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Modern games
In the coming article I present some recent
games for use in training sessions. They
reflect the variety of modern chess.
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The main ideas of 6...Qe8 can be stated:
1) Black keeps maximum flexibility with his
pawns.
2) He may play ...b6 and ...Bb7.
3) He may play ...d7d6 and ...e6e5!
4) He can activate his Queen via ...Ne4, ...f5
and ...Qh5 or ...Qg6. All these options
combine to make 6...Qe8 very playable,
although not especially fashionable.
7.Nf3
Hardly critical. White makes a rather routine
reply and Black, undisturbed, builds up a
very nice position.
FIDE Surveys Andrew Martin
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If Black wants to attack the White King,
then this is the move. The Rook may swing
to either g6 or h6 and the Queen is ready to
intensify the pressure at a moment's notice.
Either of 13...e5 or; 13...a5 maybe better
though.
14.f3
That's why White played Ne1.
14...Ng5 15.e4 f4 16.Nd3 e5 17.d5?
Closing the centre is classic mistake in a
position of this kind, giving Black a free
hand on the kingside.
To build any pressure at all, White has to try
17.c5! bc5 18.de5 (18.dc5 d5) 18...Ne5
19.Ne5 de5 20.Qc5 and he may stand better
here. This is why 13...e5 or 13...e5 might
have been superior.
17...Qh5 18.Nf2 Rg6 19.Qd3 Nf6 20.Rd1
Bc8!
All the Black pieces gravitate towards the
White King, making a sacrifice on h3
inevitable.
1
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White has no comeback from here.
25.Bf1 Qh1 26.Kf2 Rh2 27.Ke1 Ra2
Would that all games against 4.Qc2 were so
simple! 0:1.
Gelashvili T. : Krishnan V.
Las Vegas 2012
2.b3 against the Sicilian is an excellent
surprise weapon. The so-called theoretical
test is supposed to come when Black plays
...e7e5, attempting to shut the Bishop on b2
out of the game. This is a very double-edged
procedure as it encourages White to play the
move he wants to make anyway, f2f4!
1.e4 c5 2.b3 Nc6 3.Bb2 e5 4.Bc4
4.Bb5 has been played many times and is
equally viable. If you are at all interested in
2.b3, I strongly recommend you keep up
with the games of Gelashvili, who is a
fountain of ideas as far as this variation is
concerned.
4...Nge7 5.Ne2 d6 6.00 g6 7.f4! Bg7 8.Ng3
00 9.f5
This seems like a very good version of the
2.f4 Sicilian.
9...gf5 10.Bc6 bc6 11.ef5 Nd5 12.Nc3 Nf6
13.Nce4 Qe7 14.Nf6 Bf6 15.Ne4 Kh8
16.Qh5 d5 17.Nf6 Qf6 18.Rae1 d4 19.Qe2
FIDE Surveys Andrew Martin
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Giving the game a King's Gambit-like
flavour. There are other moves which are
perhaps less sharp: 6.fe5 Ne5 7.Bb5 Ned7
8.Nc3 Be7 9.Nf3 00 10.00 a6 11.Bd7 Bd7,
Velickovic S. : Paunovic D., Brezovica
1988, whereupon 12.d3 gives rough equality.
6.d3 a6 7.Nf3 Bg4 8.00 Be7 9.h3 Bf3
10.Qf3 00 11.Nd2 b5 12.Bd5 Nd5 13.ed5
Nd4 14.Bd4 cd4 15.Rae1 Rc8 16.fe5 de5
17.Re5 Rc2 18.Ne4 Ra2 19.d6 Bf6 20.Rf5+
, Makropoulou M. : Jiretorn E., Istanbul
2003.
6...Bg4
2
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Mission finally accomplished. Please note
the inhibting role of the pawn on a5.
restraining Black's queenside counterplay.
FIDE Surveys Andrew Martin
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White has two Bishops and a small opening
edge as a result. Something to work with,
you would have thought. Importantly, Black
has been denied any active counterplay
whatsoever. 11.a3 is slightly more
ambitious, but Black should be able to get
into the game after 11...Bc3 (11...Bd6
12.Be3 c6 13.Qd2 Nbd7 14.Rfe1) 12.bc3 c5?
13.dc5 Nbd7 14.Rb1 Qc7.
11...Re8 12.Bg5 Be7 13.Ng3 Nbd7 14.f4!
If White can, he will play f4f5!
14...Nh7! 15.Qf3
15.Be7 Qe7 16.c3 Qh4 17.Qf3 Nhf6 18.Rfe1
offered very little to White. Carlsen knows
he has to keep the pieces on for his
impending kingside attack.
15...c6
I think Black should take on g5 here:
15...Bg5 16.fg5 Ng5 17.Qd5. Now 17...Nb6!
is a good move, possibly underestimated by
Vallejo: 18.Qd8 (18.Qb7 Qd4) 18...Rad8
19.c3 Re3 20.Rad1 Rde8. In view of what
happens, this would have been much better
for Vallejo than the game.
16.h4 Ndf8
16...f6?
FIDE Surveys Andrew Martin
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is just nonsensical here, inviting disaster on
the kingside: 17.Bg6! fg5 18.fg5 Rf8
(18...Ndf8 19.Qf7 Kh8 20.Nh5; 18...Ndf6
19.gf6 Nf6 20.Rae1+) 19.Qh5 Rf1 20.Rf1
Ndf6 21.gf6 Nf6 22.Bf7 Kf8 23.Be6.
16...Qb6! has to be played if Black is just not
going to submit to being attacked. The move
was criticized as superficial on the
Chessbase website with the intimation that
Black was just going to be automatically
mated, but I just don't see this mate: 17.c3
(17.Qf2 Bd6 18.c3 Ndf6 19.f5 Ng4 20.Qf3
Ne5! 21.Qd1 Nd3 22.Qd3 Ng5 23.hg5 Qc7
24.fg6 fg6) 17...Qb2 18.Rac1 (18.Rab1
Qc3) 18...Qa3 19.h5 gh5 20.Qh5 Ndf6
21.Qh4 Nf8.
17.Rae1 Qc7 18.Be7 Re7 19.Re5 f6?!
Vallejo plays too passively. Why not now
19...Rae8?
20.Re7+ Qe7 21.h5 gh5 22.Qh5
White now has the momentum he needs to
set the attack into serious motion . 22.Nf5
Qf7 23.Qg3 was a less obvious, but equally
effective method: 23...Kh8 24.Re1 Qg6
25.Re7 Qg3 26.Ng3 h4 27.Nf5.
22...Qf7 23.Qg4 g6 24.Nf5 Kh8 25.Nh4 f5
26.Qh3 Qe6 27.Kf2!?
27.g4! seems very strong, the point of which
is 27...fg4 28.Qg3 with the idea of 28...Qf6
(28...Nf6 29.f5) 29.f5!.
4
14...cd4 15.ed4
White can take the exchange, but Black's
attack is very strong: 15.Nf8 Bf8 (15...Kf8
16.ed4 Qf6! 17.Qd2 Qd4 18.Kh1 Bc5
19.Be4 Be4 20.Qd4 Bd4 21.Ne4 f5 22.Nd6
Rb8 23.Bd2!) 16.ed4 Ndf6 17.h3 Qd4
18.Kh1 Bc5! 19.hg4 Ng4.
15...Bc5!
The fireworks commence. Black makes
room for his Queen to join the party.
16.Be2
Aronian is already feeling battered and
bruised. 16 Be2 runs into another spectacular
blow. Probably the only way is 16.dc5 Nc5
17.Nf8 (17.Qe2 Qd4 18.Kh1 Nd3) 17...Nd3
18.h3 Qd4 19.Kh1 Ndf2 20.Rf2 Nf2 21.Kh2
Kf8 22.Qe2!, with ideas of Be3 or Qxb5, but
intuitively one recoils from such a line, as
White's queenside is as yet, undeveloped.
16...Nde5!!
What a move! Smothered mate on f2 might
not be so far away.
17.Bg4
Two short variation see the mate graphically
displayed:
17.fe5 Qd4 18.Kh1 Qg1! 19.Rg1 Nf2#;
17.Nf8 Qd4 18.Kh1 Qg1 19.Rg1 Nf2#.
17...Bd4 18.Kh1 Ng4 19.Nf8
19.Ng5 f5 20.h3 Rf6! leaves White lost.
19...f5!
It is important for Black to be accurate.
19...Qh4? is surprisingly wrong: 20.Qh7!
Qh7 21.Nh7 Kh7 22.h3 22...Nf2 23.Kh2 a6
24.Ra2. A new game begins here.
20.Ng6 Qf6
White is so uncoordinated that he cannot
even begin to formulate a defence.
21.h3 Qg6 22.Qe2 Qh5 23.Qd3
23.Rf3 Nf2 24.Kh2 Bf3 25.Qf3 Qf3 26.gf3
Nd3 27.Kg3 a6 28.Ne2 Bb6 keeps the game
going for White, but it probably wouldn't
last very long anyway.
23...Be3!
Setting up the unstoppable threat of..,Qh3.
Superb! 0:1.
Caruana F. : Svidler P.
Russia 2013
One of the greatest American chess thinkers
of the 20th century, Robert Byrne, passed
away in 2013. In our last game, Svidler
shows respect to Byrne by employing one of
his opening systems. This game was played
shortly after Byrne's death.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.f3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nc3
00 6.Nge2
6.Be3 is no longer automatic here, as White
players try to find a way around lines with a
quick ...c7c5.
6...a6
I guess the idea is that 6...c5 7.d5 gives
White options based on Bg5. In our game
Caruana takes this opportunity immediately.
7.Bg5 c6 8.Qd2 b5
This method of counterplay gains in strength
when c4 is unprotected. Good timing by
Svidler.
9.h4 h5 10.000
10.e5 whilst the d file can be opened, looks
premature. Black acheived good prospects in
the following recent game: 10...de5 11.de5
Qd2 12.Bd2 Nfd7 13.f4 f6 (13...Nc5 14.Ng3
Bg4 also looks perfectly OK.) 14.ef6 Nf6
15.Ng3 e5! 16.fe5 Ng4 17.Nce4,
Harikrishna P. : WenY., Biel 2012, after
which 17...Be5! leads to a position which
can only be a bit better for Black 18.Bb4
7
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A very picturesque final position. 0:1.
Touchdown !I hope you have enjoyed this
series of games from the past year and that
you will able to use them profitably in your
teaching and training sessions.