0–0 which served
9+-zPL+-zPP0 Godena fine in a recent game. Castling kingside next move is another alternative and so is (from the diagram
9P+P+-zP-+0 position) 17.f4 ¢e7!? playing with a centralised king. Since White has been doing well against 5...£f6 recently, 5...
9tR-+-mK-+R0 bxc6 looks like a welcome alternative.
xiiiiiiiiy
1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥b5 ¤f6 4.0–0 ¤xe4 5.d4 ¥e7 6.£e2 ¤d6 7.¥xc6 bxc6 8.dxe5 ¤b7 9.¤c3 0–0 Berlin, 5...¥e7
10.¥f4 ¤c5 11.¦fe1 ¤e6 12.¥g3 f5 13.exf6 ¥xf6 14.£c4 ¥xc3 15.£xc3 £f6 16.£b3 d6 17.¦e3 ¥d7 18.c3 £f7 XIIIIIIIIY
Against the Ruy Lopez Malakhov found a line that’s very similar in style, 5...¥e7!?, first played in 1855. This line 9r+-+-trk+0
has always been around, but seems to be forgotten today. 5...¤d6 instead would lead to the famous Berlin ending. 9zp-zpl+qzpp0
8...¤b7! is the key move, after which the ¤ will make it to the blockading square e6. It’s not the first time Malakhov 9-+pzpn+-+0
won a long ending with it, since recently he beat Balogh in a league game. The big question is what setup White
9+-+-+-+-0
should choose, and we are wondering when Khalifman’s novelty 10.¦e1 ¤c5 11.¥e3 ¤e6 12.¦ad1 d5 13.exd6
cxd6 14.¤d4 ¤xd4 15.¥xd4 ¦e8 16.£f3 d5 17.¤a4 ¥f8 18.¦xe8!N £xe8 19.¥c5, published in 2003, will finally be
9-+-+-+-+0
played. The square on c5 seems to give White a stable edge. Next question is where Malakhov is ready to improve.
9+QzP-tRNvL-0
His 14...¥xc3 against Shirov is a novelty to a game by one of his colleagues, played 110 years ago. Just like in the 9PzP-+-zPPzP0
game against Ivanchuk, the endgame was Malakhov’s domain. 9tR-+-+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
Slav, 4.e3 ¥g4 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.e3 ¥g4 5.h3 ¥xf3 6.£xf3 e6 7.¤c3
XIIIIIIIIY ¤bd7 8.¥d2 ¥d6 9.cxd5 exd5 10.¥d3 0–0 11.g4 £e7 12.g5 ¤e8 13.0–0–0
9r+-+ntrk+0 Opening Expert of CVO 36 Evgeny Miroshnichenko already demonstrated the dangers for Black when the position
9zpp+nwqpzpp0 gets opened, especially with queens £s exchanged as then the power of the bishop pair increases. However,
9-+pvl-+-+0 Dreev shows that with £s on the board Black doesn’t have a safe life either. In our opinion Black better goes
for 10...£e7 (immediately controlling e4) or 11...¥b4, because in the game Miton ends up in an passive position
9+-+p+-zP-0
without any counterplay, as his pieces are very inefficiently placed. It became evident that the ¤ was not entirely
9-+-zP-+-+0 satisfied with his job on c7, but it’s hard to condemn Black’s 13th move too. In the analysis you will see that the
9+-sNLzPQ+P0 pawn on g5 is poisoned, while 13...¥b4 has lost its effect, as the ¤ has been driven back to e8 and is unable to
9PzP-vL-zP-+0 come to e4 in time. The Russian GM easily continued building up his attacking forces, and although there was not a
9+-mKR+-+R0 decisive threat yet, Miton lost thread with 17...c5?. Dreev thankfully accepted the pawn and won a few moves later.
xiiiiiiiiy
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.¤c3 a6 5.¤e5 ¤bd7 6.¥f4 dxc4 7.e3 ¤xe5 8.dxe5 £xd1+ 9.¦xd1 ¤d5 10.¦xd5 Chebanenko Slav
The chance of taking Black by surprise in one of the main variations of the Chebanenko Slav is not so big, hence XIIIIIIIIY
Timofeev’s approach is worth considering. He opted for the sideline 5.¤e5 followed by the rare 7.e3, where mostly 9r+l+kvl-tr0
7.¤xc4 has been employed. Timofeev’s innovation was justified by the interesting exchange sacrifice, which gave 9+p+-zppzpp0
him full compensation as Black was forced to keep his rook in the corner for a long time. However, as it turned out, 9p+p+-+-+0
it was very hard to exploit this advantage and soon Black was able to return the exchange and restore the balance.
9+-+RzP-+-0
Still, a closer look reveals that White could have improved at least once. It seems time plays an important factor and
so 18.¢d2 deserves attention to bring the rook into play. Two pawns are more than sufficient compensation and so
9-+p+-vL-+0
13...g5?! can be questioned as well. So we have new interesting idea for White, and probably Black does best to
9+-sN-zP-+-0
avoid these complications. 7...b5!? 8.¤xc6 £b6 might be Black’s safest alternative. 9PzP-+-zPPzP0
9+-+-mKL+R0
xiiiiiiiiy
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Photo: Francis Raymund Haro ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not? No. 51, December 23, 2009
opening expert
Who: Victor Mikhalevski
Born: July 8, 1972
Nationality: Israel
Rating: 2607
Expertise: White: Catalan, Black: Open Ruy Lopez and Grünfeld
Why: The 37-year-old Israeli professional is a highly renowned theoretician.
Like his compatriots Gelfand and Avrukh, Mikhalevski is a true Catalan
expert on the White side of the board. With the Black pieces he has made
important contributions to the theory of the Grünfeld and the Open
Ruy Lopez. In the latter Black seems to have some difficulties equalizing,
but recently Mikhalevski managed to do so in a highly important game
with Jakovenko in Novi Sad. The Israeli GM is a frequent guest in the
Northern American opens, where making draws makes no sense in the
battle for prize money. Mikhalevski possesses a sharp style and is not
too shy to play for a win with both colours, which makes him a dangerous
opponent for everyone, as Kamsky discovered (see PGN file). Mikhalevski
is a real globetrotter and as we can read from his Facebook page he has
visisted at least 56 countries. A record amongst his colleagues?
Key game: Mikhalevski - Kraai, Edmonton International, 18.12.2009
1.d4 e6 2.c4 ¤f6 3.¤f3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 14.g4!?
XIIIIIIIIY
d6 6.¤c3 g6 7.g3 ¥g7 8.¥g2 0–0 9.0–0 ¦e8 An interesting decision that comes down to an
9-tr-wq-+-+0
10.¥f4 ¤a6 exchange sacrifice. 9+-+n+-+p0
10...a6 11.a4 b6 see CVO 41, Rodshtein- 14...¤xc3 15.bxc3 ¥e4 16.c4 ¥b2 17.£b3 9p+-zpkzPp+0
Gashimov, Ohrid 2009. ¥xc1 18.¥xc1 9+-zp-+-+-0
11.h3 White’s compensation lies in the weakened a1– 9-+P+-+-+0
11.¦e1 is mostly seen here. h8 diagonal. 9+-wQ-+-+P0
11...¤c7 12.a4 ¤e4 13.¦c1 18...a6?! 9-vL-+PzP-+0
13.¤xe4 ¦xe4 14.¤d2 ¦b4 gives Black The start of a wrong plan. 18...f6 19.¥b2 ¦f8 9+-+R+-mK-0
reasonable counterplay. gives better prospects of surviving. xiiiiiiiiy
13...¥f5 19.a5 ¦b8 20.¥b2 b5 21.axb6 ¤a8
XIIIIIIIIY 21...¤xd5 22.cxd5 £xb6 23.£xb6 ¦xb6 would 29...£xf6??
9r+-wqr+k+0 have offered better drawing chances. This loses on the spot. Kraai should have played
9zppsn-+pvlp0 22.£c3 f6 23.g5 ¥xf3 29...¤xf6 but would have to suffer anyway after
9-+-zp-+p+0 Black has to eliminate the ¤, in view of the 30.£e3+ (Not 30.£xf6+ £xf6 31.¥xf6 ¢xf6
threat gxf6, ¤g5 and f7. 32.¦xd6+ ¢g7 33.¦xa6 ¦b4=.) 30...¢f7 31.¥c3.
9+-zpP+l+-0
24.gxf6! ¢f7 30.¦xd6+! ¢xd6 31.£d2+ 1–0
9P+-+nvL-+0 24...¥xg2 is met by 25.f7+.
9+-sN-+NzPP0 25.¥xf3 ¤xb6 26.¥g4 ¤d7 27.¥e6+ ¦xe6
9-zP-+PzPL+0 27...¢f8 28.f7.
9+-tRQ+RmK-0 28.dxe6+ ¢xe6 29.¦d1
xiiiiiiiiy
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