openings 223 | April 10n 2013

what’s hot and what’s not?

XIIIIIIIIY
Italian pet lines 9r+lwqk+-tr0
9zppzpp+pzpp0
9-+n+-sn-+0
9+-vl-+-+-0
9-+LzpP+-+0
9+-zP-+N+-0
9PzP-+-zPPzP0
IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris
9tRNvLQmK-+R0
xiiiiiiiiy
In this issue we examine games from the German Frequency
Bundesliga and from the Russian League. Meanwhile
Loek van Wely showed that he can still bite by winning the
Sydney Open.

what'shot?
Score
In our Game of the Week Jobava played his pet line in the Italian against
Karjakin, which is 6.e5 d5 7.¥e2!? in the diagram position. Hector has
his own Italian pet line and beat Hracek in the second attacking wave.
Howell-Buhmann was yet another white win in the Italian. Sutovsky beat
Caruana in a long Philidor struggle.

Below we have an update on the 6.¥e3 e5 7.¤b3 ¥e6 8.f3 h5 variation

of the Najdorf, discussing a bunch of move order issues in the process.
Shirov gave 6.h3 against the Najdorf another outing and beat Sjugirov
with it. Alekseev got a nice edge, but he didn't manage to beat Sveshnikov
expert Yakovich. Kasimdzhanov-Ruck was a theoretically relevant white
win in the traditional main line of the Caro-Kann (see below).

Svidler-Harikrishna was a highly entertaining QGD battle with unbalanced

material throughout the game (see below). Van Wely beat Zhao Zong
Yuan in the QGD and Li Chao with a Maroczy Bind resulting from the
Symmetrical English. Morozevich took on Jakovenko's Slav with a lot of
energy and won an adventurous game. Many people were impressed
and inspired by Kramnik's performance in London. In both Mamedyarov-
Romanov and Baramidze-Bacrot (see p.4), Black followed the former Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only
World Champion and comfortably drew with the Semi-Tarrasch.

The Grünfeld is a great opening, but due to its current popularity it also has to withstand a lot of pressure. This week White had a pretty
good score against it. Grischuk-Cheparinov (10.h3) and Avrukh-Popilski (10.a3) were good white wins in the Fianchetto Grünfeld.
Below we'll examine White's 2.5 out of 3 score in the 7.¤f3 c5 8.¥e3 variation. Vachier Lagrave's 0.5 out
of 2 with the Grünfeld can be found in the PGN file. what’snot?
1 of 4
 openings what’s hot and what’s not?
Winning with the Italian
Karjakin is the number 5 player in the world rankings, has a very solid style and is extremely
hard to beat. Jobava is an enormous force himself, though, and with his trademark creative
play won a great game in the Italian.
gameoftheweek Jobava - Karjakin
Jobava,B (2702) - Karjakin,S (2786)
Russian league (Loo), 08.04.2013
C53, Italian
1.e4 e5 2.¤f3 ¤c6 3.¥c4 ¥c5 4.c3 ¤f6 5.d4
5.d3 normally leads to quieter play.
5...exd4 6.e5
The other main option is 6.cxd4 ¥b4+
7.¤bd2!? (7.¥d2 and 7.¤c3 are well-known
alternatives.) and now:
a) 7...d5 was seen in Robson-Hess (CVO
176).
b) 7...¤xe4 8.d5 ¤e7 9.0–0 ¥xd2 (9...¤xd2
10.¥xd2 ¥xd2 11.d6! was recommended in
the aforementioned issue.) 10.¤xd2 ¤xd2
11.¥xd2 d6 12.¦e1 0–0 13.£h5 ¤g6 14.¥d3
¥d7 15.¦e4 ¦e8 16.¥g5 £c8 17.¦h4 h6
18.¥xh6 ¦e5 19.¥g5 ¦xg5 20.£xg5 ¤xh4
21.£xh4 ¥f5 with approximate equality in
Hector-Hracek, Schwetzingen 2013.
6...d5 7.¥e2!?
This move has been popularised by the
Georgian GM. Compared with the main option
7.¥b5, White anticipates the possible pin with
...¥g4.
7...¤e4
The most natural follow-up. Black does
better to refrain from 7...d3?! 8.exf6 dxe2
9.£xe2+ ¢f8 10.¥g5 when White's position is
preferable.
8.cxd4 ¥b4+
Last year Jobava was rather unsuccessful
dealing with 8...¥b6 9.¤c3 (An attempt at
improving upon 9.0–0 ¥g4 10.¥e3 f5 11.exf6
£xf6 12.¤c3 0–0–0 which led to very doubled-
edged play in Jobava-Kamsky, Amsterdam
2012. The resultant complicated ending was
covered in CVT 69.) 9...0–0 10.0–0 ¥f5 11.¤a4
f6 12.a3 fxe5 13.¤xb6 axb6 14.¤xe5 ¤xe5
15.dxe5 ¤c5 16.¥e3 ¤e6 17.g4 ¥g6 18.f4
¥e4 19.£b3? (19.¥f3„) 19...£h4! and Black
seized the initiative in Jobava-Malakhov,
Burgas 2012.
9.¥d2 ¤xd2 10.¤bxd2 0–0 11.0–0 f6 12.¦c1
White deviates from an earlier game which
went 12.a3 ¥a5 13.¥b5 ¤e7 (The piece
sacrifice 13...¤xd4!? 14.¤xd4 fxe5 comes
into consideration as well.) 14.£c2 ¥f5 15.¥d3
¥xd3 16.£xd3 ¤g6 with about equal chances
in Vallejo Pons-Ponomariov, Melilla 2011.
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+lwq-trk+0
9zppzp-+-zpp0
9-+n+-zp-+0
9+-+pzP-+-0
9-vl-zP-+-+0
9+-+-+N+-0
9PzP-sNLzPPzP0
9+-tRQ+RmK-0
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12...¢h8?!
It's not clear what Black has in mind by placing
his ¢ in the corner. An improvement could be
12...fxe5 13.dxe5 a6!? with chances for both
sides, but not 13...¦e8?! 14.¥b5! and White's
better. After 12...¦e8 13.a3! ¥xd2 14.£xd2
fxe5 15.¥b5! it's clear that the ¦ is well placed
on the c-file.
13.¤b3!
13.¥b5 fxe5 14.dxe5 ¥g4 offers Black
reasonable counterplay.
13...¥g4 14.a3 ¥e7 15.¦e1 fxe5 16.dxe5
¦f4?
The ¦ turns out to be very unfortunately placed
on f4. It would have been better to connect the
¦s with 16...£d7 even though White retains
slightly better prospects after something like
17.¦c3.
17.h3 ¥h5
Black gives up the control over the e6–square.
After 17...¥e6 18.¥b5 White is also better.
18.¤c5 ¥xc5 19.¦xc5 d4 20.e6! ¥g6
Black might also have considered protecting
the ¥ with 20...£e8 even though after 21.£d2
¦e4 22.¤g5! ¦xe2 23.¦xe2 ¥xe2 24.£xe2 his
position remains very unpleasant.
21.¥d3
Simple and strong. If 21.£d2? £d6! 22.b4 d3!
the d-pawn becomes quite annoying.
223 | April 10n 2013
21...£f6
Soon the ¦ will be stuck in the middle of the
board, hence more stubborn would have
been 21...£d6. However, after 22.b4 Black's
position remains pretty bad.
22.¤g5!
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-+-+-mk0
9zppzp-+-zpp0
9-+n+Pwql+0
9+-tR-+-sN-0
9-+-zp-tr-+0
9zP-+L+-+P0
9-zP-+-zPP+0
9+-+QtR-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
22...¤e7
Suddenly the awkward placement of the ¦
becomes apparent. 22...¦xf2 is met by 23.¥xg6
hxg6 24.¤e4 £f8 25.¦xc6 bxc6 26.¤xf2 and
White wins a piece. 22...¦e8 runs into 23.g3!
¦xf2 24.¥xg6 hxg6 25.£g4! (25.¤e4 allows
Black to force a draw with 25...£f3 26.¤xf2
£xg3+ 27.¢f1 ¦f8 28.£e2 £xh3+ 29.¢g1
£g3+=) 25...¢g8 26.£h4 and Black has to
give up a lot of material to avoid mate.
23.¥xg6 hxg6
Both 23...£xg6 and 23...¤xg6 can easily be
answered with 24.¤f7+ ¢g8 25.¦xc7 and
White's e-pawn will soon decide matters.
24.¤e4 £xe6 25.¤g5 £f6
25...£d6 26.¦ce5 ¤g8 27.¦e6 followed by
28.¦xg6 and Black collapses. 25...£d7 can
best be met by 26.£c1!.
26.¦e6 £f8 27.¦xg6! ¦h4
The point of White's play is that Black can't
capture the ¦ with 27...¤xg6 due to 28.£h5+
¢g8 29.£h7#.
28.¤e6 and here Black resigned, in view of
28...£f7 (28...¤xg6 also loses after 29.¦h5+
¦xh5 30.£xh5+ ¢g8 31.¤xf8 ¤xf8 32.£d5+)
29.¦h5+ ¦xh5 30.£xh5+ ¢g8 31.¦xg7+ £xg7
32.¤xg7 ¢xg7 33.£e5+ and White retains a
huge material advantage. 1–0
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 openings what’s hot and what’s not? 223 | April 10n 2013

thisweek’sharvest
Najdorf, English Attack 1.e4 c5 2.¤f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 a6 6.¥e3 e5 7.¤b3 ¥e6 8.£d2 ¤bd7 9.0–0–0
XIIIIIIIIY ¦c8 10.¢b1 ¥e7 11.f3 h5 12.g3 b5 13.¤d5 ¤xd5 14.exd5 ¥f5 15.¥d3 ¥xd3 16.£xd3 0–0
9-+rwq-trk+0 Playing h5 in the main line Najdorf is becoming more and more standard and the picture in the diagram position
9+-+nvlpzp-0 is a fairly typical one. Black has castled kingside after all and even though he has weakened himself with h5,
9p+-zp-+-+0 it's still not easy for White to open files on the kingside. White lacks active minor pieces to start an attack on the
9+p+Pzp-+p0 kingside. As we explain in the PGN file, this position can be reached via a wide variety of move-orders. The
9-+-+-+-+0 current trend for White is to keep his options open for as long as possible (keeping the pawn on f2), but Black
seems to be able to deal with this reasonably well. This actually explains why variations like 7.¤f3!? or 8.h3!?
9+N+QvLPzP-0
have become popular. This week in Gabrielian-Dominguez White played 13.a3? ¤b6 14.£f2 which should have
9PzPP+-+-zP0 been punished by the typical 14...¦xc3! 15.¥xb6 ¦xf3! 16.£xf3 £xb6 and Black is better. Shomoev-La Quang
9+K+R+-+R0 Liem saw 17.g4 h4 18.f4 ¦e8 from the diagram position, which is dynamically balanced for the moment, but Black
xiiiiiiiiy went on to win a good game.

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.¤c3 dxe4 4.¤xe4 ¥f5 5.¤g3 ¥g6 6.h4 h6 7.¤f3 ¤d7 8.h5 ¥h7 9.¥d3 ¥xd3 Caro-Kann, main line
10.£xd3 e6 11.¥d2 ¤gf6 12.0–0–0 ¥e7 13.¢b1 £b6 14.¦he1 0–0 15.¤f5 exf5 16.¦xe7 £d8 17.¦e2 ¤e4 XIIIIIIIIY
The mass of information Black needs to know in the traditional main line of the Caro-Kann has increased again. 9r+-wq-trk+0
The centre of attention is still 13.¢b1 and now after 13...0–0 14.¤e4 Black has two main lines. Following 14... 9zpp+n+pzp-0
c5 15.g4 ¤xg4 16.£e2! Black has to play 16...£b6! to stay in the game. White now has several tricky options, 9-+p+-+-zp0
including our novelty 17.¤h4!?. The other main line 14...¤xe4 15.£xe4 ¤f6 16.£e2 £d5 17.¥e3 is more solid,
9+-+-+p+P0
but here Black also needs to be very careful not to be overrun by White's g4–g5 attack. In an attempt to avoid
these kinds of problem, Black has recently turned to 13...£b6, but it appears that 14.¦he1! followed by 15.¤f5
9-+-zPn+-+0
is not very easy to deal with either. In the diagram position, which appeared in Kasimdzhanov-Ruck this week,
9+-+Q+N+-0
one of the world's leading theoreticians played the novelty 18.g3!? preparing the second ¤ jump to f5. Black 9PzPPvLRzPP+0
didn't find the best defence and went on to lose. 15...¥b4 is Black's choice in correspondence chess, but good 9+K+R+-+-0
preparation is needed since it allows a bunch of sacrifices. xiiiiiiiiy

1.c4 e6 2.¤c3 d5 3.d4 ¤f6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.¥g5 c6 6.£c2 ¤a6 7.e3 ¤b4 8.£b3 ¥f5
QGD, Exchange 9.¦c1 £b6 10.¥xf6 gxf6 11.£d1 £a5 12.£d2 ¤xa2 13.¦a1 ¤xc3 14.¦xa5 ¤e4
XIIIIIIIIY Normally positions with a Carlsbad pawn formation (cxd5, exd5 in QGD) lead to a very doubled-edged positional
9r+-+kvl-tr0 fight, where both sides carry out their plans slowly. More rarely, play becomes very concrete and in Svidler-
9zpp+-+p+p0 Harikrishna Black even decided to change the character of the position by sacrificing his £. In the diagram White
9-+p+-zp-+0 once played 15.¦xd5 in Ehlvest-Short, Manila 1992, but failed to pose Black any serious problems. Svidler instead
9tR-+p+l+-0 opted for 15.£c2 but after 15...¥b4 16.¢d1 ¥xa5 17.¥d3 ¤xf2 18.£xf2 ¥xd3 19.£xf6 ¦g8 Black seems to have
9-+-zPn+-+0 obtained reasonable compensation for the slight material deficit. Worth considering is the alternative 15.£c1!?
since after 15...¥b4 16.¢e2 ¥xa5 17.f3 ¤d6 18.£c5 ¥c7 19.¢f2 White still has his light-squared ¥. A critical
9+-+-zP-+-0
juncture is actually earlier in the game since after 6.£c2 ¤a6 7.e3 ¤b4 White has several other squares to put
9-zP-wQ-zPPzP0 the £ on, e.g. 8.£d2 which was played in Kasparov-Ivanchuk, Wijk aan Zee 1999, amongst other games. Black
9+-+-mKLsNR0 players who are aiming for a quieter battle can of course refrain from these sharp lines and instead play 6...¥e7.
xiiiiiiiiy

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 d5 4.¤f3 ¥g7 5.cxd5 ¤xd5 6.e4 ¤xc3 7.bxc3 c5 8.¥e3 £a5 9.¤d2 cxd4 Grünfeld, Exchange
10.¤c4 dxe3 11.¤xa5 ¥xc3+ 12.¢e2 ¥xa5 13.¢xe3 0–0 14.¥b5 a6 15.¥a4 b5 16.£d5 ¦a7 17.¥b3 XIIIIIIIIY
Kasimdzhanov's idea new idea of 9.¤d2!? in the Grünfeld is still quite popular and was seen in two top-level 9rsnlwq-trk+0
games last weekend. In Berkes-Baramidze the players were following a stunning £ sacrifice introduced by 9zpp+-zppvlp0
Sutovsky. In the diagram Black deviated with 17...¥b6 and despite some practical chances due to the exposed 9-+p+-snp+0
white ¢, our conclusion in CVO 133 still stands. Hence in Fressinet-Grandelius, Black opted for the rare 9+-+-+-+-0
9...¥d7!? and convincingly held a draw. On move 14 we have attempted to improve upon the Frenchman's
9-+pzP-+-+0
play by taking first on c6 when White can count on an edge. In Ernst-Bulski Black didn't go for the main line
with 8...0–0, giving White the additional option of 9.¥e2!?. After 9...£a5?! White simply played 10.0–0 and soon
9sN-+-zP-zP-0
obtained an overwhelming advantage. Our co-editor is doing very well in this line, which has been illustrated by
9PzP-+NzPLzP0
two games (see PGN file) which proceeded with 9...b6 10.h4!?. In both encounters White quickly generated an 9tR-vLQ+RmK-0
attack on the kingside, not fearing to leave his own ¢ stuck in the centre. xiiiiiiiiy

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 openings what’s hot and what’s not? 223 | April 10n 2013

it’syourmove
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
O 9r+lwq-trk+0 o9-+rwq-trk+0
9zp-zp-snpvl-0 9zpl+n+pzpp0
9-zpn+-+pzp0 9-zp-+p+-+0
9+-+-zp-+-0 9+-+-+-+-0
9-+-+N+-+0 9P+-zPP+-+0
9+-+P+NzP-0 9+-+L+N+-0
9PzP-vLPzPLzP0 9-+-wQ-zPPzP0
9+-tRQ+RmK-0 9tR-+-tR-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy

lastweek’ssolutions
XIIIIIIIIY
Svidler-Aronian, FIDE Candidates (London), 2013 9r+l+k+-tr0
In this position Aronian must have been unhappy about the way the opening had gone so far, but with 11...f5?! 9zpp+n+pzpp0
he structurally weakened his position. 11...¤b6 12.e4 h6 (12...¥d7 13.0–0 cxd4 14.cxd4 £xd2 15.¤xd2 also 9-+-zpp+-+0
gave White an edge in Z.Polgar-Lombardy, New York 1985) 13.0–0 (13.e5 d5) 13...0–0 is of course also risky for 9wq-zp-+-+-0
Black, but here White still has to prove something. 12.e4 fxe4 13.¥xe4 ¤f6 14.¥c2 ¥d7 15.0–0 cxd4 16.£xd4
9-+PzP-zP-+0
0–0 17.£xd6 £xc3 18.¥d3 ¦ad8 19.¦ac1 £a5 20.¤e5 ¥c8 21.£b4 £c7 22.c5 g5!? A wild attempt to change
the course of the game. 23.c6 23.£e1! 23...b5? But after this move Black's position is lost. 23...¤d5! actually
9zP-zPLzPN+-0
defends. 24.£e1 ¦d5 25.£g3 h6 26.fxg5 £xe5 27.£xe5 ¦xe5 28.gxf6 ¢f7 29.¦f4 and White won.
9-+-wQ-+PzP0
9tR-+-mK-+R0
XIIIIIIIIY xiiiiiiiiy
9r+lwqkvlntr0 Gleizerov-Ulibin, Paskturneringen Open (Norrkoping), 2013
9zppzpp+pzpp0 A rather unusual position has been reached from a mirrored Alekhine (1.d4 ¤c6 2.d5 ¤e5 3.e4 e6 4.f4). The
9-+-+p+-+0 following perpetual check had been unknown to us until this game! 4...exd5!? In Grandmaster Repertoire 1.d4
9+-+Psn-+-0 Volume 2, GM Avrukh gives 4...¤g6 as the only move for Black. 5.fxe5 More critical is 5.¤c3! which might give
White some chances to play for an advantage. 5...£h4+ 6.¢e2 6.g3 is met by 6...£xe4+ 7.£e2 £xh1 8.¤f3 and
9-+-+PzP-+0
now it seems White is unable to trap the £ in the corner, due to 8...b6! with the idea of ...¥a6!. 6...£h5+ 7.¢e1
9+-+-+-+-0 £h4+ 8.¢d2 £h6+ 9.¢c3 £c6+ 10.¢d2 The ¢ can't escape with 10.¢b3? since after 10...£b6+ 11.¢c3 ¥b4+
9PzPP+-+PzP0 12.¢d3 dxe4+ 13.¢e2 d5 Black's pieces are mobilising very quickly. 10...£h6+ 11.¢e2 £h5+ 12.¢e1 ½–½
9tRNvLQmKLsNR0
xiiiiiiiiy

openings
ChessVibes Openings is a weekly PDF magazine that covers the latest news on chess openings. Which openings are hot in
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