a chess openi_ng repertoire
by Aaron Summerscale EVERYMAN CHESS
Everyman Chess, formerly Cadogan Chess, is published by Everyman Publishers, London First published in 1998 by Everyman Publishers plc, formerly Cadogan Books plc, Gloucester Mansions, 140A Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8HD in association with Gambit Publications Ltd, 69 Masbro Road, London W14 OLS.
Copyright © 1998 Aaron Summerscale The right of Aaron Summerscale to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Edited by Graham Burgess and Chris Baker and typeset by Petra Nunn for Gambit Publications Ltd.
Printed in Great Britain by Redwood Books, Trowbridge, Wilts. I Contents
Symbols 4 Introduction 5 1 The Barry Attack 7 2 The 150 Attack 36 3 The Colle-Zukertort System 52 4 1 d4 d5 2l2Jf3: Beating the Anti-Colle Systems 70 5 The Classical Queen's Indian 90 6 Anti-Benoni 103 7 The Anti-Dutch 2 i.g5 128 8 Odds and Ends 13 8 Index of Variations 142 Symbols
+ check ++ double check # checkmate !! brilliant move good move !? interesting move ?! dubious move ? bad move ?? blunder +- White is winning ± White is much better ;t White is slightly better = equal position + Black is slightly better + Black is much better -+ Black is winning Ch championship Cht team championship Wch world championship Ech European championship Wcht World Team Championship ECC European Clubs Cup Ct candidates event IZ interzonal event z zonal event OL olympiad jr junior event worn women's event mem memorial event rpd rapidplay game corr correspondence game 1-0 the game ends in a win for White lfz-lh the game ends in a draw 0-1 the game ends in a win for Black (n) nth match game (D) see next diagram Introduction
This book is aimed primarily at cl.ub-level players with a playing strength of up to about 2200 Elo (or 200 BCF). When I was a young player at school I was al ways looking out for new repertoire books. I wanted something which would give me all I needed to know about the opening, without being too time consuming, as I had plenty of other things'to do with my time. I guess you could say I was not a very serious chess student and in fact I delighted in getting my op ponents on unfamiliar ground, when my natural ability would get a chance to shine through. The problem I found with the repertoire books of the time was they attempted to cover too much material. Main-line variations would be covered in just a few pages, so justice was never done to the lines recommended. In the end I would have to consult a more specialized work on one of the suggested variations to find out the true story behind it and waste valuable time in the process. Mean while, I would suffer a few painful reverses, as my lack of understanding was ex posed on the board. The aim of this book is to provide a complete repertoire for the boy I used to be. The variations chosen are a little offbeat, but they fit together very nicely. The three main systems, the Barry Attack, the 150 Attack and the Colle-Zukertort, can be used against virtually any defence Black plays against to 1 d4. These con tain the meat and bones of the book and once mastered will provide a complete repertoire for White against most defences. I have used all three successfully my self. I have chosen systems that I believe will have the greatest psychological im pact. There is a school of thought that says "you should play the man, not the board". If you accept this, then you can learn a lot about an opponent from their choice of opening variation. For example, King's Indian players tend to be well booked-up. They often accept structural weaknesses in return for attacking chances. The Barry Attack is likely to annoy King's Indian players, who will be thrown on to their own resources from an early stage in unfamiliar positions where the usual plans just don't work. With reference to the material itself, wherever possible, I have tried to place the emphasis on understanding what is occurring through explanation, rather than by weighty variations. This is because, for the most part, the variations I 6 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire recommend are flexible and the move-orders are often quite interchangeable. In such situations, understanding what you are trying to achieve is of far greater im portance than remembering specific moves. I have included a number of non-grandmaster games in the material. This is because I feel it will be useful for the reader to have a number of examples where Black defended less than perfectly, just as might happen in your average week end tournament or local club match. These variations, although not objectively critical, should help to build your confidence in the recommended openings and aid you in understanding the various tactical motifs. Having confidence in your opening repertoire is in many ways as important as memorizing theory, because if you hit a snag, believing in your pet line will give you the self-assurance to solve any problems your opponent might set for you. The astute reader will notice that Black has possibilities of achieving greater flexibility and therefore perhaps better chances of equality by utilizing a clever move-order, for instance, after 1 d4 l2Jf6 2l2Jf3 c5 or 1 d4 d5 2 l2Jf3 l2Jf6 3 e3 and then 3 ... i.g4 or 3 ... c5. While it is possible to play a Colle-Zukertort system against these moves, Black has better chances than normal. Therefore, to make the repertoire more effective, I have included chapters on the Anti-Benoni, Clas sical Queen's Indian and Black's alternatives after 1 d4 d5 2l2Jf3. These varia tions give White the best chance of an opening advantage and can be added to the repertoire, as and when the reader feels ready, thus giving maximum flexibility. To save the reader time, I have tried to give only one recommendation per move for White, unless I felt it was prudent to give other examples of play to help you understand the main ideas. When I have given two possible continuations, they are usually of equal merit and it is up to you to decide which suits your personal style. Above all, I have offered variations that are likely to lead to the most fun for White as, after all, apart from for hard-nosed professionals, that is what playing chess is all about!
Aaron Summerscale London, November 1998 1 The Barry Attack
Introduction plenty of books telling Black exactly how to proceed, either to deliver mate Why does the average club player as or create enough chaos to make the is White need something offbeat against sue completely unclear. Perhaps the the King's Indian? Aren't the main worst thing is that Black seems to have lines good enough? To answer this, let all the fun. If you haven't got hours, us look at a main-line variation of the days or maybe even weeks to study this King's Indian. one line then you could be in trouble. Why should White have to subject 1 d4lLJf6 2 lLJf3 g6 3 c4 i..g7 4 lLJc3 himself to this sort of onslaught in the 0-0 5 e4 d6 6 i..e2 e5 7 0-0 lLJc6 8 d5 search for an opening advantage? Isn't lLJe7 9 lLJe1lLJd7 10 i..e3 f5 11 f3 f4 it time to put the ball back in Black's 12 i..f2 g5 (D) court? The Barry Attack avoids not only the King's Indian, but the Grtin feld as well. It is a 'plug in and play' opening which can be learnt in a few hours. The basic idea is simple, if a lit tle crude. No more mister nice guy; it's time for blood! For those who need a little reminder of just how much fun it can be to take White in the above diagram, I include the rest of the short and (for White) very painful game Perruchoud-Tischer, Biel1990: 13lLJb5 b6 14 b4 a6 15lLJc3 lLJg6 This is one of the critical main lines 16 a41:.b8 17lLJd3lLJf6 18 a5 bxa5 19 of the Classical King's Indian after 12 1:.xa5 h5 20 c5 g4 21 b5 g3 22 hxg3 moves. For many players, White's po fxg3 23 i..xg3 h4 24 i..f2 lLJh5 25 sition will represent a chess night bxa6 ~g5 26 i.e1 lLJgf4 27 lLJxf4 mare. Black has an automatic and very lLJxf4 281:.f21:.b2 29 a7 ~g3 30 a8'iV powerful long-term kingside attack. h3 31 i..d2 1:.xd2 32 ifxd2 h2+ 33 As if this weren't enough, there are ~h1 'iVxf2 0-1 8 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire
Absolutely typical! Just as White the black king limb from limb! There was busying himself taking his oppo are a few circumstances when, as you nent's queenside pieces and queening might expect, this is not justified: spe his passed pawn, Black launches a le cifically, when Black plays 6 ... c5 and thal mating attack. Enough of this pain continues to attack the centre and and suffering! It's time for the Killer queenside aggressively. Then it is time Barry Attack. to show your opponent that you are not just a mad hacker and hone those Game 1 endgame skills to exploit the small but Pira - Hebden persistent advantages that arise. One Seville 1987 of the main plus-points of the Barry Attack is that this time there are al 1 d4 ltJf6 most no books for Black to go running 2 ltJf3 g6 back to check. 3 ltJc3 dS 6 •.. cS 4 i.f4 i.g7 The year 1987 was a particularly 5 e3 0-0 important one for the Barry Attack, 6 i.e2 (D) for it was the year that Mark Hebden was introduced, somewhat painfully, to its delights. After his defeat in this game, Hebden, a renowned King's In dian specialist, went home and had a long, hard look at the opening. As we will see, today he is one of the world's leading exponents of the Barry Attack -he obviously came to the conclusion "if you can't beat them, join them!" 6 ... c6 7 h4, 6 ... i.g4 7 ltJe5 and 6 ... b6 7 ltJe5 are all important alterna tives, which we will examine later. 7 ltJeS b6?! Welcome to the wonderful world of 7 ... ltJc6 is critical - it is important the Barry Attack. The outlook for the for Black to put as much pressure on moment is calm and there is not a the white centre as possible, so as to dis pawn-storm in sight! Well, certainly suade White from his kingside attack. not against the white king anyway. 8 h4 i.a6 White has a crude, almost barbaric 9 i.f3 plan from this position: shove the h The light-squared bishop plays a pawn up the board and attempt to tear very important part in supporting The Barry Attack 9
White's kings ide attack, so naturally Sometimes Black will have to sacri White avoids its exchange. fice in order to get meaningful coun 9 i.b7 terplay and to stem the tide of the 10 h5 tiJbd7 white attack. Here, this proves to be in 11 hxg6 fxg6 sufficient, but the alternatives were This gives Black some central light not much more attractive. If 15 ... l:.f6 squared weaknesses (particularly e6) then 16 i.h6 gives White a strong but is safer than the other recapture, kingside attack, at no risk. which is extremely dangerous for the 16 exf4 cxd4 health of the black king. 17 ltJe2 g5 If 11. .. hxg6 then 12 i.g4 with the 18 ~h5 ~d6 idea of 'iff3-h3. 19 ~f7+ ~h8 12 i.g4 tiJxg4 20 0-0-0 i.xe5 13 ~xg4 (D) 21 fxe5 ~xeS 22 tiJxd4 ~g7 23 ~xg7+ ~xg7 (D)
B
One thing you will often notice about the Barry Attack is that although White tends to build up a powerful at Black struggles on from here val tacking position, like here, he leaves iantly, but is ultimately lost, not only no real weaknesses for Black to ex because of the material dis ad vantage, ploit. Indeed, if you look at the dia but also due to the passivity of his gram you will see that it is Black who pieces. has the weak points for White to tar 24 l:.de1l:.e8 25 l:.h5 ~g6 26 tiJf3 get. h6 27 ltJe5+ ~g7 28 l:.eh1 d4 29 13 l:.f5 l:.1h2 l:.c8 30 f4 gxf4 31 l:.f5 ltJg6 32 14 iVh3 tiJf8 ltJxg6 ~xg6 33 l:.xf4 e5 34 l:.f5 l:.c5 15 g4 l:.xf4 35 l:.fb5 i.e4 10 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire
Black has done a great deal to im 5 e3 (D) prove the positioning of his pieces, but has not been able to redress the weak ness of his pawn-structure. 36 .:xh6+ ~g5 37 .:hs ~xg4 38 B .:rs i..f3 39 ~d2 e4 40 .:ds .:c4 41 b3 .:c7 42 .:xd4 ~g3 43 .:hs ~f2 44 :es ng7 45 ndxe4 White simplifies to a won rook and pawn endgame. 45 ... i..xe4 46 nxe4 nd7+ 47 ~c3 ~f3 48 :es nc7+ 49 ~b2 ~f4 50 c4 ~f5 51 ~c3 b5 52 ne2 ~f4 53 ~d4 bxc4 54 bxc4 nd7 + 55 ~c5 ~f3 56 :e6 l::tc7+ 57 ~d5 ~f4 58 c5 ~f5 59 5 a6 :e2 l::td7+ 60 ~c6 l::th7 61 ~d61-0 The alternatives are: Again, it is no coincidence that a) 5 ... l2Jbd7?? 6 tbb5 +-has been shortly after this game, Hebden be a quick point-collector on the British came one of the Barry Attack's stron tournament circuit. gest advocates. b) 5 ... tt:Jh5? is an attempt to harass the white bishop but wastes too much Unusual fifth moves for time. 6 i..g5 h6 7 i..h4 g5 (the most Black logical continuation of Black's some what dubious plan, which he began on The Barry Attack is a somewhat un move 5, to bag the bishop-pair; with usual opening and as such, may encour accurate moves, White is able to ex age irregular responses from Black. ploit Black's loss of tempi) 8 l2Je5!. As we shall see in this section, this ap Now Black has a choice: proach by no means guarantees Black b1) 8 ... tt:Jf6 is a little illogical, be success. cause the whole point of Black's play has been to exchange off White's Game2 dark-squared bishop. If Black fails to R. Scherbakov - Hoang Thang achieve this, he has simply weakened Cheliabinsk 1989 his kingside for no apparent reason. White has a clear edge after 9 i..g3 1 d4 l2Jf6 i..f5 10 i..d3 i..xd3 11 'ii'xd3 c6 12 h4 2 l2Jf3 g6 g4 13 h5 tbbd7 14 ~e2 ~a5 15 tbxd7 3 l2Jc3 d5 ~xd7 16 0-0-0, Wirthensohn-Bloessel, 4 i..f4 i..g7 Lenk 1992. The Barry Attack 11
b2) 8 ... ~xe5 9 dxe5 tlJg7 (after 6 ~e2 CiJbd7 9 ... gxh4 10 'ifxh5 Black has no com 7 tlJeS c6 pensation for his kingside pawn weak 8 h4 (D) nesses) 10 ~g3 ~e6 11 h4! (the most incisive- Black is made to pay for his over-ambitious kingside pawn ad vances) 11.. J:tg8 12 hxg5 hxg5 13 e4 ± (Black is given no respite and now faces the unenviable choice of open ing the centre for White's better placed forces, or closing it, and ·leaving his knight on g7 woefully misplaced) 13 ... dxe4 (13 ... d4 14 tlJa4 b6 15 ~d2 f6 16 exf6 exf6 17 0-0-0 c5 18 tlJc3 "VJiie7 leads to a large advantage for White after 19 CiJb5) 14 'iWxd8+ ~xd8 15 tlJxe4 CiJf5 16 0-0-0+ ~e8 17 tlJxg5 This is the basic attacking set-up in tlJxg3 18 tlJxe6 tlJxh1? 19l:td8# (1-0) the Barry Attack. The advance of the J.Pfibyl-Penzold, 2nd Bundesliga 1992. h-pawn works best if Black adopts a An unusual mating position! slow plan, typically when he avoids c) 5 ... ~f5 6 ~e2 c6. Black often has the advance ... c5. difficulties in the Barry Attack with 8 ... ltJe4 the development of his light-squared Black tries to defuse the oncoming bishop. On g4 it can be attacked by attack using the accepted method of tlJe5, while on f5, as here, it can be a piece exchanges, but he suffers a lack target for White's kingside pawn ad of coordination since his king is still in vances. The awkward positioning of the centre. Although the black king is Black's bishop led to an advantage for safer in the middle, White neverthe White in Suetin-Borisenko, USSR Ch less finds a clever way to create prob (Kiev) 1954 after 7 tlJe5 CiJfd7 8 g4 lems on the kingside. ~e6 9 CiJd3 c5 10 0-0 0-0 11 CiJb5 tlJa6 9 tlJxe4 dxe4 12 ~g3 CiJf6 13 CiJf4 ~d7 14 tlJc3 10 hS tlJxeS cxd4 15 exd4 tlJc7 16 ~f3 ~c6 17 11 h6! (D) l:te1 b6 18 CiJd3 ~b7 19 ~e5 tlJe6 20 A nice intermezzo. The move h6 ~g2 l:tc8 21 ~e2 tlJe4 22 tlJxe4 dxe4 can be a major irritant to Black if he 23 ~xe4 ~xe4 24 ~xe4 tlJxd4 25 has not castled kingside, and justifies ~xg7 ~xg7 26 l:tad 1 tlJc6 27 tlJc5 White's early kingside pawn advance. 'ife8 28 ltJd7 l:th8 29 b4 b5 30 a4. 11 'iVaS+ White has kept the initiative. 12 ~d2 ~xd2+ 12 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire
5 ... .tg4
B Game3 Blatny - Fette Vienna 1991
1 d4 l2Jf6 2 l2Jf3 g6 3 l2Jc3 dS 4 i.f4 i.g7 5 e3 i.g4 (D)
13 Wxd2 i.xh6 14 i.xeS f6 15 .:xh6 fxeS 16 .:ah1 i.e6 17 .:xg6 The dust has settled and material equality has been restored. Black is sad dled with the worse bishop and, more importantly, a damaged pawn-structure. At grandmaster level, Black is simply lost, with no way to defend his weak nesses in the long term. To his credit, Black struggles on valiantly for 30 6 i.e2 moves, but the result is never in doubt. This move is standard, but Mark 17... Wd7 18 .:g7 .:ag8 19 .:xg8 Hebden introduced an important new .:xg8 20 g3 exd4 21 exd4 J:.f8 22 We3 idea at the 1997 British Champion i.fS 23 Wd2 Wd6 24 We3 i.g6 25 ship, viz. 6 'iWd3, by which White at i.hS i.fS 26 .:h4 eS 27 dxe5+ WxeS tempts to take advantage of the fact 28 :r4 J:.d8 29 g4 i.g6 30 i.xg6 hxg6 that Black has not yet castled. 6 ... c6 31 :xe4+ Wf6 32 f4 J:.d133 :d4 :b1 (6 ... i.xf3 7 'ij'b5+ l2Jbd7 8 gxf3 wins a 34 J:.d6+ We7 35 :xg6 .:xb2 36 Wd3 pawn for White) 7 l2Je5 .tf5 8 'iid2 l:txa2 37 J:.g7+ Wf6 38 .:xb7 J:.a4 39 l2Jbd7 9 h4 h5 10 f3 l::tc8 11 i.e2 b5 12 c4 :a3+ 40 Wd4 J:.f3 41 We4 :c3 42 tbd 1 (White shows that he too does g5+ Wg6 43 Wd4 :r3 44 ~eS J:.e3+ not yet need to commit his king; the 45 Wd6 .:e4 46 cS :xf4 47 Wxc6 c3-knight, which was possibly White's WxgS 48 J:.e7 ~f6 49 :e3 :c4 50 worst-placed piece, manoeuvres to f2, ~dS J:.c151 :e6+ 1-0 from where it will assist with the The Barry Attack 13 kingside attack) 12 ... 0-0 (Black de 11 h5 (D) cides he has run out of useful waiting moves, but in any case, he cannot put off castling indefinitely) 13 c3l2Je8 14 l2Jf2l2Jd6 15 g4 hxg4 16l2Jexg4 ..txg4 17 l2Jxg4 (this is the culmination of White's plan which he began on move 12; the g4-knight is a key attacking piece) 17 ... f5 18 l2Je5 l2Jxe5 19 dxe5 l2Jc4 20 ..txc4 dxc4 (despite Black's piece exchanges, his king side remains chronically weak; White now mops up with ease) 21 'ii'g2 'ii'd5 (2l...'ti'e8 22 h5 gxh5 23 ..th6 'ikf7 24 _:g 1) 22 1Vxg6 :cd8 (22 ... 'ii'xf3 23 _:g1 :n 24 e6) White's idea is very simple: prise 23 _:g 1 'iid2+ 24
22 'iVh7 + ~e6 23 e4 1-0 Black is defenceless against the threats offke7# and 'iWf5+.
5 ... c6: Black delays ... 0-0
Game4 Hodgson - Wolff New York 1990
1 d4 tiJf6 14 'iVh5 2 l2Jf3 g6 Quite amusingly, White is just ig 3 l2Jc3 d5 noring Black and getting on with the 4 ~f4 ~g7 business in hand. 5 e3 c6 14 ... ltJxa2+ 6 ~e2 (D) 15 ~b1 fxg6 16 'iVxh7+ ~f7 17 ~h6 l:.g8 18 l:.h4 g5 19 ~xg7 gxh4 19 ... l:.xg7 loses to 20 'iVf5+ ~g8 21 '+i'e6+ l:.f7 22 l:.h7. 20 ~f6+ ~e6 21 'iVxe7+ ~f5 (D)
6 ... 'iVb6 If Black is trying to delay castling kingside, then this is probably his most logical choice. By attacking the pawn on b2, Black more or less forces a weakening of White's queenside, which makes long castling less attrac tive and more difficult to achieve. Nevertheless, as White shows in this The Barry Attack 15 game, the queen is misplaced on b6 if as possible, even at the cost of mate White switches plans and instead de rial) 25 ... gxf5 (25 ... ~xf5 26 exd4 cides to attack on the queenside. iVd5 27 ~xf5 ~xf5 28 'i!/xe7 is un The other main option is 6 .. .'~Jbd7, clear) 26 exd4 'i!id5 27 liJe3 'ifxa2 28 by which Black seeks to delay castling liJxf5+ ~xf5 29 ~e5+ (a clever inter and at the same time exchange off one mezzo, forcing the king to an inferior of White's most influential pieces. 7 square, before recapturing the bishop) ltJe5 ltJxe5 8 ~xe5 .i.e6 9 g4 h6 10 29 ... ~g8 30 ~xf5 a3 31 bxa3 e6 ~d2 ~d7 11 f3 0-0 (D) and now: (3l. .. ~xa3+ 32 ~d2 'i!/c3+ 33 ~e2 'ifc4+ 34 ~f2) 32 g6 exf5 33 gxf7+ ~xt7 34 'i!Vxf5+ (it is fair to say that White has won the race to expose the enemy king; the black monarch is caught in no man's land, with nowhere safe to run) 34 ... ~e7 (the other at tempt at defence, 34 ... tiJf6 35 ~g6+ ~e7 36 ~e2+ ~d7 37 'ii'g7+ ~c6 38 'ilixf6+, is no better for Black) 35 ~e4+ ~d8 36 'ii'g5+ ~c7 37 ~e7+ ~b8 38 ~xb4+ ~a8 39 'ilia4+ ~b8 40 ~b5+ ~a8 41 'ir'a5+ ~b8 42 ~b4+ (White has been teasing Black for the a) 12 0-0-0 leads to a real blood last few moves, letting him know who's bath, with both sides going all-out for boss, and now comes in for the kill!) the kill, and is certainly the most un 42 ... ~a8 43 ~e5 (although more com compromising approach. 12 ... b5 13 h4 plicated, 43 ~e7 is perhaps a quicker a5 14 g5 gives rise to a typical scenario way to finish Black off: 43 ... 'i!Va1 + 44 when players have castled on opposite ~d2 ~xc2+ 45 ~xc2 'ilia2+ {45 ... ~c8+ sides. Each colour has quickly ad 46 ~b3 'ilidl+ 47 ~a2 ~c2+ 48 ~xc2 vancing pawn storms on both flanks. 'ifxc2+ 49 'ilib2 'ifc4+ 50 'i!Vb3 +-} 46 This type of position is not for the faint ~d1 'i!/a1+47 ~d2 ~a2+48 ~e3 +-) hearted, as winning or losing often de 43 ... ~h7 44 ~ge2 ~a7 45 ~xh5 ~xa3 pends on a single tempo. 14 ... tiJh5 15 46 'iVb2 'i!ixb2+ 47 ~xb2 (Black has ~xg7 ~xg7 16 ~dg1 hxg5 17 hxg5 managed to survive to the endgame, ~h8 18 ~e1 (18 f4 liJg3!?) 18 ... ~d6 but unfortunately for him, it is com 19 f4 a4 20 tiJd1 b4 21 ~h4 c5 22 dxc5 pletely lost) 47 ... ~ac3 48 ~b5 ~3c4 iVxc5 23 ~d3 ~ac8 24 ~g2 d4 25 f5 49 ~d2 ~8c7 50 ~b3 ~b7 51 ~dd3 (it is essential for both sides to open 1-0 Hebden-Ernst, London Lloyds lines against the enemy king as soon Bank 1991. 16 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire
b) 12 lt:Jd 1 b5 13 lt:Jf2 is perhaps a 10 ~gS h6 more circumspect way to attack the 10 ... e5? is a move Black would like black king, without giving Black such to play, but it has a tactical drawback: a large target to aim at. The plan is h4 11 lt:Jxe5 jLxe2 12 lt:Jxd7 ~xd1 13 and business as usual. In this position, lt:Jxb6 axb6 14 ~fxd1 wins a pawn for White would continue to delay castling, White. since, for the moment, his king is un 11 jLb4 gS doubtedly safer in the centre than on 12 h3 (D) the queenside. 7 a3! ~g4 (D) After 7 ... 'ifxb2?? 8lt:Ja4 Black loses his queen. B
This is an intelligent way for White to keep his dark-squared bishop, a key piece in the fight for control of e5. 12 ... jLe6 8 b4 White meets 12 ... gxh4 by 13 hxg4 White attempts to set up a bind on lt:Jhf614lt:Jxh4 and 12 ... ~xh3!? by 13 the queenside, making it harder for gxh3 gxh4 14lt:Jxh4lt:Jhf6 15 lt:Jf5. Black to achieve the freeing advance 13 lt:Jd2 lt:Jf4 ... c5. This more or less obliges Black 14 ~g3 lt:Jxe2+ to seek counterplay in the centre via 15 'iVxe2 fS ... e5. If White can prevent this, he will Black discourages e4 in the long have a positional advantage. term and prepares counterplay on the 8 .•. lt:Jbd7 kings ide. 9 0-0 16 lt:Jb3 'iVd8 9 h3 is interesting, aiming to avoid 17 lt:JaS the problems White is presented with White is slightly better because of in the main line. his bind on the queenside and the awk 9 ... lt:JhS wardly placed bishop on e6. The Barry Attack 17
17 ... 'ii'c8 As White controls the centre, Black 18 l2Ja4 b6 must seek counterplay on the flanks. Black feels compelled to evict the 30 ~b1 l::ta3 knight from e5, but creates a potential 31 lLifeS ltJxeS weakness on c6 in the process. 32 .i.xeS .i.xeS 19 l2Jb3 0-0 33 ltJxeS (D) 20 l::tac1 .i.f7 21 f4 White prevents ... e5 and fixes a possible weakness on f5. 21 l2Jf6 22 fxgS hxgS 23 l2Jd2 (D)
This is the culmination of White's plan: he has complete control of the e5-square, and his knight is superbly placed. 33 ... g4 Black has lost the strategic battle and so tries to muddy the waters. Play is now concentrated on the 34 hxg4 .i.xg4 battle for control of e5. 35 c4 l::tfa8 23 ~e6 35 .. J~xe3 36 'ii'cl +-. 24 l::tce1 l2Jd7 36 cxdS l::ta2 25 l2Jf3 .i.hS 36 ... cxd5 37 l2Jxg4 fxg4 38 'ii'f5 ±. 26 l2Jb2 aS 37 l2Jxg4 Because Black cannot realistically White trades in his positional ad- achieve the freeing advance ... e5, he vantage for a material one. instead opts for queenside counter 37 fxg4 play. 38 ~e4 g3 27 l2Jd3 axb4 39 ~g4+ ~h8 28 axb4 l::ta2 40 ~xg3 l::tg8 29 'ii'd1 'ii'h6 41 ~e5+ ~g7 18 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire
42 'Ci'xg7+ :xg7 7 4Je5 i.xe2 43 l::tf2 l::txf2 8 'Ci'xe2 c6 44 ~xf2 cxd5 Black's other main option is 8 ... c5. 45 l::th1+ ~g8 This is an interesting hybrid of the 1-0 ... i..g4 and ... c5 systems, which White After l::th6 White is completely should seek to exploit immediately by winning. 9 'ii'b5 cxd4 10 exd4, when Black has a fairly wide choice: Main line: 5 ... 0-0 6 ~e2 a) 10 ... ~b6 11 'iWxb6 axb6 leaves i.g4 Black with permanently weak pawns, and White with at least a small advan GameS tage. Hebden - L. Williams b) 10 ... b6 weakens Black's control British Ch (Swansea) 1995 of the light squares on the queenside. For example: 11 0-0 t'Dbd7? 12 t'Dc6 1 d4 4Jf6 ~e8 13 l::tfe1 ±. 2 4Jf3 g6 c) 10 .. .'ifc8 11 t'Dxd5 t'Dxd5 12 3 4Jc3 d5 ~xd5 ±. 4 i.f4 i.g7 d) 10 ... t'Dc6 is critical, but is not ul 5 e3 0-0 timately sufficient for equality. 11 6 i.e2 i.g4 (D) 'i!Vxb7 t'Dxd4 12 0-0-0 l::tb8 (12 ... t'Dh5 13 l::txd4 t'Dxf4 14 t'Dc6 ±) 13 'W/xa7 (although it may appear dangerous for White to open lines towards his own king, he has a material advantage and Black is hard-pressed to keep the queens on) 13 ... t'Db5 14 t'Dxb5 l::txb5 15 t'Dc6 'Wia8 (avoiding the endgame is no better: 15 .. .'ii'e8 16 t'Dxe7+ { 16 a4!?} 16 ... c;t>h817 i.e5 +-) 16t'Dxe7+ c;t>h8 17 'W/xa8 l::txa8 18 i.e5 l::txa2 19 c4 l::tb7 (19 ... dxc4 20 l::td8+; 19 ... l::tc5 20 c;t>b1 +-) 20 c;t>b1 l::taxb2+ (the last throw of the dice) 21 i..xb2 t'De4 22 As Black often has a problem with l::txd5 t'Dc3+ (22 ... l::txb2+ 23 c;t>c 1 +-) his light-squared bishop, it may seem 23 ~c1 t'Da2+ 24 c;t>d1 i.xb2 25 l::ta5 logical to solve this by exchanging it, i.d4 26 l::txa2 l::tb1 + 27 c;t>e2 l::txh1 28 the drawback being the acceleration of t'Dc6 .tf6 29 h3 l::tc1 30 t'Da5 c;t>g7 31 White's attack. c;t>d3 h5 32 l::tc2 +- Hebden-McDonald, The Barry Attack 19
British Ch (Eastbourne) 1991. The 21 ~d2 l::tad8+ 22 ~e2 l::txd 1 23 l::txd 1 bishop versus knight endgame is won 'iixb2 24 lLJg5 iVxc2+ 25 l::td2 'ii'f5 26 for White, while if Black keeps the 'ii'xf5 l::txf5 27 lLJe6 ~g8 28 l::td8+ ~fl rook, then he simply pushes his c- 29 lLJg5+ l::txg5 30 i.xg5 i.xe5 31 :d7 pawn. i.d6 32 hxg6+ hxg6 33 :xb7 a5 34 9 h4 (D) i.f4 i.b4 35 :c7 c3 36 .li.e5 1-0. This is the prescribed medicine 10 0-0-0 lLJhS whenever Black adopts a slow system. This move is necessary in order for Instead 9 0-0-0 led to a nice attack Black to slow down White's attack. ing win for White in the game Ves . However, as the course of the game covi-O.Jakobsen, Copenhagen 1995: shows, while White's dark-squared 9 ... lLJh5 10 g4 lLJxf4 11 exf4 e6 12 bishop is useful, it is not essential in lLJa4 lLJd7 13 h4 lLJxe5 14 fxe511fa5 15 the attack against the black king. b3 c5 16 dxc5 b5 17 lLJb2 ~xa2 18 Black has two alternatives: lLJd3l:Hc8 19 f4 i.f8 20 ~d2 ~a5+ 21 a) 10 ... 'ii'a5 has already been con b4 ~c7 22 h5 a5 23 hxg6 fxg6 24 f5 sidered in Game 3. axb4 25 fxg6 i.xc5 26 l::txh7 i.e7 27 b) 10 ... :c8 will be discussed in ~e3 ~xc2+ 28 ~e1 'ii'c3+ 29 l::td2 Game 9. l::tc4 30 l::th8+ 1-0. 11 g4 lLJxf4 12 exf4 e6 13 h5 f6? Black panics in a difficult position. After 13 .. .'it'e7, White still has a strong attack, but Black is by no means com pletely lost. 14 lLJxg6! (D)
9 lLJbd7 The active 9 ... 'iWa5 resulted in the usual bloodfest in Blatny-Trap!, Cham 1991: 10 h5 c5 11 hxg6 fxg6 12 'iVf3 lLJc6 13 iVh3 lLJxe5 14 dxe5 lLJh5 15 0-0-0 d4 16 'ii'e6+ ~h8 17 lLJe4 c4 18 g4 dxe3 19 fxe3 'i!Vxa2 20 gxh5 ~a1 + 20 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire
14 ... .:1e8 22 .:1xh3 If 14 ... hxg6 White cleans up as fol 23 .:1xh3 a6 lows: 15 'ii'xe6+
1 lLlf3 l2Jf6 2 d4 g6 3 l2Jc3 d5 4 .ltf4 .ltg7 5 e3 0-0 6 .lte2 b6 (D) In the 1980s, 6 ... b6 was a popular way to meet the Barry Attack. How ever, it was soon discovered that this A masterful switch-over in order to method was flawed, as White is given bring the queen into the centre of the too free a hand on the kingside. action. 7 l2Je5 c5 The Barry Attack 21
w
Black has another important option queen' s rook to the h-file for his attack in 7 ... i..b7, which is dealt with in the to be decisive) 19 ...... ,.f6 20 ~e2 i..c8 next two games. 21 l:tdh1 i..g4+ 22 ~fl (Black is ut 8 h4 i..b7 terly defenceless against the threat of 9 h5 t:Dc6 l:th8+) 22 .. .'iWd6 23 l:th8+ ~g7 24 The alternative is 9 ... t:Dbd7, by which l:t1h7+ ~f6 25 l:txa8 c4 26 ~d4 ~4 Black puts less pressure on the white 27 i..xe5+ l:txe5 28 l:txf7+ 1-0 Izeta centre, but hopes that the knight will Barbera, Spanish Ch 1992. be better placed to protect the black 10 hxg6 (D) king. White's chances are to be pre ferred after 10 hxg6 hxg6 11 'ifd2 (11 i..b5 will most likely transpose into the 9 ... t:Dc6 line) 11 ... t:De4 (as mentioned before, the c3-knight is often White's worst placed piece, so he has no objec tions to exchanging it) 12 t:Dxe4 dxe4 13 ltJg4! (D). This manoeuvre is well worth re membering. The arrival of the knight on h6 will often cost Black his dark squared protector. 13 ... l:te8 14 t:Dh6+ i..xh6 (14 ... ~f8 15 i..c4) 15 l:txh6 e5 16 dxe5 t:Dxe5 17 'ilk c3 (as can clear 1y 10 hxg6 be seen, Black is ruing the loss of his 10 ... fxg6 is probably the better re king's bishop) 17 ... 'ir'd6 18 i..b5 l:te7 capture, but White still enjoys an ad 19 .:td1 (in this position, it only remains vantage after 11 i..b5 t:Dxe5 12 dxe5 for White to arrange the transfer of his ltJd7 13 'ir'g4 l:tf5 14 0-0-0 t2Jxe5 15 22 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire. iVh3 h5 16 i.xe5 l:txe5 17 f4 l:tf5 18 20 i.xe5 i.xe5 21 f4 i.h8 22 lt:Je7 + e4, with a dangerous initiative, Rog ~f7 23 lt:Jxf5 i.xg2 24 l:td6 l:tf8 25 ers-Zsu.Polgar, Dortmund 1985. i.c4+ ~e8 1-0 Murshed-P.Thipsay, 11 i.bS iVc8 1984. One of the main choices that Black b) 15 exf6l:txf6 (Black also expe has to make in the Barry Attack is riences significant problems in de whether to exchange on e5. This ex fending his king in this variation) 16 change removes one of White's attack 0-0-0 e6 17 i.g5 l:tf5 18 f4 'ii'f6 19 ing pieces but, at the same time, often l:th1l:txg5 (the black rook on f5 is out forces Black's best defensive piece to on a limb, for example: 19 ... Wif7 20 give way. For example, ll ... lt:Jxe5 12 Wih7+ ~f8 21 g4) 20 fxg5 ~f5 21l:tfl dxe5 ti:Jh5 (other knight moves are met 'iWh7 22 'i!Vf7+ ~h8 23 'i!Vxb7 1-0 Rog by 'ii'g4-h4, with a devastating attack) ers-Canfell, Utrecht 1988. 13 l:txh5 ! (D). 12 i.xc6 i.xc6 13 ~f3 cxd4 (D)
A thematic exchange sacrifice, to blow open the black king's defences. 14 exd4 bS After 13 ... gxh5 14 'iVxh5 f5 White has Black's bid for counterplay seems two promising continuations: pathetically slow, but it is hard to sug a) 15 ~g6 e6 (more or less forced, gest a decent alternative, or a way of due to the threat of i.h6, e.g. 15 ... a6 preventing White's usual attacking plan. 16 i.h6l:tf7 17 e6) 16 ~xe6+ l:tf7 17 15 g4 i.b7 0-0-0 Wie7 18 'Vfixe7 l:txe7 ± (Black 16 0-0-0 ~e6 has reached an endgame the exchange 17 ~h3 i.c8 up, but White has collected more than 18 i.h6 ti:JhS enough extra pawns) 19 lt:Jxd5 l:txe5 Taking advantage of the pin, but ( 19 ... i.xd5 20 l:txd5 ~f7 21 i.d7 +-) only delaying the inevitable. The Barry Attack 23
19 j_xg7 ~xg7 to put enough pressure on White's 20 't!Vh4 f6 centre to deflect him from his kingside 21 l2Jxg6 't!Vxg4 assault) 9 h5 l2Jxe5 (D). 22 l2Jxf8 't!Vf4+ 23 ~b1 1-0 Black is losing a whole rook. It is no coincidence that Ian Rogers started to play the Barry Attack himself shortly after this storming game!
Game7 Hebden - Birnboim Rishon le Zion 1992
1 d4 liJf6 2 l2Jf3 g6 3 l2Jc3 dS Now both recaptures give White a 4 j_f4 j_g7 pleasant attacking position: 5 e3 0-0 a) 10 dxe5 e6 11 hxg6 fxg6 12 6 j.e2 b6 j.d3 (the beauty of White's plan in 7 ltJeS j.b7 this type of position is despite its crude 8 h4 (D) simplicity {queen to the h-file and mate! }, Black has an arduous task to prevent it) 12 ... l2Jd7 13 't!Vg4 l2Jc5 14 't!Vh3. White has completed his plan and Black is faced with insurmount able problems, although he struggled admirably for the remainder of the game: 14 ... l2Jxd3+ 15 cxd3 ~f7 16 l2Jb5 (White conceives a clever idea to bring his knight to g5, via d4 and f3) 16 ... 'ii'e7 17 l:tc1 l:tfc8 (17 .. .'ii'b4+ 18 ~fl 'ii'xb5 19 l:txc7+ winning) 18 ~e2 j_a6 19 l2Jd4 c5 20 l2Jf3 (with the knight's arrival, Black's position col 8 h6 lapses) 20 ... h6 21 .i.xh6 l:th8 22 For 8 ... l2Jbd7 see the next game. l2Jg5+ ~e8 23 'iVxe6 'iixe6 24 l2Jxe6 8 ... l2Jfd7 (Black's main problem in .i.xe5 25 .i.f4 ~f7 26 l:txh8 1-0 Rog this line is that he finds himself unable ers-J.Pfibyl, Tallinn 1985. 24 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire
b) 10 .ltxe5 with a further split: b1) 10 ... tDd7 11 .ltxg7 Wxg7 12 'i!Vd2 (with the removal of Black's B dark-squared bishop, White can now lay siege to the very squares that this piece defended) 12 ... tDf6 13 f4 c5 14 g4 ~c815 g5 tDxh5 16.ltxh5 gxh517 0-0-0 (as so often happens in the Barry Attack, Black is left with a permanent weakness on the h-file, and an inse cure king) 17 ... 'ii'f5 18 ~xh5 ~h8 19 ~dh1 ~ac8 20 tDe2 (one of the recur rent themes in the Barry Attack is the Championship 1988, against Jonathan improvement of White's worst-placed Mestel, where he played the inferior 9 piece, usually the knight on c3; when g4. Certainly, practical results have this unit is included in the attack, it is heavily favoured White from the above often too hot to handle) 20 ... cxd4 21 diagram. lDg3 'ii'g4 22 'tWxd4+ Wg8 23 'i!Vxh8+! 10 ... hxg5 Wxh8 24 ~xh7+ Wg8 25 ~h8+ Wg7 11 h6 26 ~1h7+ Wg6 27 ~h6+ Wg7 28 Now Black has to decide whether to lDh5+ ~xh5 29 ~8h7+ 1-0 J.Pfibyl retreat or to stand and fight! Mi.Horvath, Prague 1987. 11 ... .lth8 b2) 10 ... .ltxe5 11 dxe5 c5 12 'i!Vd2 Black tries to hang on to his extra e6 13 hxg6 fxg6 14 .ltg4 ~e8 15 f4 material, but his avarice will lead to (White has a very straightforward and his demise. It is more sensible to re effective plan: to mount pressure on turn the extra material with 11 ... .ltxh6 Black's kingside by doubling on the 12 ~xh6 Wg7 13 ~h3. This has fared h-file; Black was possibly feeling the poorly in practice, but may not be as tension, as he goes completely off the bad as its reputation. The analysis is as rails over the next couple of moves) follows: 15 ... 'i'Vd7? 16 0-0-0 tDc6?? 17 tDe4 1-0 a) 13 ... tDe4 14 tDxe4 dxe4 15 .ltc4 Hebden-Likavsky, Cappelle la Grande .ltc8 1-0 Laszlo-Kanyadi, Debrecen 1992. Black must lose material after Ch 1994. Black did not want to wait lDf6. for 'iVh5, with a devastating attack. 9 h5 g5 b) 13 ... lDbd7 14 ~g3 lDh7 15 .ltd3 10 .ltxg5 (D) f5 (15 .. .f6 16 'iVh5) 16 lDf3 g4 17 lDh2 David Norwood originally suggested Wh8 18 tDe2 e6 19 lDf4 'iVf6 20 lDxg4 this sacrificial sequence as an improve fxg4 21 'iVxg4 ~f7 22 lDg6+ Wg7 23 ment on his game, from the British tDe5+ Wf8 24 lDxd7 + ~xd7 25 ~f3 The Barry Attack 25
1-0 J.Christensen-Mo.Hansen, Arhus 18 a6 1990. 19 l:th6 t2Jbd7 c) 13 ... l:th8! 14 l:tg3 l:th1 + 15 .llfl 20 l:tah1 ~e6 l2Jh7 16 'iff3 f6 17 t2Jd3 t2Jd7 18 0-0-0 21 l:t1h4 (D) l2Jdf8 is given as 'unclear' by Norwood, but surely Black's more exposed king and weakened pawn-structure must give White some advantage. B 12 h7+ ct;g7 This is critical, but White gets more than sufficient compensation for the piece. The alternative is to capture the an noying h-pawn by 12 ... l2Jxh7 but this move is simply unplayable. 13 .lla6! is the refutation: 13 ... .llc8 (13 ... .llxa6 14 ~h5 +-) 14 .llxc8 'ii'xc8 (14 ... .llxe5 15 'ifh5 l:te8 16 dxe5 e6 17 'i\Vxh7+ White is winning. ct;f8 18 'iVh8+ ct;e7 19 ~f6+ ct;f8 20 21 ... tbxe5 l:th8#) 15 ~h5 'iff5 16 g4 'i!Vxc2 17 e4 22 l:tg4 was the threat. +-. This analysis is all new and 13 22 dxe5 ct;e8 .lla6! is a trap just waiting to be sprung. 23 exf6 exf6 13 .lld3 24 ~g3 ct;e7 White's attack is quite slow-burning, 25 'W/xc7 + l:td7 although incredibly difficult to stop. 26 'i!V g3 l:tc8 As usual, White's plan is to bring his 1-0 queen to the h-file and go for the kill! White has regained his sacrificed 13 .lla6 material with interest, whilst all of 14 ~f3 .llxd3 Black's problems remain. 15 cxd3 ~d6 15 ... e6 16 'ilfh3 +-; 15 .. .'~c8 16 Game8 tbxd5 tbxd5 17 1ih5 +-. Hebden - Donchev 16 ~f5 l:td8 Cappelle Ia Grande 1994 17 ~xg5+ ct;r8 18 ct;e2 1 d4 t2Jf6 Despite Black's extra piece, he is in 2 t2Jf3 g6 a hopeless position. The pawn on h7 is 3 t2Jc3 d51 a monster and the black king has no ef 4 .llf4 .llg7 fective escape route. 5 e3 0-0 26 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire
6 .i.e2 b6 has an extra pawn, a strong attack and 7 l2Je5 .tb7 the better placed pieces, so Black un 8 h4 t2Jbd7 derstandably called it a day. 9 hS (D) 10 dxeS 10 .i.xe5 has also been played suc cessfully, but the text-move is more forcing. 10 ... l2Je4 10 ... l2Jd7 is the other move to have been used in practice, but it was very roughly treated in Hermlin-Kiltti, Tam pere 1996: 11 e6! (D).
B
9 l2Jxe5 Black has also tried 9 ... l2Je4, but this was dealt a death-blow in the game Hodgson-W.Schmidt, Haifa Echt 1989, which went 10 hxg6 hxg6 11 l2Jxe4 dxe4 12 l2Jg4 (this is the crucial differ ence: the white knight proves to be an awesome attacking piece) 12 .. J::te8 13 l2Jh6+
'ii'e6 15 'ii'g3 (with the idea of ~h2) 33 .ltf6 ~e6 34 .ltg7 a6 35 ~d2 b5 36 15 ... f5 16 exf6 'ij'xf6 17 0-0-0 e5 cxb5 axb5 112- 112 (17 ... e6 18 i.e5 'ii'xe5 19 'ii'xg6 l:tf5 20 g4 +-) 18 i.xe5 'ii'xe5 19 ~xg6 + Game9 'iixc3 20 l:th8+ ~xh8 21 'ii'h7#. Hebden- Fox 13 'iif3 'iie6 Hastings 199415 14 l2Jb5 As the text-move doesn't lead to 1 d4 l2Jf6 much for White, I recommend taking 2 l2Jf3 g6 the pawn here with 14l2Jxe4 dxe4 15 3 l2Jc3 d5 ~xe4 .ltxe4 16 ~xe4 ;t White is a 4 .ltf4 .ltg7 pawn to the good and retains attacking 5 e3 0-0 chances against the black king, e.g. 6 .lte2 c6 16 ... l:tfd8 (16 ... f5 17 ~f3 .ltxe5 18 This is a flexible system for Black, 't!Vh3 l:tf7 19 .ltxe5 ~xe5 20 0-0-0 ± who keeps his options open. Black re with the idea of tripling on the h-file) tains the option of queenside expan 17 .ltg5 'iixe5 ( 17 ... .ltxe5 18 ifh4 ~f8 sion and of developing his bishop to 19 'ifh7 ;!;) 18 ~xe5 .ltxe5 19 .ltxe7 g4. Meanwhile 7 l2Je5 can be answered .ltxb2 20 .ltxd8 ~xa1 21 ~xc7 ±. by 7 ... l2Jfd7!. The main drawback is 14 .ltxe5 Black's lack of pressure on the centre, 15 l2Jxc7 .ltxc7 so a flank attack becomes a more at 16 .ltxc7 ~g7 tractive option for White. As Black has a firm stance in the 7 h4 (D) centre, the loss of his dark-squared bishop is not a serious problem and he is able to neutralize White's kingside initiative. 17 0-0-0 l:thS 1S .ltxe4 dxe4 19 'ii'f4 f6 20 l:txhS l:txhS 21 .lidS 'ii'xa2 22 "VIic7 "VIia1+ 23 ~d2 "VilaS+ 24 c3 'ifeS The game is now equal. 25 "VIixe5 fxe5 26 .ltxe7 ~f7 27 7 i.g4 .ltgS ~e6 2S c4 l:th2 29 ~e2 l:thS 30 This really doesn't help Black, as it .lidS l:th7 31 b4 l:td7 32 l:txd7 ~xd7 leads to the type of position we have 28 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire
seen before under 6 ... J..g4. I have a2) 12 ~xb8 is my recommended given it detailed coverage, as it is the improvement. It may seem strange to sort of move that for many players will give up the bishop-pair and take an un be an automatic response, and besides, developed knight. The key point is that having suffered myself as White in so White has an outpost on c5 and there many classical King's Indian mating fore taking on b8 removes a possible attacks, it is always nice to see Black defender of that square and provides getting a taste of his own medicine! the extra tempo that White needs to in The other possibilities are: duce additional weakness on the black a) 7 ... b5 is an attempt to take the kingside. 12 ... l:txb8 13 hxg6 hxg6 14 game down unexplored channels. 8 J..d3 'i'e8 (14 .. .f5 15 f4 gives White a CLJe5 b4 9 CLJa4 CLJfd7 10 h5 CLJxe5 11 clear positional advantage; White's ~xe5 f6 and now (D): minor pieces are evidently superior to their black counterparts) 15 'iVf3 e5 16 'iii g3 ;;!;, White has the upper hand due to his outpost on c5 and kingside at tacking chances. A sample continua tion is 16 .. .f5 17 0-0-0 ~d7 18 CLJc5 exd4 19 exd4 J..xd4? 20 11ih4 ±. b) 7 ... c5!? is a rare and provocative move. Black argues he can spend a tempo playing ... c5, since h4 achieves little for White if he castles kingside. 8 CLJe5 CLJc6 9 h5 (9 'ii'd2! ?) 9 ... cxd4 10 exd4 'ii'b6 11 CLJxc6 bxc6 12 CLJa4 'iVd8 13
9 ... t2Jbd7 Main Line: Black plays 10 0-0-0 llc8 ... c5 - Introduction All other moves were discussed in Game5. GamelO 11 h5 lle8 P. Bank - J. Jensen 12 hxg6 fxg6 Arhus 1993 13 'iVf3 t2Jf8 14 g4 b5 1 d4 t2Jf6 15 .1h6 2 t2Jf3 g6 And from a seemingly clear sky, 3 l2Jc3 d5 lightning is about to strike. Black is 4 i..f4 i..g7 hard-pressed to meet the threat of 16 5 e3 0-0 g5. 6 i..e2 c5 (D) 15 ... tiJ8d7 16 i..xg7 ~xg7 17 g5 l2Jxe5 18 gxf6+ exf6 19 dxe5 fxe5 20 llxh7+ (D)
This is widely believed to be Black's best answer to the Barry Attack. Barry exponent Mark Hebden plays it him self as Black, Joe Gallagher recom mended it in his book Beating the Anti-King's Indians and John Nunn, a Many players would take their ma highly respected theoretician, also uses terial advantage and run, but Hebden this line. is a real killer! 7 l2Je5 l2Jc6 20 ... ~xh7 8 ~d2 21 't:if7+ ~h6 .I have included this game to serve 22 llh1+ ~g5 as a warning to any blood-thirsty hack 23 llg1+ 1-0 ers who insist on trying to mate their 30 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire opponent's king no matter what! Un fortunately, this tunnel-visioned ap proach just does not work when Black w counterattacks vigorously in the cen tre and on the queenside. 8 ~aS 9 h4 l2Jd7 10 0-0-0 l2Jdxe5 11 dxe5 d4 It is Black's ability to play disruptive central breaks like this, in conjunction with a queenside attack, which makes over-aggression by White less viable. White had seen enough. Black has 12 exd4 cxd4 threats of ... l2Jc4 and ... d3 to name but 13 l2Jb1 ~xa2 two, and for once, the kingside coun This is a very sad sight for any terattack is going nowhere. The fac Barry player. Black's queenside attack tors which differentiate this game looks far stronger than the white king from those preceding are an increased side effort, the pawn on e5 is weak and danger to the white king and greater Black is a pawn up, to boot. influence for Black in the centre. 14 h5 ~f5 15 ~d3 Main Line: 6 ... c5 7 l2Je5 This time, it is White who attempts to relieve the mounting pressure on his Game 11 position with exchanges. In this exam Hebden - Nunn ple, it is a case of too little, too late! Hastings 199718 15 ... ~xd3 16 ~xd3 .:ac8 1 d4 l2Jf6 The black attack more or less plays 2 l2Jf3 g6 itself. 3 l2Jc3 d5 17 hxg6 fxg6 4 ~f4 ~g7 18 ~d2 5 e3 0-0 This grovelling retreat, while pre 6 ~e2 c5 venting the threat of ... l2Jb4, blocks the 7 l2Je5 (D) last escape square of the white king. By sinking his knight into e5, White Instead, 18 ~h3 is met by 18 ... h5 +. keeps his options open, waiting to see 18 l2Jxe5 whether Black can develop his coun 19 ~b5 a6 (D) terplay. 0-1 7 ... cxd4 The Barry Attack 31
all) 10 ... ii'b6 11 tbxc6 leads to similar positions as those seen in line B ' 'a3'. al2) 10 ... tbe4 11 tbxe4 ii.xe4 (if 11 ... dxe4, then 12 tbxc6 bxc6 13 c3 ;!;) is an attempt by Black to benefit from the fact that White has no knight to land on c5, and so reach an improved version of the 7 ... tbc6 line. However, there is a tactical drawback, in that the bishop on e4 is woefully short of squares after 12 tbxc6 bxc6 13 g4! Black has a wide range of alterna 'iVb6 14 c3, when Black must lose ma tives to this capture: terial due to the threat of f3. a) 7 ... tbc6 8 0-0 is a more sensible al3) 10 ... tbd7 11 tbxd5 tbdxe5 12 approach than we saw in the previous dxe5 i.xc2 (12 ... tbxe5 13 l::tadl e6 14 game, if a little sedate. Instead of wield tbe3 'iVxd2 15 l::txd2 i.e4 16 l::tfdl is ing the axe, White plays for a small slightly better for White due to his positional advantage. Black now has a control of the d-file) 13 i.f3 i.f5 14 further choice: ~e3 i.e6 15 l::tfd 1 i.xd5 16 l::txd5 al) 8 ... i.f5 is Joe Gallagher's rec ~b6 17 ~xb6 axb6 18 l::tb5 ;!; Hebden ommendation in Beating the Anti Fernandez Garcia, Linares Z 1995. In King's Indians. Indeed, it is a very conjunction with Black's queenside solid option, although uninspiring for pawn weaknesses, White enjoys the Black. After 9 'iVd2 cxd4 10 exd4 (D) advantage of the bishop-pair. Black has: a2) 8 .. .'iVb6loses a pawn to 9 tba4. a3) 8 ... cxd4 9 exd4 ~b6 10 tbxc6 bxc6 (10 ... ~xc6 11 i.b5 iVb6 12 a4 ;!;; White threatens to simply gain space on the queenside with a5, when the black queen is embarrassed for decent squares) 11 tba4 't1fa5 12 c3. White's advantage here is due to his ability to clamp down on the pawn-break that would most improve Black's position, namely ... c5. This only gives Black one other meaningful pawn-break, ... e5. However, even when Black achieves this, he is still left with the worse 32 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire pawn-structure. 12 .. .l2Jd7 13 b4 'ti'd8 38 Wh2 1-0 Hebden-Nunn, Hastings (D) and now: 1996/7. Black has no good way to pre vent .:.h4+, with disastrous conse quences. An important victory against a leading King's Indian theoretician. a32) 14 .i.g5 is an alternative ap proach to the position. White entices the black kingside pawns forward in an attempt to exploit the resulting weak nesses. 14 ... f6 15 .i.h4 t2Jb6 16 tt:Jc5 g5 17 .i.g3 e5 18 a4 'iie7 19 dxe5 fxe5 (although the black pawn-structure in the centre is solid, his kingside weak nesses give cause for concern) 20 .:.e1 t2Jd7 21 t2Jxd7 .i.xd7 22 c4 'iie6 23 a31) 14 'ti'd2 e5 15 .i.h6 (this is an nc1 d4 24 c5 (White prepares a light important theme, because White as squared bind) 24 ... Wh8 25 .i.c4 'Wif5 sures himself of the better bishop; this 26 .i.d3 'Wif7 (White has a clear posi game illustrates how accumulating tional advantage; as so often happens small advantages, a La Steinitz, is an in such cases, the clearest way to ex effective way of increasing a posi ploit this is tactical) 27 nxe5! .i.xe5 tional edge) 15 ... .i.xh6 16 'ii'xh6 .:.e8 28 .i.xe5+ r3;g8 29 'iid2 h6 30 .i.xd4 17 .:.fe1 .:.b8 18 dxe5 .:.xe5 19 'ii'd2 a5 (there is not much Black can do about 20 .i.fl axb4 21 cxb4 'ii'f6 22 .:.xe5 the coming invasion on the dark tDxe5 23 .:.e1 r3;g7 24 tt:Jc5 (White has squares) 30 ... .i.f5 31 .i.c4 .i.e6 32 .i.fl transformed the nature of his advan .:.fe8 33 .i.b2 ± as 'ii'c3 will follow, tage; the knight on c5 has an excellent Antoshin-Balashov, Moscow 1967. outpost and the passed a-pawn is of b) 7 ... 'Wia5 (this active move avoids much greater significance than the the problems of the main line, but the black d-pawn) 24 ... .i.f5 25 a3 d4 ?! queen can be slightly more exposed (Black understandably goes for coun here) 8 0-0 tt:Jc6 9 ~d2 .i.f5 10 .:.fd 1 terplay, but the pawn simply lacks (with a threat) 10 ... cxd4 oo ... .:.ad8? enough support for this to be success 11 tt:Jxc6 bxc6 12 t2Jxd5 +-) 11 exd4 ful) 26 f4 t2Jd7 27 tt:Jxd7 .i.xd7 28 .:.e5 l2Jd7 12l2Jxd7 .i.xd7 13 .i.h6 .:.ad8 14 (this is the problem: Black must lose a .i.xg7 Wxg7 (a subtle positional strug pawn) 28 ... c5 29 .:.xc5 .i.f5 30 .:.d5 d3 gle now ensues, where White exploits 31 .i.xd3 ± iVai+ 32 .i.fl ~xa3 33 the small superiority gained from hav 'iVd4+ f6 34 .:.d6 'i!Vxb4 35 'ti'xf6+ ing the better bishop) 15 .i.b5 t2Jb8 16 Wh6 36 h3 'iVxf4? 37 .:.d4 +- ~e3+ .i.d3 tt:Jc6 17 a3 'iib6 18 .i. b5 tt:Ja5 19 The Barry Attack 33
~fl ~g4 20 ltJa4 'Wic7 21 ~e1 .tf5 (this bishop is the root of Black's prob lems - although it is actively posted here, Black has difficulties negotiat ing White's pressure on the e-file; Black would like to play ... e6, but this would leave the bishop out on a limb) 22 ~ac1 l2Jc6 23 ~b5 l2Ja5 24 ltJc5 ~d6 25 'Wif4 :Ic6 26 'iVe3 l::Ib6 (White's central pressure has induced Black to misplace his rook) 27 'i!Vc3 l2Jc6 (27 ... :Ixb5 28 l2Je6+ +-) 28 a4 ~c8 29 iVd2 ltJxd4 (Black unsuccessfully re plan. After 9 h4 ltJxe5 10 ~xeS a6 11 sorts to tactics in a difficult position) h5 b5 12 a3 ~e6 13 'iid2 ~d7 14 f3 30 ltJd7! (this wins the exchange and ~7 15 Wf2 :Iac8 (although Black has the game) 30 ... ltJxc2 (30 ... tiJf3+ 31 played natural moves, his queenside gxf3 ~xd7 32 :Ixe7 l::Id6 33 'iVd4+ counterplay simply lacks bite; mean Wg8 34 i¥f4 +-) 31 ltJxb6 'iVxb6 32 while, White can build up at his own :Ixe7 ~f6 33 ~xb7 ~xb2 34 ~a6 leisure on the kingside) 16 .td3 ~d7 'ir'a3 35 :Ixf7+ Wxf7 36 ~xc8l2Jd4 37 17 l::Ih4 ~f5 18 ~xf5 'ii'xf5 19 g4 'ii'd7 ~c7+ 1-0 Hebden-R6tsagov, Cappelle 20 l::Iah1 (D). White has established an la Grande 1995. impressive attacking position and starts c) 7 ... b6 transposes to the 6 ... b6 to move in for the kill; the daunting task variation covered previously. facing Black can be shown through d) 7 ... 'ilfb6 8 ltJa4 'ii'a5+ 9 c3 cxd4 the following sample variations, illus 10 b4 'ifd8 11 cxd4 ;;!;, White has a trating White's attacking plan: queenside space advantage and the better bishops. 8 exd4 (D) 8 ... tiJfd7 This was Nunn's attempted im provement on his earlier game with Hebden. Practice has seen two other approaches for B,lack here, apart from moves transposing to variations we have already examined: a) 8 ... l2Jbd7 puts insufficient pres sure on White's centre and again allows White to pursue a more aggressive 34 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire
al) 20 ... a5 21 hxg6 hxg6 (2l...fxg6 (this is a fully viable, sharp approach 22 i.xf6 l:txf6 23 l:txh7 ~xg4 24 to the position: White aims for a quick l:txg7+ Wxg7 25 ~h6+ Wf7 26 'ii'h7+ slaughter) 13 ... i.d7 14 lL'le5 l:tc8 15 We8 27 'ii'g8+ Wd7 28 ~xd5+ Wc7 29 h4lL'lb4 16 Wbl (a useful precaution ~e5+ Wb6 30 'ii'xf6+ +-) 22 'ii'f4 b4 ary move) 16 ... b5 17 h5 fiie7 18 hxg6 23 i.xf6 i.xf6 24 'ii'xf6 exf6 25 l:th8+ fxg6 19 'ii'h6+ Wg8 20 g4 (White Wg7 26 l:tlh7#. summons the reserves) 20 ... i.e8 21 g5 a2) 20 ... gxh5 (Black cracks under lL'ld7 22 i.g4 lL'lxe5 23 i.xe6+! Wh8 the pressure of White's attack) 21 24 i.xc8 lL'lc4 25 :the 1 'VJJif7 26 i.e6 i.xf6 i.xf6 22 l:txh5 l:tfd8 23 l:txh7 ~xf2 27 l:te2 'ii'f4 28 l:th2 'VJiic7 29 i.g7 24 l:txg7+ 1-0 M.Pfibyl-Pfibyl 'ii'xf8# (1-0) G.Mohr-Rotshtein, Mari ova, Prague 1989. After 24 ... Wxg7 25 bor Pirc mem 1994. Note how Black's 'ii'g5+ it's mate next move. counterplay never really got going in b) 8 ... e6 seems unnecessarily pas this game. sive (D): 9 lL'lf3 lL'lf6 10 lL'le5 lL'lfd7 11 lL'lf3 When asked afterwards why he had repeated moves like this, Hebden re plied "I was just teasing him". Psy chological warfare is part and parcel of any killer's chess repertoire. 11 lL'lf6 12 ~d2 (D)
bl) 9 0-0 is a quiet approach, prom ising White a small advantage. 9 ... lL'lfd7 10 :tel lL'lxe5 11 i.xe5 i.h6 (Black tries to retain his best bishop) 12 lL'lb5 lL'lc6 13 i.d6 l:te8 14 i.g3 and White is a little better due to the control of his dark squares, one of the consequences of Black's 7th move, Balashov-Gu feld, Moscow 1969. b2) 9 ~d2 lL'lfd7 10 liJf3 lL'lc6 11 12 i.g4 i.h6 lL'lf6 12 i.xg7 Wxg7 13 0-0-0 13 lL'le5 i.xe2 The Barry Attack 35
14 'iVxe2 As per usual, the drawback Black faces with the exchange of his prob lem bishop is the acceleration of White's attack. 14 ... ltJhS 14 ... lt:Jc6!? 15 0-0-0. 15 ..te3 lt:Jc6 16 0-0-0 ~c8 17 f4 White cements his knight on e5. 17 lt:Jf6 18 g4 ~as If Black was dreaming of 22 bxc3 19 a3 ~xa3+ 23
Introduction Game 12 Leko- Beliavsky The 150 Attack is a system for White Madrid 1998 against all Modern and Pirc Defence players. We will examine all the ways 1 d4 d6 Black can reach his desired set up, 2 e4 t2Jf6 whether it be from a Barry Attack 3 t2Jc3 g6 move-order ( 1 d4 tiJf6 2 t2Jf3 g6 3 t2Jc3 4 t2Jf3 i..g7 i..g7 4 e4 d6 5 i..e3), or otherwise. I 5 i..e3 (D) used to play the Pirc Defence in order to lure White onto unfamiliar territory from an early stage. I suspect that, like myself, the majority of club players who try the Pirc or Modern Defence do so because they are intimidated by the more usual main-line openings. By opting out, Black has greater op portunities to confuse White with his various move-orders, which are hard to pin down. What White needs is a simple, yet effective response, which can be used against any black system. The 150 At This is White's basic set-up in the tack fits the bill perfectly. White nego 150 Attack. The 150 Attack supposedly tiates the course of events under his own got its mime because it was widely terms. I feel the 150 Attack is putting used by a lot of medium-strength club Black off playing the Pirc/Modern De and tournament players in Britain (a fences at all levels. It has been success British grading of 150 is approximately fully adopted by the world's elite, such equivalent to 1800 Elo ). The basic idea as Adams, Khalifman, Nunn and Leko, was to exchange the dark-squared to name just a few. To whet your appe bishops and play for a mating attack tite, here is an attractive white victory, on the black king. Since then, it has from a recent super-grandmaster clash. become much more refined, but we The 150 Attack 37 still have the unusual case of the world's 9 lt:Je4 lt:Jxe4 grandmasters and super-grandmasters 10 iLxe4 d5 borrowing the ideas of lesser players! 11 iLd3 iLxf3 5 ... c6 12 gxf3 5 ... 0-0 is an important possibility, White's pawn-structure has been which we will consider at a later stage. compromised, but he has definite at 6 ~d2 b5 tacking chances on the kingside. Even positional players like to use 12 ... a5 the 150 Attack, although in their case it 13 h4 lt:Jd7 is sometimes a bluff. White sets up an 13 ... h5 is well met by the disruptive attacking formation pointing towards 14 e6. Black's kingside. The automatic re 14 h5 ~b6 sponse for Black is this counterstroke 15 c4 on the queenside. However, then White White opens up a second front for can suddenly change tack, castle on the the attack. kingside, and set about exploiting the 15 bxc3 queenside weaknesses left by Black's 16 bxc3 e6 pawn advances. This time it is Black 17 l:tb1 ~c7 who is left bewildered and confused! 18 iLh6 iLf8 7 iLd3 iLg4 Obviously now was not the right 8 e5 (D) time for Black to castle! 8 lt:Jh4 is also possible, but the text 19 iLg5 l:tg8 move is obviously more potent. The 20 hxg6 hxg6 advance e5 often plays a key part in 21 30 .i.d3 lt:Jc4+ the Classical Variation, but the loss of 31 i.xc4 dxc4 tempo should give White at least a 32 'iVf4 'iVe7 small advantage; for example, 6 iLe2 33 l::tb1 ~a3 tt:Jc6 7 d5 iL.xf3 8 iL.xf3 lt:Je5 9 iL.e2 34 ~f3 g5 lt:Jf6 10 0-0 0-0 11 a4 (Black has diffi 34 ... 'i¥xc3+ 35 ~g2 g5 36 'i¥f5 culty organizing counterplay without 'ilixd4 37 e6 wins for White. moving his c-pawn, which enables 35 ~c1! 1-0 White to prepare to fix a weakness on b6, and simultaneously gain space on 150 Attack vs the the queenside) 11. .. c5 12 a5 b5 13 Modern Defence (Black axb6 'i!Vxb6 14 iL.c1 l::tfb8 15 ~h1 lt:Jed7 16 f4 (White is slightly better delays or omits .. lbf6} here, due to his bishop-pair, Black's Game13 structural weakness on a6 and the pos Pein - Swanson sibility of a central breakthrough, in British League (4NCL) 199617 volving some combination of e5 and/or f5) 16 .. .'~c7?? (unfortunately, this 1 d4 d6 blunder makes the rest of the game rel 2 e4 g6 atively irrelevant, as White now gains 3 tt:Jc3 iL.g7 a winning material advantage) 17 l::txa6 4 iL.e3 (D) l::txa6 18 iL.xa6 c4 19 'ilie2 lt:Jb6 20 iL.b5 (any hopes Black had of trapping the white bishop are now well and truly destroyed) 20 ... tt:Jfd7 21 iL.c6 'ilia7 22 h3 'ilia1 ?! (although this looks threatening, all Black has achieved is the loss of another pawn) 23 i.xd7 lt:Jxd7 24 'ii'xc4 l::txb2 (desperation!) 25 i.xb2 ~xb2 26 'i!Vc8+ tt:Jf8 27 lt:Je2 h5 28 ~c4 lt:Jd7 29 'iVc8+ tt:Jf8 30 'itic4 and White went on to convert his ma terial advantage into victory in the game Dunnington-Cartier, Hafnarfjor dur Arason mem 1996. 4 c6 b) 5 ... b5 (this is the logical contin The main alternative is 4 ... a6. After uation of Black's previous move) 6 5 lt:Jf3 Black has a choice: 'i'd2 i.b7 7 i.d3 t'Dd7 8 a4 (D). a) 5 ... i.g4 is an attempt by Black This is an extremely important to take the game back to the realms of pawn lever in the 150 Attack. Black is The 150 Attack 39 0-0 is a better option for Black, ·al though White retains the better posi tion) 12 'ti'xb4 l:tb8 13 .txc5 dxc5 14 WNxc5 lt:Jd7 15 'iWa3 .tc6 16 c3 (Black has clearly insufficient compensation for the two-pawn deficit) 16 ... h5 17 0-0 h4 18 lt:Je2 e5 19 .txa6 l:ta8 20 .tc4 l:txa4 21 ~xf7+ (Black's pawns just seem to fall off the board) 21 ... ~xf7 22 ~b3+ ~f6 23 l:txa4 lt:Jc5 24 ~c4 ~xa4 25 ~xc5 l:te8 26 lt:Jxh4 .tf8 27 'i!Ve3 .tb5 28 lt:Jf3 ~g7 29 l:ta1 l:te6 30 faced with the unpleasant choice of h4 .te7 31 h5 ~f8 32 lt:Jg3 .tc5 33 capturing on a4, or protecting his b 'i¥g5 ~h7 34 hxg6+ l:txg6 35 'iiih5+ pawn with ... c6 or else advancing to ~g7 36 ~xe5+ ~g8 (Black must ei b4. ther have been very short of time, or b1) 8 ... bxa4 just leaves Black sad an amazing believer in the power of dled with a permanently weak a-pawn. the two bishops to keep going now, b2) 8 ... c6 makes more sense, but five pawns down!) 37 b4 1-0 Krasen blocks in the light-squared bishop and kov-Vokac, Pardubice 1994. leaves Black potentially vulnerable to 5 1!Vd2 lt:Jd7 a capture on b5, followed by d5. 5 ... b5 is a popular move, seeking to b3) 8 ... b4 (the most popular, driv initiate immediate counterplay on the ing the knight away from c3, but it still queenside. After 6 .td3 Black has two leaves Black with queenside weak approachesthathaveindependentsig nesses, which White can seek to ex nificance: ploit) 9 lt:Je2 lt:Jgf6 10 lt:Jg3. Although a) 6 ... a6 and now: the·knight may not seem particularly a1) Cautious players might con well placed here, it is actually a key sider 7 h3, preventing ... .tg4. piece in many kingside attacks. Black a2) 7 a4 is interesting, immedi can now choose to defend his b-pawn ately putting the question to the black in two ways: queenside. After 7 ... b4 8 lt:Jce2 a5 9 c3 b31) 10 ... a5 ll.th6 0-0 (11.. ..txh6 (White is very consistent in his at 12 ~xh6 is the lesser evil, but makes tempts to clarify the structure on the life hard for the black king, who will queenside) 9 ... i.a6 10 cxb4 .txd3 11 not feel comfortable on the queenside) 'ii'xd3 axb4 12 lt:Jf3 lt:Jf6 13 0-0 0-0 14 12 h4 with a looming kingside attack. 'iiic2 with a small advantage, Sian b32) 10 ... c5 11 dxc5 lt:Jxc5 (this is Garcia Blazquez, Spanish Ch (Lin far too ambitious; ll ... dxc5 12 .th6 ares) 1993. The c6-pawn is weak and 40 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire under surveillance and the a-pawn will fic7#) 26 fixd5+ 1-0 Kupreichik be an asset in the endgame. Lutikov, Sochi 1970. a3) 7 lLJf3 would be my choice, b) 6 ... b4 (this move must be con completing development. 7 ... ii.g4 8 h4 sidered inaccurate, given that White h5 (I don't feel this move is very con often expends a tempo with a4 in order sistent; although the white attack is to get Black to do just this) 7 lLJce2 certainly dangerous, Black should try ~b6 8 lLJf3 d5 (Black is mixing up 8 ... i..xf3 here) 9 lLJg5 (now White systems in order to confuse White; builds up a powerful attack without however, he is lagging behind with de making any positional concessions) velopment) 9 e5 ~b7 10 c4 (the side 9 ... lLJh6 10 f3 i..c8 11 0-0-0 lLJd7 12 with better-developed pieces should g4! (D). normally attempt to open the position) 10 ... dxc4 11 i..xc4 e6 12lLJg5lLJe7 13 lLJe4 (Black's somewhat eccentric opening play has left him with criti cally weak dark squares) 13 ... 0-0 14 i..h6 (playing against a weak colour complex, it usually makes sense to ex change any pieces that can guard the crucial squares) 14 ... lLJd7 15 ii.xg7 <&txg7 16 h4 c5 (faced with an awe some kingside attack, Black is com pelled to strike back) 17 1Wf4 f6 18 exf6+ lLJxf6 19 lLJxc5 ~xg2 20 l::rg1 1Wc6 21 'tlfe5 lLJed5 22 lLJg3 1!/c7 23 Continuing the theme, White opens lLJh5+ (placing Black on the critical the kingside. 12 ... c5 (12 ... hxg4 13 h5) list) 23 ... but again Black is neglecting his de advance) ll ... bxc3 12 bxc3 e5 13 velopment) 10i.xc4 bxc411 d5! i.b7 .:abl ~c7 14 dxe5 dxe5 15 i.c4 (al (after ll. .. c5 12 e5 dxe5 13 i.xc5 White though Black has an equal share of is clearly better, as Black will find it space, White's actively placed pieces hard to complete his development) 12 give him a slight advantage) 15 ... i.a6 i.d4 liJf6 13 dxc6 i.xc6 14 e5! dxe5 16 i.xa6 .:xa6 17 .:b2 ltJgf6 18 .:fb 1 15 ltJxe5 i.b7?! (15 ... i.d5 16 .:adl 0-0 19 .:b7 (White now has complete 0-0 17 'ii'e2 ±) 16 .:fdl (16 ltJxc4 ltJe4 control of the position) 19 ... 'ii'd8 20 17 ltJxe4 'iVxd4 18 ltJed6+ exd6 19 'ii'd3 (or 20 .:dl ±) 20 ... .:as 21 'tWc4 ltJxd6+ ~d7 20 'ii'xd4 i.xd4 21 ltJxb7 'i'c8 22 ltJg3 h6 23 h3 ~h7 24 i.e 1 c5 ±) 16 ... 0-0 (16 ... .:c8 17 'iYe2, 16 ... iVc8 25 'tWb5 'ilixb7 26 'tWxb7 .:ab8 27 i.a3 17 'ii'e2 and 16 ... 'ii'c7 17 'li'e2 .:cs 18 .:xb7 28 .:xb7 (despite the exchange of ltJb5 are all ±) 17 ltJxc4 (Black has two sets of major pieces, White's ad survived the opening, but at the cost of vantage has not diminished) 28 ... .:a8 a pawn, for which the two bishops are 29 liJd2 i.f8 30 ltJc4 .:a6 31 ltJfl ~g7 insufficient compensation) 17 ... fic7 32 ltJfe3 .:as 33 f3 i.e7 34 ltJd5 (White 18 b3 .:fd8 19 'iVe3 a4 20 i.e5 iic6 21 converts his positional advantage into f3 i.a6 22 ltJb6 .:ab8 23 i.xb8 .:xb8 a material one) 34 ... i.f8 35 ltJxf6 ltJxf6 +- 24 ltJbxa4 .:es 25 'iVb6 iic8 26 36 ltJxe5 i.d6 37 ltJxfl i.g3 38 .txc5 ltJc5 ltJh5 27 ltJd5 i.e2 28 c3 i.xdl 29 g5 39 i.d61-0 Norri-Salmensuu, Tam .:xdl '(i'f5 30 1:fc6 ~f8 31 'ii'xe8+ 1-0 pere 1996. Palac-Minasian, Pula Echt 1997. b2) 8 .. .'ti'c7 9 a4 (immediately chal b) 7 ... i.b7 8 0-0 (D) with another lenging the b5-pawn is a logical ap division: proach) 9 ... b4 10 ltJe2 a5 11 .:tel bl) 8 ... a6 9 a4 b4 10 ltJe2 a5 11 c3 ltJgf6 12 .th6 0-0 13 ltJg3 c5 14 c3 (as (this is nearly always the correct re usual, White simply strengthens his sponse to Black's queenside pawn centre, leaving Black biting on granite) 42 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire 14 ... e6 15 ~g5 (with control of the centre, White can switch his attentions to the kingside) 15 ... bxc3 16 bxc3 cxd4 17 cxd4 ~fc8 18 h4 (business as usual; I think the fact that White can castle short and continue his kingside attack attracts many players to the 150 At tack) 18 ... ~d8 19 i.xg7 ~xg7 20 h5 (White is simply piling on the pressure, waiting until Black reaches breaking point; meanwhile, because of White's rock-solid centre, Black lacks mean ingful counterplay) 20 ... tt:Jg8 21 ~g4 although after 15 ltJe4 White has a i.a6 22 i.b1 ~ab8 23 hxg6 hxg6 24 clear advantage) 15 'ifxh6 ltJxc3 16 tt:Jh5+ ~f8 25 tt:Jf4 (White feints at a bxc3 ~d7 17 ltJg5 'iff8 18 'ifxf8 ~xf8 sacrifice on e6 or g6, after perhaps 19 ltJxf7 ~xf7 20 e6+ ~e8 21 exf7 + playing e5; Black avoids the issue, but gave White a winning material advan gives White a nice outpost on d5 as a tage in the game Miles-Wohl, Linares result) 25 ... e5 26 tt:Jd5 tt:Jdf6 27 ~g3 1998. tt:Jxd5 (Black had to try 27 ... exd4) 28 b) 9 .. .'f/c7 10 axb5 cxb5 (10 ... axb5 exd5 exd4 29 i.xg6! fxg6 30 tt:Jg5 + 11 ~xa8+ i.xa8 12 d5 b4 13 dxc6 ;;!;) ~d7 31 tt:Je6+ ~t7 32 'i¥f4+ 1-0 11 tt:Jd5 'i¥d8 12 'i!Va5 (White's clear Hodgson-Webster, Dublin 1993. strategic plan is to gang up on the a6- 8 h3 pawn, a plan which Black is hard Although very sensible and safe, pressed to meet) 12 ... ~c8 13 'i!Vxd8+ this isn't really necessary yet and I ~xd8 14 ltJb4 ± ltJgf6 15 e5 dxe5 16 would recommend an immediate strike ltJxe5 ltJxe5 17 dxe5 ltJd7 18 f4 g5 against the black queenside. The move (Black desperately tries to find counter that really fits the bill is 8 a4. This is play, but it is too late) 19 ~fd 1 gxf4 20 the classic response to Black's queen i.xf4 ~c5 21 ltJxa6 ~d5 22 ltJb4 ~d4 side pawn advance. White seeks to gain 23 c3 ~xf4 24 i.xb5 i.xe5 25 ~xd7+ ground on the queenside to increase ~c8 26 ~a7 1-0 Adams-Dunnington, his manoeuvring space and has done Hastings Masters 1995. rather well in practice following 8 ~c7 8 ... i.b7 9 0-0 (D): 9 0-0 ltJgf6 a) 9 ... ltJb6 10 ~fe1 ltJf6 11 a5 ltJc8 10 i.h6 0-0 (11 ... ltJc4 is well met by 12 i.xc4 bxc4 11 ltJe2 13 e5 ±) 12 e5 dxe5 13 dxe5 ltJd5 14 Interestingly, White re-routes his i.h6 .i.xh6 (Black had to try 14 ... 0-0 knight without being asked. The 150 Attack 43 tt :es 26 nr3+ ttJr6 t2 i.xg7 ~xg7 27 'i~Vh6+ "V/iig7 t3 ttJg3 ttJrs 28 ~e3 i.g4 13 ... e5 was essential to prevent Black decides to keep his knight for White's next, although even then 14 defence. 'i¥g5 is a little better for White. 29 'i~Vxa7 i.xf3 t4 e5 30 i.xf3 t2Jg4 If allowed, this is a key part of 3t net t2Jxe5 White's armoury in the 150 Attack. 32 i.xh5 t2Jg6 t4 dxe5 33 'iVxa6 t5 dxe5 l2Jg8 Black has had to pay a high price t6 :ret c5 for the safety of his king, with all the t7 h4 black pieces huddled on the kingside. White sounds the charge. Now White threatens simply to Hoo t7 t2Je6 ver the queenside pawns. t8 t2Jg5 'i~Vb6 33 t2Jf4 t9 h5 c4 34 i.f3 'iiV g5 20 hxg6 fxg6 35 'i~Vb6 ~g7 2t i.e4 :a7 (D) 36 'i~Ve3 e5 37 g3 t-0 150 Attack vs the Pirc Defence: Black delays ... 0-0 Game 14 Hebden - Felecan Cappelle la Grande 1993 t d4 t2Jf6 2 t2Jf3 g6 3 t2Jc3 i.g7 22 t2Jh5+! gxh5 4 e4 d6 22 ... ~h8 23 0f7#. 5 i.e3 (D) 23 t2Jxe6+ 'i~Vxe6 5 t2Jg4 24 'iVg5+ conjunction with Black's previous play; better is 8 ... i.b7 9 0-0 ;!;) 9 l2Je2 a5 10 l2Jg3 0-0 (if Black does not cas tle, i.h6 will be hard to meet) 11 i.h6 'fic7 (Black prepares ... e5 but is beaten to the punch) 12 i.xg7 ~xg7 13 e5 dxe5 14 dxe5 l2Jg4 (14 ... l2Jd5 15 l2Jh5+ gxh5 { 15 ... ~h8 16 'i!Yh6 ~g8 17 l2Jg5 +-} 16 ~g5+ ~h8 17 ~h6 +-) 15 'fif4 +- f6 (this loses on the spot, but there was nothing much better, for ex ample 15 ... l2Ja6 16 h3 l2Jh6 17 l2Jh5+ a) 6 ... b5 7 i.d3 with the following +-) 16 exf6+ 1-0 Summerscale-Weer options for Black: amantry, Las Vegas 1998. Black lost a1) After 7 ... i.b7 a recent minia here because he simply wasted too ture continued 8 i.h6 i.xh6 9 'tWxh6 much time with pawn moves on the b4 10 l2Je2 'Wb6 11 0-0 c5 12 e5 dxe5 queens ide. 13 dxe5 i.xf3 14 'fig7 ~f8 15 ex-f6 a3) 7 ... i.g4 (aiming to disrupt i.xe2 16 fxe7 ~xe7 17 i.xe2 l2Jd7 18 White's normal plan by threatening to i.g4 1-0 Yagupov-Zakharevich, St double his pawns) 8 l2Jh4 (White Petersburg Petrov mem 1998. could consider 8 0-0-0 or 8 e5 !, as in a2) 7 ... a6, supporting b5, is not the Game 12) 8 ... e5 9 dxe5 dxe5 10 h3 most active of alternatives, but Black (White's point is that l2Jh4 is not really bolsters his queenside, giving White a waste of time, as the bishop lacks a the following promising choices: good retreat-square, since on e6 it could a21) 8 i.h6 0-0 9 e5 (as a general be harassed by a later l2Jg5, and on d7 rule, a flank attack is often most suc it seems to hamper the progress of cessfully parried by a counter in the Black's development after 11 a4 !). centre) 9 ... dxe5 10 dxe5 i.xh6 11 'fixh6 10 ... i.c8 11 l2Jf3 l2Jbd7 12 a4 b4 13 l2Jg4 12 'fif4 f6 (this is forced, due to l2Je2 a5 14 c3 (this is a common idea, the threat ofh3) 13 h3 l2Jxe5 (13 .. .fxe5 to open lines on the queenside in order 14 ~g5 ~) 14 l2Jxe5 fxe5 15 'Wxe5 to exploit the holes left by Black's ~d6 16 'i!Ye2 l2Jd7 17 0-0-0 ~ Gal pawn moves) 14 ... c5 15 cxb4 cxb4 16 lagher-Todorcevic, Biel 1991. White 0-0 0-0 17 ~fd1 (the knight on d7 is a is better structurally, and has a lead in serious cause of concern for Black) development. 17 ... i.b7 18 i.b5 (D) and now: a22) 8 a4 (striking at the black a31) 18 ... 'We7 19 ~xd7! (imagina queenside to try to create a weakness) tive; perhaps Black was only expect 8 ... b4?! (this pawn thrust is illogical in ing 19 i.xd7 ~fd8) 19 ... tbxd7 20 The 150 Attack 45 suicide, but in any case Black lacks a satisfactory way to stop l2Jg5) 23 B ~xe6 fxe6 24 l2Jg5 ~a6 25 ~d 1 h6 26 'iVd8+ 'fixd8 27 ~xd8+ ~f8 28 ~b8! +- hxg5 29 ~xb7 (Black's pawn structure is horrific!) 29 ... ~d6 30 ~b5 ~d1+ 31 ~h2 ~b1 32 ~xe5 ~d6 33 ~xe6 ~xg3+ 34 ~xg3 ~f7 35 ~a6 l2Jxe4+ 36 ~f3 l2Jf6 37 ~d4 1-0 . Nunn-Gelfand, Munich 1991. This game actually arose via a wholly dif ferent move-order, with the result that ~xd7 ~e6 21 ~xb7 (White has a clear the move-numbers in the game were advantage, with three well-organized actually two less than those given. The pieces for the queen) 21. . .'iVb3 22 opening is of interest, as it demon l2Jd2 ~xb2 23 ~b1 ~a2 24 l2Jc1 ~e6 strates the other significant possibility 25 l2Jcb3 'iWc8 26 ~b6 'ii'd8 27 ~c6 for Black of holding back on ... ~g7 (I (the black queen is kept under lock suspect at club level this will be some and key) 27 ... f5 28 ~c5 (this forces thing of a rarity): 1 e4 d6 2 d4 l2Jf6 3 Black to part with material, without l2Jc3 g6 4 ~e3 c6 5 'iVd2 (it is impor any compensation) 28 ... ~h6 (28 ... ~e8 tant to know the response if Black 29 ~d6; 28 ... ~±7 29 ~c4) 29 ~xf8 should delay developing the f8-bishop ~xf8 30 exf5 ~xd2 31 l2Jxd2 gxf5 32 in order to gain a move when White l2Jc4 +- e4 33 l2Jd6 ~d8 34 ~d1 ~6 plays ~h6) 5 ... b5 6 ~d3 t2Jbd7 7 l2Jf3 35 ~d5 ~f6 36 ~xf5 ~a1+ 37 ~h2 e5 (Black does well to play this ~d4 38 ~c4+ ~g7 39 ~d5 ~xd6 straight away, as waiting moves allow (39 .. .'tlixf2 40 l2Jf5+) 40 ~xd4 ~xd4 White to play a4 with advantage, as 41 ~c5 1-0 Izeta-Strikovic, Elgoibar the following shows: 7 ... flic7 8 0-0 e5 1994. 9 a4 b4 10 l2Je2 exd4 11 l2Jexd4 c5 12 a32) 18 .. .'tiib8 (a better try than l2Jb5 'iVc6 13 ~c4 ~b7 14 ~f4 a6 15 18 .. .'it'e7; Black exploits the tactical ~d5 l2Jxd5 16 exd5 'iVb6 17 ~fe 1+ trick that 19 ~xd7 can be met by ~d8 18 l2Jg5 axb5 19 l2Jxt7+ ~c7 20 19 ... ~d8) 19 l2Jg3 ~c8 (19 ... ~d8 20 l2Jxh8 winning, Nunn-McNab, Walsall ~c4 'iVc7 21 'iic~ ~ac8 22 ~ac 1 ~f8 1992) 8 dxe5 dxe5 9 h3 ~g7 (al 23 l2Jg5 ~a6 24 l2Jxf7 ~xc4 25 l2Jd6 though this move is very natural, +-is given by Nunn) 20 ~ac1 ~xc1 Black would probably do better to de 21 ~xc1 l2Jf8 22 ~c4 Uust as Black lay it) 10 a4 b4 11 l2Je2 a5 12 c3 c5 solves one problem, a new one arises) (White was aiming to capture on b4 22 ... l2Je6 (this amounts to positional and target c6) 13 cxb4 cxb4 14 0-0 0-0 46 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire 15 l::rfdl i..b7 16 i..b5 and we have ar ti:Jh5+ gxh5 15 ~g5+ ~h8 16 'ifxh6 rived at the position after White's 18th 1-0 Hebden-P.Littlewood, Walsall move in Izeta-Strikovic. 1992. A total rout! a4) 7 ... 0-0 (Black puts king-safety a42) 8 ... i..g4 (at least with this as his highest priority, although, as we move Black keeps a firm hand on the shall see, often his majesty wishes he h5-square) 9 a4 (White could consider had remained in the centre) 8 i..h6 (D) 9 ti:Jh4 here) 9 ... b4 10 ti:Je2 a5 11 ti:Jg3 and now: ti:Jbd7 12 h4 e5 13 dxe5 dxe5 14 h5 i..xh5 15 0-0-0 with an exciting attack ing position, Zapata-Schi.issler, Santa Clara 1996. B b) 6 ... i..g4 7 i..h6 i..xh6 (this is al ways an option for Black, but it makes the position of his king more precari ous; 7 ... 0-0 8 i..xg7 ~xg7 9 ti:Jg5, with the idea of h3 and f4, gave White a small advantage in the game Baklan Pe.Schmidt, Passau 1997) 8 'ifxh61Wa5 9 ~e3 (a very solid move, recentraliz ing the queen and hinting at a central breakthrough) 9 ... i..xf3 10 gxf3 b5 11 a41) 8 ... b4 (again with hindsight a4 (it looks strange to advance on the this looks like a mistake, as White is queenside when that seems a likely often prepared to expend a tempo with resting place for White's king, but a4 to provoke this) 9 ti:Je2 ti:Ja6 10 White has a devilishly clever idea!) ti:Jg3 (the pleasant thing about this ma 11. .. ti:Jbd7?! (despite leaving light noeuvre after Black has played ... b4 is squared weaknesses, 11 ... b4 had to be it probably appears non-threatening; tried) 12 b4! 'ifxb4 (12 .. .'iVa6 13l::rb1 Black may even feel he has driven the ±) 13 axb5 ~c8 14l::ra4 ~b2 15 l::ra2 knight to a worse square and cost ~b4 16 l!a4 'iWb2 17 ~d2 ± Kinsman White two tempi, while furthering his Watson, London ECC 1996. White queenside options, but nothing could threatens simply to bring the h-rook to be further from the truth!) 10 ... c5 11 bl. e5 (this central breakthrough is the c) 6 ... 'iVa5 (in my opinion, this is prelude to a kingside attack) ll...ti:Jg4 the most flexible move for Black, as he (ll. .. i..xh6 12 'ifxh6 ti:Jg4 13 ~f4 holds back from giving White a target dxe5 14 dxe5 f6 15 h3 is Black's only with ... b5) 7 h3 (the most accurate re chance, although clearly better for sponse; since Black is keeping his op White) 12 i..xg7 ~xg7 13 h3 ctJh6 14 tions open, it would seem best to play The 150 Attack 47 quietly and look for an opportunity to 6 i.g5 h6 exploit the sometimes shaky position 7 i.h4 c6 of the black queen) and now Black has 8 ~d2 g5 (D) tried: c1) 7 ... 0-0 8 ~d3 e5 9 0-0 lLJbd7 10 a4 l:te8 11 l:tfd1 (White is well placed for the inevitable opening of the centre, after which he will be better, thanks to his slight space advantage) 11. .. 'iVc7 (ll. .. exd4 12 ~xd4 {it is usually more accurate to recapture with the bishop for tactical reasons} 12 ... tt:Jc5? 13 b4 iVxb4 14 ~xf6 ~xf6 15 lLJd5 iVb2 16 c3 +- is given by Burgess/Pedersen in Beating the In dian Defences) 12 a5 (a useful move, gaining space) 12 ... exd4 13 ~xd4 This is consistent with Black's pre tt:Jc5 14 e5 (this is another reason for vious moves, but frankly does not im recapturing with the bishop on d4) press. All Black has achieved is to 14 ... tt:Jfd7 15 exd6 'ti'xd6 16 ~fl ;!; weaken his kingside. Nunn-Azmaiparashvili, Wijk aan Zee 9 i.g3 tt:Jd7 1993. 10 0-0-0 b5 c2) 7 ... tt:Jbd7 8 a3 (I believe that 11 e5 this move is unnecessary; White The usual remedy to a flank attack. would do better with 8 ~d3) 8 ... 0-0 9 11 ... b4 i..d3 e5 10 0-0 'fic7 11 a4 (this is the 12 lLJb1 problem with the inaccuracy on move Not 12 lLJe4? due to 12 ... d5. 8: White has a similar position to 12 dxe5 Nunn-Azmaiparashvili, above, with 13 dxe5 ~aS one tempo less) 11. .. b6 12 a5 b5 13 14 h4 dxe5 dxe5 14 lLJe2 a6 15 c4 (White has Making Black pay for his previous played energetically since move 8 and aggression. now takes the initiative on the queen 14 .. . tt:Jgxe5 side) 15 ... bxc4 1,6 i.b1 l:tb8 17 lLJc3 14 ... gxh4 15 l:txh4 lLJgxe5 16 tt:Jxe5 lLJh5 18 l:ta4 l:td8 19 l:td1 i.b7 20 'iVe2 tt:Jxe5 17 i.xe5 i.xe5 18 l:txh6 l:txh6 ;!; Hebden-McNab, London Lloyds 19 'iVxh6 ±. Bank 1994. White will regain his pawn 15 tt:Jxe5 tt:Jxe5 and then take aim at Black's structural 16 hxg5 hxg5 weaknesses. 17 l:txh8+ ~xh8 48 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire 18 j.b5!! (D) Black continues to treat the position in the same manner, as a Classical Pirc, but is in for a rude awakening. 6 ... ~c6 is the major alternative, but again, White can go an independent way: a) 7 0-0-0 j.g4 8 j.e2 (owing to my poor tournament standing in the competition from which this game is taken, I was trying to combine solidity with aggression) 8 ... :e8 9 h3 j.xf3 10 j.xf3 e5 11 dxe5 (11 d5 ~d4!?) 11...dxe5 12 'iVxd8 t:bxd8 13 j.e2 (this is perhaps inaccurate, as a major idea A thunderbolt. for White is to relocate the knight on 18 ... j.g4 c3, in order to play c3 and control d4) 18 ... 'iWxb5 19 ~d8#; 18 ... cxb5 19 13 ... c6 (in turn Black slips; an improve 'it'xg5 ~g6 20 'ir'd5 +-. ment would be an immediate 13 ... ~e6) 19 :h1 j.f6 14 g4 t:be6 (and here, 14 ... h6 was defi 20 j.xe5 :d8 nitely called for) 15 g5 ~h5 16 j.xh5 21 j.xc6+ 1-0 gxh5 17 ~e2 (White now has a defi White wins material after 21 ... ~f4 ..txf3 12 ~xf3liJd7 13 0-0 (many l:tg4+ 'it>h8 33 l:tg7 (the white pieces players would be tempted to castle are like bones in Black's throat) queenside and attack the black king; 33 ... l:tg8 34l:te7 ltJb6 (Black is help this would, however, simply help Black less against the threat of l:td 1 so re organize more effective counterplay) turns the material with interest in a bid 13 ... e5 14 l:tad 1 exd4 15 l:txd4l:te8 16 for activity) 35 l:txc7 ltJd5 36 l:txc5 ~dl 'i!Vb8 17 b3 'i!Vb6 18 'it>hl (prepar ltJf4 37 l:tf2 l:tg5 38 ltJe3 l:tdg8 39 ing to push the f-pawn, taking away a 'it>h2 (Black is enticed into the white natural square for the black knight) position like a fly into a spider's web ... ) 18 ... 'i¥a5 19 'iVai ife5 (Black's queen 39 ... l:tg3 40 ltJg4 ( ... and the rook is has been going all round the houses caught) 40... l:txg2+ 41l:txg2 ltJxg2 42 without having any real effect; this ltJxf6 1-0 Hebden-Beikert, France demonstrates Black's problems com 1993. ing up with an active plan) 20 l:tc4 c5 7 ltJgS! (D) 21 f4 'it'f6 22 e5 dxe5 23 ltJe4 'Wie7 24 f5 (D). It was the discovery of this move that enhanced the popularity of the 150 At This thematic pawn sacrifice occurs tack. White side-steps the bishop's at in similar positions from the Benoni. tack and prepares his own on the The black pieces become more and king side. more tied up, leaving Black with a 7 ... ltJc6 long, arduous defence ahead. 24 ... f6 7 ... h6 8 h3 ..th5 (8 ... ..td7 9 tiJf3 25 'iVc3 l:tad8 26 h3 l:tf8 27 l:ta4 gxf5 ~h7 10 g4 with the initiative) 9 g4 28 ltJg3 'iVe6 29 ltJxf5+ ~h8 30 ~c4 hxg5 10 ..te2 (a clever move, designed (White realizes his positional advan to put maximum pressure on h5, be tage will be more pronounced in an fore taking there) IO ... c5 (Black in endgame) 30 .. .'~Vxc4 31 l:txc4 'it>g8 32 turn tries to find counterplay on the 50 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire queenside, but is simply too far behind 12 gxh5 ltJxh5 in. the race) 11 gxh5 cxd4 12 i.xd4 13 0-0-0 ~aS lLlc6· 13 i.e3 ltJh7 14 h4 (White's Black is trying hard to create some strategy is simple: open as many lines counterplay before White's kingside as possible) 14 ... g4 15 hxg6 fxg6 16 attack becomes too dangerous. h5 gxhS 17 l:txh5 ± ltJe5 18 0-0-0 liJf6 14 i.d4 i.xd4 1.9l:tg5 l:.c8 20 i.d4 ~f7 (20 ... 'ti'a5 21 15 ~xd4 b5 .txe5 dxe5 22 i.xg4 +-) 21 i.xe5 16 ~b1 b4 dxe5 22 l:txg7+ 1-0 Kosten-Seret, 17 ltJe2 Aux~rre 1991. Black loses his queen But now the counterattack seems to after 22.,.~xg7 23 'iVg5+. have reached a dead end. 8 dS lObS 17 :cs 8 ... ltJe5 9 f4 ltJed7 10 h3 ±. 18 ~d2 cxd5 9 f3 19 liJf4 (D) This is the point: White can use Black's bishop as a target, in order to gain time for his attack. 9 i.d7 10 h4 hS 11 g4! (D) Black's position is critical, faced with the inevitable collapse of his kingside defences and with most of his queen side still undeveloped. 19 ... b3!? Adams decides to go down fight With Black's queenside pieces so ing. Unfortunately for him, he never poorly placed, White thinks nothing of even gets close to reasonable compen offering a pawn to open lines against sation for his queen. Black's king. 20 ~xa5 bxc2+ 11 ... c6 21 ~c1 cxd1~++ Or 11 ... hxg4 12 i.e2. 22 ~xd1 ltJxf4 The 150 Attack 51 23 exd5 i.f5 White goes back on the offensive, 24 'iV d2 lt:Jh5 the clearest way to realize his advan 25 'ii'e3 ~c7 tage before Black can get organized. 26 i.b5! (D) White ties Black up on the queenside and introduces the threat of i.e8. 26 ... ~f8 27 'ii'd4 Black is given no rest, as White cre- ates a threat with each move. 27 ... lt:Jf6 28 lt:Jh7+ ~g7 29 lt:Jxf6 exf6 30 h5 gxh5 31 ~xh5 1-0 Leaving Black defenceless against an invasion on the h-file. 3 The Colle-Zukertort System Introduction Gamel6 Zukertort - Blackburne The Colle-Zukertort System is a flexi London 1883 ble alternative to offering the Queen's Gambit. Through our recommended 1 d4 d5 method of development, we take away 2 ltJf3 ltJf6 many of Black's exciting options, such 3 e3 e6 as the Botvinnik Variation of the Semi 4 ~d3 c5 Slav. Hopefully, we again lure Black 5 b3 onto unfamiliar ground. When I used Please note that I have adjusted the to play a lot of amateur league chess, move-order for the purpose of our dis the majority of club players who de cussion (the actual sequence was 1 d4 fended the Queen's Gambit were fairly e6 2 ltJf3 ltJf6 3 e3 d5 4 ~d3 ~e7 5 solid characters. They were happy to 0-0 0-0 6 b3 c5). Johannes Zukertort play slightly inferior positions for hours was the inventor of this system for on end, waiting patiently for a mistake White. The idea is to make the dark from their opponent (often caused by squared bishop a more dangerous piece outright boredom). If this is true about than in the sister variation (the Colle) your opponents, then they are in for a where White plays c3. The beauty of surprise! the Colle-Zukertort is that the theory is On the surface, White's opening ap easy to remember. White can set up the pears quite unassuming. However, with same attacking formation against what just a couple of inaccuracies, Black is ever defensive regime Black chooses. often left facing a frontal attack against 5 ... ~e7 his king. For a normally stodgy oppo This passive development of the nent, the message will be clear: kill or bishop may seem unduly cautious, but be killed! The question is, will Black as we shall see, with the bishop on d6 find things too hot to handle? To be White sometimes gets to release his gin, let's take a look at the game where dark-squared bishop with tempo, with Zukertort, who generally played his devastating effect. opening in more positional fashion than 6 0-0 0-0 I will be advocating, unleashed his nov 7 ~b2 (D) elty on an unsuspecting Englishman. 7 ltJc6 The Colle-Zukertort System 53 8 t2Jbd2 cxd4 14 ..txd3 9 exd4 b6 15 l2Jxd3 ..txd2 10 c4 16 'iVxd2 l2Je4 With this move, White begins an un 17 'iVe3 l:te8 usual plan of playing almost solely on 18 f3 t2Jf6 the queenside and in the centre. More 19 l:tc2 normal is 10 l2Je5 ..tb7 11 f4 followed White builds up slowly, which is very by swinging a major piece over to h3 important even in the more attacking and bringing in the kingside attack. lines. Black's choice of active coun This idea will be discussed to a much terplay is limited, so White can afford fuller extent later on. to improve his position gradually. 10 ..ta6 19 4Jd7 11 %:tel l:tc8 20 l:tecl bxcS 12 l:tcl l2Ja5 21 dxc5 ltJb8 13 l2Je5 22 ltJe5 f6 White is getting ready for the c5 23 c6 push. The c-pawn is a monster- White al 13 ... ..tb4 ready has a clear advantage. 13 ... dxc4 is another idea, giving 23 ... l:tc7 White the dynamic hanging pawn cen 23 ... fxe5 24 c7 ii'd7 25 cxb8'ti' tre after 14 bxc4. l:txb8 26 l:tc7 +-. 14 c5 (D) 24 'iVd2 fxe5 With this move, White creates a pow 25 'i!Vxa5 'ii'c8 erful queenside passed pawn. Mean 26 i.xe5 l:tf7 while, White's pieces are ideally placed 26 ... l:txc6 27 1i'xa7 +-. to stop Black making anything of his 27 i.xb8 'ii'xb8 central pawn majority. 28 c7 'ii'c8 54 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire 29 'ii'xa7 e5 30 l:.c5 e4 31 l:tb5 To convert his advantage White needs to exchange major pieces. 31 l:.ef8 32 l:b8 'ii'd7 33 l:.xf8+ l:xf8 34 'ii'a4 'ii'xa4 35 bxa4 :cs 36 fxe4 dxe4 37 ~f2 ~f7 38 ~e3 ~e6 5 ... l2Jc6 39 ~xe4 g6 The systems where Black plays 40 l:.c6+ ~d7 ... i..e7 or ... lt:Jbd7 are covered later, so 41 b1) 8 ... dxc4 9 bxc4 'i!Vb6 (this is the idea behind ... dxc4, but two early queen moves just to harass a bishop can't be right) 10 'iVc1 lLib4 11 .te2 ~d7 12 lLibd2 'i!Vc7 13 dxc5 .te7 (13 ... .txc5 14 .txf6 gxf6 15 lLie4 .te7 16 'iVb2 ;!;) 14 lLib3 l2Jc6 15 .tc3 0-0 16 'ii'b2 l:tfd8 17 l:.ab1 lLie8 18 lLifd4 a5 19 lLib5 'ti'b8 20 a4 ;t Dizdar-Sax, Vinkovci 1993. b2) The other capture is also inter esting: 8 ... cxd4 9 exd4 0-0 (Black tries transposition to the main line, is also a less ambitious approach, restricting possible) 8 ... cxd4 9 exd4 dxc4 10 bxc4 himself to one pawn exchange, so as to (Black has inflicted hanging pawns on reduce White's dynamic potential) 10 White, but as this game shows, the l2Jbd2 b6 11 l:tc 1 .tb7 12 'ii'e2 .:tfd8 pawns have a great deal of dynamic 13 lLie5 .txe5 (if Black wants to take strength; the push d4-d5, in particular, on e5, this would normally be a good is likely to worry Black) 10 ... lLib4 11 time to do it, as White would other .te2 .td7 12 l:te 1 l:c8 13 a3 lLic6 14 wise play f4 and be able to recapture ~d3 0-0 15 'iid2 (this is an interesting with the f-pawn; however, now the attempt by White to stop ... .tf4 at some slightly awkward placing of the black point, which might interfere with his queen becomes a factor) 14 dxe5 l2Jd7 attack) 15 ... 'i!Vd8 16 l2Je5 l2Ja5 17 'i*'e3 15 cxd5 exd5 16 b4 a6 17 e6 fxe6 18 a6 18 lLid2 b5 (Black's approach has 'ii'xe6+ ~h8 19 'iif7 (Black is bound been quite positional; here he seeks to hand and foot) 19 ... d4 20 .txd4 lLice5 exchange the c4-pawn, in order to 21 'ii'f5 1-0 Fuhrmann-D.Pedersen, leave White with a more static IQP) 19 German open U-20 Ch (Hamburg) lLixd7 'i*'xd7 (19 ... l2Jxd7 20 cxb5 axb5 1993. 21 l2Je4 ;t is a more sensible approach c) 7 ... cxd4 8 exd4 0-0 9 a3 'ii'c7 10 by Black) 20 d5 ± Qust look at those lLibd2 (White builds up slowly, as usual two raking bishops!) 20 ... lLixc4 21 preparing 'ii'e2 and lLie5) 10 ... l2Jg4 ttJxc4 bxc4 22 .txf6 gxf6 23 ixh7+ (Black tries to interfere with White's +- ~xh7 24 'i*'h3+ r/;g7 25 'trg4+ plan, but this early attack is bound to ~h7 26 .::te3 .tf4 27 .::th3+ 1-0 Sieg fail against such a solid position- one Beckhuis, 2nd Bundesliga 1989/90. of the advantages of the Colle b) 7 ... 'i*'c7 8 c4 (with the black Zukertort is that White is well-placed queen committed to c7, this advance is to withstand any early aggression by even more attractive) and now: Black) 11 h3 (11 .txh7+ ~xh7 12 The Colle-Zukertort System 57 l2Jg5+ ~g6 13 'ii'xg4 ~xh2+ 14 ~hi a) 8 c4 (this makes slightly less 'ii'f4 is unclear) ll. .. l2Jh2 12 l:tel sense when the black queen isn't on l2Jxf3+ 13 l2Jxf3 l2Ja5 14 'iii' e2 b6 15 the c-file, but White has an original l2Jg5 (White does well not to be plan in mind) 8 ... b6 9l2Jc3 (this devel tempted by the unsound Greek Gift opment of the queen's knight is more sacrifice 15 ~xh7+ ~xh7 16 l2Jg5+ familiar to the Classical Queen's In ~g8 17 'ii'h5 'ii'xc2 +) 15 ... h6 16l2Jf3 dian) 9 ... cxd4 10 exd4 dxc4 11 bxc4 ~b7 17l2Je5l2Jc6 18 f4 ltac8 19 l:tfl e5 (Black shows he is equal to the task (despite Black's best efforts, White and reduces White's dynamic poten has built up the ideal attacking posi tial at the expense of allowing a pro tion) 19 ... .:fd8 20l:ael 'Wie7 2Il2Jxc6 tected passed pawn) 12 d5 l2Ja5 13 l:.xc6 22 f5 (White has prepared this l:el ~g4 14 h3 ~xf3 15 'ii'xf3 l:tc8 16 breakthrough carefully) 22 ... ~g3 23 l2Jb5 (this is one possibility normally f6 'iff8 24 .:d 1 l:c7 25 'WI g4 ~d6 26 denied to White and indeed the knight ~c 1 g6 27 ~xg6 fxg6 28 'Wixg6+ ~h8 proves to be a real workhorse) 16 ... .tb8 29 i.xh6 'i!fg8 30 'ii'h5 1-0 Hawkins 17 d6 a6 18 l2Jc7 e4 19 l:txe4! 'ii'xd6 MacLaughlin, British corr. Ch 1993. (19 ... l2Jxe4 20 'Wixe4 ±) 20 i.e5 'ili'c6 Returning to the position after 21 i.xf6 'ii'xf6 22 'ii'xf6 gxf6 23 tDd5 7 ... 0-0 (D): (from meagre beginnings, the knight is now master of all he surveys) 23 ... f5 24 l:th4 ~e5 25 l:tbl l:tce8 26 l:txb6 and White realized his material advan tage in Ryan-Engqvist, Isle of Man 1995. b) 8l2Je5 (this early deployment of the knight is unusual, but involves a particularly nasty trap) 8 ... 'iic7? (Black is trying to fianchetto on the queen side, but falls in with White's plans; 8 ... cxd4 9 exd4 'ii'c7 is an improve ment) 9 f4 b6 10 tDxc6 'ii'xc6 11 dxc5 i.xc5 (ll. .. .i.e7 12 cxb6 ±) 12 .i.xf6 8 l2Jbd2 gxf6 13 ~xh7+! ~xh7 14 'ii'h5+ ~g7 Alternatively, White can try to cre 15 'ii'g4+ break for freedom with his queen, but his king begins to feel the heat) 32 B ~g4 l:h8 33 h5 lt>g8 34 hxg6 fxg6 35 l:h3 l:xh3 36 l:xh3 e3 (36 ... lt>f7 37 l:h8) 37 'ir'xg6 exf2+ (37 ... e2 38 ~7+ lt>t7 39 'ir'h5+ lt>g8 40 'tixe2 ±) 38 i.xf2 'Wid1+ 39 Colle-Zukertort. The good news is and drive back the f6-knight) 14 ... ~e8 that White has been scoring well from 15 g5 tLld7 16 l:tf3 (Black now has to this position. We consider three tries contend with possible bishop sacri for Black: fices on h7) 16 ... tLlcxe5 17 fxe5 g6 18 c1) 12 ... 'ii'd6 13 f4 (this is the basic l:tc 1 (in this variation White is much idea: White sets up a Stonewall forma more concerned with keeping his cen tion without the drawback of a dark tral supporting c-pawn than his a squared bishop) 13 ... ~d7 14 'i*'f3liJe7 pawn) 18 ... ~a5 19 ~b1 b5 20 ttJn 15 'iih3 (as I have mentioned, this is (the knight is en route to g4, enticing one of my favourite manoeuvres) Black to strike back on the queen side) 15 ... tLlg6 16ltf3 ~c6 17 l:.e1 l:tfe8 18 20 ... b4 21 c4 dxc4 22 bxc4 (White g4 (I decided this pawn-push was now enjoys a clear advantage, with a worth the risk, since I could remove mobile central pawn majority, and Black's light-squared bishop at will) clear weaknesses to exploit, in the form 18 ... :ac8 19 g5 tLle4 (Black is more or of Black's weak dark squares on the less forced to part with a pawn, in or kingside and a target on f7) 22 ... ftd8 der to relieve the tension as 19 ... tiJd7 23 ~e1 tiJf8 24 'ir'f2 (with his centre 20 'iih5 leaves White with a massive stable, White can start to think about attack) 20 tLlxe4 dxe4 21 ~xe4 ~xe4 establishing a knight on f6 or h6, tre 22 ltxe4 'tra3 23 tLlxg6 hxg6 24 :e2 bling on the f-file and loosening Black l:ted8 25 'iifl ± Summerscale-I.Thomp further with h4-h5) 24 ... ~c6 (faced son, Hastings 1994/5. with an extremely difficult defence, c2) 12 ... ~d7 13 f4 (D) and now: Black self-destructs) 25 l:.xf7 l:txd4 c21) 13 ... ltfc8 does not make a 26 'ir'f6 l:tg4+ 27 tLlg3 1-0 Danner great deal of difference, viz. 14 g4 Beim, Vienna 1996. (again White chooses this attacking c22) 13 ... .:tac8 14 .:n g6 15 ~e1 lunge to gain space on the kingside rJ;g7 16 l:.h3 ~e8 17 tiJdf3 l:.h8 18 60 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire 'i'd2 &iJe7 19 g4 (after a slower build up, White again pushes his g-pawn to wards goal) 19 ... 'ifa5 20 .:tel i.b5 21 i.bl h5 (having defended well so far, Black falters and weakens his king side) 22 &iJg5 .:tcf8 23 f5 (the upshot is that g6 is now critically weak) 23 ... 'i'a6 24 .:te 1 exf5 25 gxf5 'ir'd6 26 l:ee3 &iJfg8 27 fxg6 'iff6 1-0 H0i-Danielsen, Ringsted 1995. It may seem strange to resign when you are threatening mate in one but after 28 .:tef3 Black is to tally lost. White's disposal in the Colle-Zuker c3) 12 ... 'ifa5 13 .:tel (this would tort- the g-pawn advances so as to be the response to 12 ... 'ifb2 as well) drive back Black's defenders on the 13 ... i.d7 (we have already seen that kingside; this leaves some weaknesses White can quietly build up an awe on the white kingside but White counts some attack through natural moves on his initiative to see him through) and that the a-pawn is fairly irrelevant 15 ... &iJe7 16 g5 &iJe8 (the g4-g5 pawn in the general scheme of things) 14 f4 thrust is especially effective when ltac8 15 l:[f3 'i'c7 (Black introduces Black has positioned his bishop on d7 the threat of ... &iJxd4, but it is easily rather than b7; on d7 the bishop takes dealt with) 16 .:tc2 &iJe7 17 .:th3 g6 18 away a retreat-square from the knight g4 ~g7 19 g5 &iJfg8 (19 ... &iJh5 20 on f6 and there is less danger of an ac .:txh5) 20 'it'el (Black's position is cident on the h l-a8 diagonal) 17 f4 marked by an obvious lack of counter &iJf5 18 &iJdf3 f6 19 gxf6 &iJxf6 20 &iJg5 play) 20 ... &iJf5 21 i.xf5 exf5 22 'it'h4 i.c8 21 .:tael h6 22 &iJh3 (the knight h5 23 gxh6+ 1-0 Walmisley-Samworth, Connecti As we saw in the previous note, if cut 1994. White can establish knights on g5 and 10 a3 .1b7 (D) e5 then Black is in serious trouble. The text-move is an attempt to hinder this, but it is ultimately unsuccessful. 12 0.e5 l:c8 13 l2Jdf3 l2Je7 14 ~e2 1:.c7 15 g3 i.h6 16 h4 g6 17 l2Jg5 'iii c8 18 a4 I wanted to show that Black has problems on both wings. 18 ... 0.f5 19 'ilif3 0.e4 11 l:te1 Black falls into a devious trap. A different option to experiment 20 0.xe4 dxe4 with is 11 'ife2 (if you like the idea of 21 i.xe4 .1xe4 putting your rook on h3 then this is the 22 ~xe4 l:xc2 move for you) 11. .. l:c8 12 l2Je5 'i!ie7 23 0.c4 (D) 13 f4 l:fe8 14 l:f3 'iff8 15 l:h3 g6 16 g4 'i/ig7 17 .:n 0.e7 18 l:tt2 (the main thing is for White not to rush the at tack but to build up slowly; it is often harder to defend against vague threats than concrete ones you can calculate) 18 ... ~h8 19 l:g2 l:c7 20 0.df3l2Jeg8 21 0.g5 h6 (21.. .l:ec8 22l2Jgxf7 + l:xf7 23 l2Jxg6+ is winning for White) 22 0.gxf7+ l:xf7 23 0.xg6+ ~h7 24 0.f8+ ~h8 25 0.g6+ ~h7 26 0.e5+ ~h8 27 g5 (after toying with his oppo nent, White goes straight for the jugu lar) 27 ... i.xe5 28 gxf6 i.xf6 29 l:xg7 Trapping Black's rook! It has to be l:xg7+ 30 l:g3 i.c8 31 c4 l2Je7 32 said that despite this, Sadler outplays 'ilih5 i.d7 33 'ifxh6+ 1-0 Maroczy me over the next few moves. Blake, Hastings 1923. 23 l:xb2 11 ... i.f4 24 0.xb2 'ilic3 62 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire 25 tiJd3 'tli'xb3 51 i.e5 26 l2Je5 i.d2 52 lDf7 i.f6 27 l:.ebl 'tli'c3 53 lDh6+ ~h8 28 l:.d1 54 l2Jg4 i.d8 28 lDc6 would keep an edge. 55 l:.d7 i.b6 28 liJxd4 56 tiJf6 1-0 29 l:.a2 f5 A very satisfying win against one of 30 'tli'd3 'tli'xd3 Britain's best players . 31 liJxd3 .i.h6 32 l2Je5 l:.d8 Black Plays 33 ~g2 f4 ... ltJbd7 I ... !1Le7 33 ... i.g7 would give Black equal chances. Game 18 34 lDf3 e5 Summerscale - Gimenez 35 l2Jxe5 fxg3 Andorra 1991 36 tiJf3 l2Jc6 37 l:.xd8+ liJxd8 1 tiJf3 c5 38 fxg3 tiJb7 2 e3 e6 39 tiJd4 .i.f8 3 d4 tiJf6 40 l2Jc6 a5 4 .i.d3 d5 41 l2Je5 5 b3 (D) Although White has an advantage, the win is technically quite difficult and was made much easier by the mu- I tual time-shortage common to week- B end tournaments. 41 ltJd6 42 l:.c2 b5 43 axb5 ltJxb5 44 l:.c8 ~g7 45 l:.a8 .i.d6 46 l2Jc4 .i.b4 47 lL\xa5 .i.c3 48 ltJc4 i.f6 49 l:.b8 liJd4 5 ... i.e7 50 l:.b7+ ~g8 Black has several other ways to 51 ltJd6 handle the position, and can choose I now saw the potential to weave a between various placements of his mating net. f8-bishop and b8-knight. Obviously The Colle-Zukertort System 63 there are a lot of transpositional possi bilities. White's attacking idea remains the same: slowly building up with nat ural moves and punishing any over optimistic aggression. a) 5 ... i.d6 (this attacks the e5- square but makes the bishop vulnera ble to dxc5 in certain lines) 6 l2Jbd2 l2Jbd7 7 i..b2 0-0 8 0-0 ilic7 (I feel the knight is misplaced on d7; if Black continues normally with 8 ... b6 or 8 .. .'ti'e7 then he will undoubtedly get an inferior version of the main line af thematic and a classic example of the ter 9 l2Je5, as taking on e5 becomes dangers Black must always watch out less attractive since the f6-knight lacks for. 18 ... ~xg7 19 1r'g5+ better) 15 lL'lxc6 'fixc6 16 dxc5 (this device should be becoming familiar by now) 16 ... .i.e7 (16 ... .i.xc5 17 .i.xf6 gxf6 18 .i.xh7+ Plovdiv Echt 1983. A powerful dou 20 ... .1::tc6 21 'iig4 1-0 Zsu.Polgar-Mai ble attack as 28 .. J:tb8 is met by 29 Thi, Novi Sad worn OL 1990. 'ii'e5+, winning the house. b) 11 'ii'h3 and now: 6 .i.b2 0-0 b1) ll ... 'ii'c7 12 .1::tad1 transposes 7 0-0 (D) to 'a'. b2) 11 ... lbe4 (trying to blunt the at tack by blocking lines, but this knight sally is easily repulsed) 12 f3lbg5 13 B 'ii' g3 f6 (Black takes measures to close the a1-h8 diagonal) 14lbxd7 'ilt'xd7 15 .1::tad1 (again White mobilizes his last piece before proceeding with the at tack) 15 ... b516dxc5.i.xc517f4(now the knight can't go to e4) 17 ... .i.d6 18 'ii'g4 lbe4? (the knight had to retreat with 18 ... lbf7 but then 19 e4 is slightly better for White) 19 lbxe4 dxe4 20 .i.xb5 'iixb5 21 1ixe6+ Wh8 22 'ii'xd6 7 ... lbbd7 'ii'e2 23 .:tf2 1-0 V.Kovacevic-Nicko After this move, White's f-pawn loff, Mississauga 1990. Black will lose plays a pivotal role in the attack. In yet more material after 23 .. .'ifxe3 24 stead, after 7 ... b6 White attacks for a i.d4. long time without the use of the f b3) 11 ... cxd4 12 exd4 'iic7 13 a3 pawn. 8 lbe5 .i.b7 9 lbd2 lbbd7 10 followed by .l:tae1 and f4 gives White 'ii'f3 .1::tc8 and now White has been the usual attack. successful in practice with two ap b4) ll ... lbxe5 (Black seeks relief proaches: by means of exchanges) 12 dxe5 lbe4 a) 11.1::tad1 'iic7 12 'ii'h3 h6 (this is 13 .1::tad1 lbg5 14 1ih5 g6 15 'ife2 a different way of defending against (having created a weakness, the queen the kingside threats, but it has fared no returns to a more central position) better in practice) 13 f4 lbe4 (Black 15 ... 'ii'c7 16 c4 (White chips away at feels she can get away with this, now the black centre) 16 .. .f5 17 f4 lbe4 that White no longer has f3 at her dis (this natural-looking move is in fact posal, but walks straight into a tactic) the decisive mistake; however miser 14lbxd7 'iixd7 15 .i.xe4 dxe4 16 dxc5 able it may be, the knight had to re 'ii'b5 ( 16 ... .i.xc5 17 lbxe4 +-) 17 lbc4 treat) 18 cxd5 exd5 19 lbxe4 fxe4 20 .i.xc5 18 'ilt'g4 f6 19 'ii'xe6+ 24 J.xg5 hxg5 This is the only try for an advan 25 :n l:.af8 tage. 6 ltJbd2 cxd4 7 exd4 J.b4 8 0-0 26 l:.f6! 1-0 J.c3 9 b4 'Wic7 10 l:.b1ltJc6 11 J.b5 a5 12 bxa5 0-0 13 J.a3 .:td8 14 J.c5 was 5 ... 'ii'a5+ unclear in Yusupov-Miles, London USSR-RoW 1984. Game 19 6 ••. cxd4? Vusupov - Short If Black is playing to restrict Dortmund 1997 White's dark-squared bishop then this move must be all wrong. It is surely 1 d4 lLlf6 better to keep the central tension, e.g. 2 ltJf3 e6 6 ... ltJc6 7 0-0 (D) and now: 3 e3 c5 4 J.d3 d5 5 b3 'ti'a5+ (D) w a) 7 ... 'Wic7 (withdrawing the queen to a less exposed square now that she has done her job) and then: This attempt to disrupt White's a1) 8 J.b2 is a slower approach development is a double-edged plan. than 'a2', but White can still count on White is more or less forced to play an edge with a timely c4: 8 ... cxd4 9 c3, which will restrict the mobility of exd4 J.e7 10 ltJbd2 0-0 11 'fle2 b6 12 his dark-squared bishop. On the other ltJe5 ltJxe5 (again Black makes this hand, the black queen is misplaced on exchange before White can play f4) a5 and if she returns to a more natural 13 dxe5 ttJd7 14 c4ltJc5 15 cxd5 exd5 square, such as c7, then c4 will, as 16 l:.ac 1 'fid8 17 ltJf3 and White is usual, become a major option for slightly better on account of Black's White. IQP, H0i-Inkiov, Gausdal International 6 c3 1990. 68 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire a2) 8 c4 dxc4 9 bxc4 i.e7 10 i.b2 more than a match for Black's passed cxd4 11 exd4 (White will accept hang d-pawn) 30 ... g6 31 'ir'g3 (White pre ing pawns, as is usual in the Colle pares an attack on the dark squares Zukertort, after he has played c4; the weakened by Black's last move) only difference from the examples we 3l...'i!kg7 32 'ir'h4 :c8 33 i.d3 h5 (this have seen before is that the black is a panic reaction to the threat of i.h6 bishop is on e7, which lends extra sup but Black was in trouble anyway) 34 port to the knight on f6 but on the other l:.e6 'ir'b7 1-0 V.Kovacevic-P.Popo hand the bishop could become a target vic, Zagreb 1985. on the e-file) 11 ... 0-0 12 liJbd2 b6 13 b) 7 ... i.e7 (continuing develop l:cl i.b7 14 .:tel (again White im ment) 8 i.b2 0-0 9 liJbd2 'ifc7 10 c4 proves his position as much as possi l:td8 11 l:cl cxd4 12 tLlxd4 (unwisely ble before doing anything active; 14 giving up the centre; 12 exd4 would d5!? tLlb4 15 i.bl exd5 16 a3 tLla6 17 bring us to a familiar position with the cxd5 'ti'd8 18 l:tel is unclear- Kova usual attacking chances for White) cevic) 14 ... l:.ad8 15 i.bl 'ii'f4 (this is a 12 ... tLlxd4 13 i.xd4 e5 14 cxd5 'ti'b8 useful defensive move as the queen re 15 i.al l:txd5 16 'ti'e2 i.g4 17 f3 'ti'd8 moves itself from the c-file and heads +McDonald-Piket, Groningen jr Ech toward the vulnerable kingside) 16 d5 1986. (even though this doesn't lead by force 7 exd4 to a win, this game is a good example White now has an edge. of the long-term pressure White en 7 ... tLlc6 joys for the price of a pawn) 16 ... exd5 8 0-0 i.e7 17 cxd5 liJxd5 18 l:tc4 'ti'd6 19 tLle4 Perhaps Black should try to trans 'ii'h6 20 i.cl 'ii'g6 21 i.d2 (White's pose back with 8 ... 'ifc7. compensation is in the form of his ac 9 liJeS ltJxeS tive pieces and his ability to combine 10 dxeS liJd7 threats to the black queen with a king 11 '*1Vg4(D) side attack) 21. .. f5 22 tLlg3 ~h8 23 11 g6 'ii'b3 i.a8 24 h3 (this is a nice creeping 12 :tel hS move, combining safety, by removing 12 ... 0-0 13 i.g5 i.xg5 14 'ir'xg5 the faint possibility of a back-rank gives White a clear plan of attack on mate, with aggression due to the pos the h-file. sibilities of l:.g4 and lLlxf5) 24 ... i.c5 13 '*1Ve2 ~f8 25 lLlxf5 (this combination regains the 14 i.e3? sacrificed pawn and leaves White with In his notes Yusupov claims a clear a clear edge) 25 ... l:.xf5 26 l:txc5 bxc5 edge for White after 14 i.b2 'Wic7 15 27 liJh4 'iif6 28 lLlxf5 liJd4 29 lLlxd4 tLld2 (15 c4!?) 15 ... b6 16 c4 dxc4 17 cxd4 30 'iid3 (the two bishops are lLlxc4. I see no reason to disagree with The Colle-Zukertort System 69 18 '1ie3 White prepares an invasion on the dark squares but Short defends him self well. 18 ... f6! 19 '1ih6+ l:.g7 After 19 ... ~f7? Yusupov gives 20 ~f3 with the idea 20 ... :h8 21 ~g5+! +-. 20 'ii'h8+ Yusupov shows why more ambi tious alternatives don't bring home the Yusupov's assessment, with the idea bacon: 20 i.xf6?! i.xf6 21 'ii'h8+ of ~d6 looming. rJ;e7 22 'ii'xa8 i.xc3 23 ~f3 l:.f7 + or 14 ~xeS 20 ~f3?! ~g8 21 ~g5 'ii'a6 +(but not 15 i.d4 ~xd3 21 ... e5 22 l:.xe5 fxe5 23 i.xe5 i.f8 24 16 '1ixd3 i.xg7 i.xg7 25 'ii'h7+ ~f8 26 'Wi'xg6, Now, however, White has enough when White wins). compensation for the pawn but no 20 l:.g8 more. 21 'ii'h6+ :g7 16 ... l:tg8 22 'ii'h8+ llz.lh. 17 ~d2 i.d7 White has nothing better than to 17 ... f6!? 18 c4! is unclear. take the draw. 4 1 d4 d5 2ltJf3: Beating the Anti-Colle Systems 1 d4 d5 2 l2Jf3 challenging move as Black attempts to Miscellaneous play a Queen's Gambit with colours reversed) 3 dxc5 (taking up the chal Game 20 lenge; now 3 ... ltJf6 and 3 ... 'ir'a5+ are Steinitz - Chigorin likely to transpose to Game 22) 3 ... e6 Havana Wch (2) 1889 4 c4 ii.xc5 (4 ... dxc4 5 'ir'xd8+ Wxd8 6 e4 leads to a small endgame advantage 1 d4 d5 for White) 5 cxd.? exd5 6 e3 ltJf6 7 a3 2 ltJf3 (D) 0-0 (7 ... a5 8 b3 with similar play but with White having control of b5) 8 b4 .i.d6 9 i.b2 l:e8 10 i.e2 a6 11 0-0 ltJc6 12 ltJbd2 (White has a firm grip B on the blockading square d4 in this IQP position) 12 ... i.c7 13 'ir'b3 'ir'd6 14 l:Hd1 i.g4 15 ltJfl (an unusual square for the knight in such positions; normally you would want it on d4, but on f1 it is useful defensively as it guards both h2 and e3) 15 ... l:ad8 16 l:acl ltJe4 17 a4 i.b6 (17 ... ltJx b4 18 l:xc7 'ir'xc7 19 'ir'xb4 ±) 18 b5 (driv ing away the well-placed knight. on 2 ••. i.g4 c6) 18 ... ltJa5 19 'ir'a2 axb5 20 axb5 This reversed Trompowsky failed (with most of White's kingside squares to impress even back in 1889! There well defended and a clear plan of action are a number of other options for Black - to blockade d4 and exchange pieces here: -White is slightly better) 20 ... 'ir'g6? a) 2 ... .i.f5 is considered in the next (this tactical oversight effectively loses game. the game) 21 ltJe5 l:xe5 22 ii.xe5 b) 2 ... c5 (Black immediately strikes ltJxf2 23 i.xg4 (perhaps this is what at the white centre; this is a very Black missed: White keeps a material 1 d4 d5 2 t'jjf3: Beating the Anti-Colle Systems 71 advantage and Black's attack shortly runs out of steam) 23 ... tLlxd 1 24 .i.xd 1 ~g5 25 'ira1 and White converted his extra piece in Burmakin-Meszaros, Szeged 1993. c) 2 ... tLlc6 (Black indicates his will ingness to play a Chi gorin Defence) 3 .i.f4 (while this is not the most chal lenging reply, it is easier to play and remember than most of the complex main lines of the Chigorin Defence, and is definitely not as innocuous as it may look) 3 ... .i.g4 4 e3 e6 5 c4 tLlf6 6 I like this move, which shows good tLlc3 .i.b4 (Black has achieved a strange imagination. The obvious threat is type of Queen's Gambit with his nor 'ii'b5+ winning a pawn. What is not so mally passive queen's bishop active obvious is the positional threat of 5 but his queen 's knight misplaced in 'ii'h3, when after 5 ... .i.g6 6 tLlxg6 front of his c-pawn) 7 .ig5 (played to Black would be forced to capture anti avoid any problems after ... dxc4 and positionally with the f-pawn . ... tLld5) 7 ... dxc4 8 .i.xc4 h6 9 .ih4 0-0 4 ... 'ii'c8 10 i.e2 (again White shows caution The only way to meet both threats. and guards against the possibility of 5 c4 ... e5) 10 ... .i.e7 11 0-0 tLld5 12 .i.g3 This is nearly always the way to .i.d6 13 l:.c 1 (having completed his take advantage of the early develop development, White begins to probe ment of Black's queen's bishop. the drawbacks to Black's game and 5 f6 targets the c-pawn) 13 ... .i.xg3 (Black, 6 tiJf3 e6 for his part, seeks relief through ex 7 tLlc3 .i.g6 changes) 14 hxg3 tLlxc3 15 l:txc3 tLle7 8 'ii'dl c6 16 'irb3 'irb8 17 .i.c4 (planning tLle5) 9 e3 17 ... .i.xf3 18 gxf3 c6 19 ~g2 tLld5 20 A peculiar kind of Semi-Slav struc l:.cc 1 l:td8 21 f4 and White, with bish ture has arisen, However, it is signifi op against knight and kingside attack cantly worse for Black than usual: ing chances (with preparation White Black's queen is misplaced on c8 and can pursue ideas of f5, l:.h1, g4-g5), his pawn-structure has been weakened was better in Garcia Ilundain-Narciso, by ... f6, which hinders the natural de Saragossa 1995. velopment of the g8-knight. 3 tLle5 .i.h5 9 .i.d6 4 'ii'd3 (D) 10 .i.d2 tLle7 72 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire 11 l:.c1 21 i.c3 l:.d8 Creating a concealed attack against 22 l:.h5 cxd5 the black queen and highlighting her 23 cxd5 0-0 awkward position. 24 d6 'ii'e6 11 tlJd7 24 ... i.xd6 25 tlJxd6 'ii'xd6 26 'ii'xd6 12 tlJh4 (D) l:.xd6 27 i.b4 +-. 25 'ifb3 'ifxb3 26 axb3 i.xd6 27 tlJxd6 l:.xd6 28 i.b4 +- l:.b6 29 i.xf8 Game 21 Krallmann - Drill White tries to bag the bishops. Kasse/1994 12 ... f5 Turning the position into a Dutch. 1 d4 d5 Although passive, 12 ... i.f7 is better. 2 tlJf3 i.f5 13 g4 Developing the bishop outside A standard pawn lever (nowadays) Black's intended pawn-chain. to open up the kingside. 3 c4 e6 13 tlJf6 4 .b3 (D) 14 h3 tlJe4 15 i.d3 fxg4? Allowing his centre to collapse: Black had to castle, when White only B has a small advantage. 16 tlJxg6 tlJxg6 17 i.xe4 dxe4 18 tlJxe4 i.e7 19 hxg4 White has a clear advantage. 19 e5 20 d5 'ii'd7 1 d4 d5 2 li:Jf3: Beating the Anti-Colle Systems 73 This is the most logical way to take 8 e3 i.e7 advantage of Black's early bishop sor 9 i.e2 lDe4 tie. The b7 -square is no longer de 10 lDxe4 i.xe4 fended, so White immediately goes 11 'it'a4 0-0 about attacking it and the queenside 12 0-0 i.f6 light squares in general. 13 l:.fd1 4 ... lDc6 Played to pressurize d5 in the event This is the most active move, by that Black manages to play ... e5. which White is prevented from taking 13 ... l:a8 on b7 due to ... lDb4. The main alterna- 14 b4 tive here is 4 ... 'Wc8 but after 5 lDc3 White has a space advantage on the White has the idea of quick develop queenside and clearly should attack ment and attack on the queenside, i.e. there. i.f4, l:.c 1, cxd5 and an eventual b4- 14 'iVe7 b5, while 4 ... b6 is exactly the sort of 15 l:tac1 l:.fd8 light-squared weakness White was 15 ... e5 16 dxe5 lDxe5 17 lDxe5 trying to provoke. i.xe5 18 .i.xe5 'iixe5 19 c6 b5 20 ~b3 5 c5 gives White the long-term plan of at This excellent response renews the tacking the weak pawn on d5. threat of taking on b7 and shuts out 16 ~b3 l:.a7 Black's king's bishop. 17 a4 (D) 5 ... l:.b8 6 i.f4 Another good move. White has a long-term plan of advancing on the B queenside, which will give him a clear plus. Meanwhile he completes his de velopment, while restricting Black's possibilities. Black has two ways to break against White's pawns. The first, ... b6, is ill-advised since it critically weakens the black knight on c6 after 'ir'a4; the second, more realistic, op tion is to play for ... e5. Thus White in tensifies his grip on this square. 17 .:tda8 6 ... lDf6 Black is being very prophylactic 7 lDc3 a6 in his aim to discourage White's natu Black takes away the b5-square ral plan of b5. However, if White de from White's knight. lays this, the two rooks look strange 74 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire doubled up on a file that can only open I if White chooses to play b5. 18 l:Id2 B The game now enters a phase of po sitional manoeuvring, where both sides try to achieve their strategic goals with out allowing the opponent to achieve his; it's a clear case of cat and mouse. 18 h6 19 h3 ~h8 20 lh2 ttJd8 21 l:Ica1 White plays the same game and, be 30 'it'e8 cause he has more space, can even 31 l:IxaS l:IxaS think about trebling on the a-file. 32 l:IxaS l:IxaS 21 .i.xf3 33 'ii'xaS eS (D) 22 .i.xf3 c6 23 'ii'c3 The queen keeps a firm eye on the critical e5-square. 23 'ii'd7 24 .i.e2 i.e7 25 l:Ia3 f6 Black again hints at playing ... e5 one day but critically weakens the light squares on his kingside. 26 .i.hS .i.f8 27 .i.g6 (D) With the bishop on g6, the b5 thrust becomes a more realistic possibility as. At last! the opening of lines will highlight the 34 dxeS fxeS weakness of Black's back rank. Black sets the trap 35 .i.xe5? tlJc6 27 ... aS winning a piece. Therefore Black strikes out. 35 .i.g3 ttJe6 28 bS cxbS Through the thematic ... e5 Black 29 axbS 'ii'xbS has created a weakness on c5 at the 30 .i.d3 cost of opening the position advanta Now the bishop is forced to retreat geously for the white bishops. but Black has a clear weakness on b7. 36 .i.bS 'it'c8 1 d4 d5 2 ltJf3: Beating the Anti-Colle Systems 75 37 .1xe5 ~xeS 38 ~a4 White has a clear advantage as in B this type of position bishops rule! 38 ~c7 39 .1d3 .1d6 40 i.b2 ~b4 41 ~d7 Black's back-rank problems come back to haunt him. 41 .1f8 42 ..tes ~a3 43 .1f5 ~a6 dxc4 4 e3 b5 5 a4 e6 we get a similar 44 'iie6 1-0 position with colours reversed; I be There's not much to be done about lieve the extra tempo gives White the threat of ~xh6+. good chances for the advantage and certainly will throw Black upon his Black's Alternatives at own resources) 6 ... axb4 7 cxb4 b6 8 Moves 3 and 4 i.b5+ .1d7 (8 ... ~bd7 9 c6 +-) 9 .1xd7+ ~bxd7 10 a4 bxc5 11 b5 (D). Game 22 Behrmann -Anhalt Regionalliga Niedersachsen 1990 1 d4 dS 2 ~f3 ~f6 3 e3 cS 4 dxcS (D) 4 'i!VaS+ Black has two alternatives, against which White has interesting ways to pose unusual problems: a) 4 ... e6 (Black tries to be solid) 5 b4 (this is White's key idea: he hopes This is what White is aiming for out to create two passed pawns on the of the opening; a completely unbal queenside) 5 ... a5 6 c3 (the idea for this anced pawn-structure where the player variation came from one of Black's who understands the position better more ambitious defences to the Queen's will triumph. The key points to re Gambit: after 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 ~f3 member are that ... e5 must be met by 76 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire e4 and piece exchanges will generally favour White, as his outside passed pawns gain power the closer an end game approaches. Of course if Black is kind enough to allow the pawns to advance free of charge, then you should be his guest! 1l...i.d6 12 i.b2 0-0 13 l2Jbd2 i.c7 14 0-0 e5 15 e4 (it is essen tial to prevent Black from achieving ... e5-e4, even at the cost of a pawn) 15 ... l2Jxe4 16 l2Jxe4 dxe4 17 l2Jd2 e3 ( 17 ... f5 18 l2Jc4 is no improvement) 18 fxe3 'ii'h4 19 e4 l2Jf6 20 'ti'e2l:fd8 21 previous variation, i.e. play for piece i.c3 (White prepares the advance of exchanges, look for opportunities to his a-pawn) 21 ... l2Jg4 22 l2Jf3 ~h5 23 advance the queenside pawns and, per h3 l2Jf6 (Black has been unable to cre haps most importantly, meet ... e5 by e4. ate any real problems on the kingside Play could continue 12 ... i.b7 13 l2Jbd2 and White is now ready to press i.d6 14 0-0 0-0 15 1r'c2 l:e8 16l:fe1 through his queenside pawns) 24 a5 e5 17 e4 dxe4 (17 ... d4 18 l2Jc4) 18 l2Jg5 'ti'g6 25 b6 i.b8 26 l:fe1 l2Jh5 27 with a good position for White. l2Jxe5 'ii'g5 28 'iig4 1-0 Vitor-Fancsy, 5 .!Dbd2 (D) Matinhos 1994. With his kingside ini tiative completely neutralized, Black called it a day. b) 4 ... l2Jc6 (more aggressive- Black prepares ... e5; however, this move al lows White to borrow ideas from an- other unusual defence) 5 c3 e6 (5 ... a5 6 i.b5 e6 7 b4 transposes; or 5 ... e5 leads to similar positions to that .of 5 ... e6 but with thee-pawn more vul nerable) 6 b4 a5 7 i.b5 i.d7 8 i.b2 axb4 9 cxb4 b6 10 i.xc6 i.xc6 11 a4 bxc5 12 b5 (D). This position is a reversed Note 5 ~xeS boom/Abrahams. White's extra tempo The main alternative is 5 ... .!Dc6 6 a3 again means he has a good chance of i.g4 (Black decides upon classical de an advantage. The strategic factors are velopment) 7 i.e2 1r'xc5 8 b4 1r'b6 9 very similar to those discussed in our 0-0 l:d8 10 i.b2 (White's play is very 1 d4 d5 2 li:Jf3: Beating the Anti-Colle Systems 77 unpretentious -he simply completes development before undertaking ac tive operations) 10 ... e6 11 tt:Jd4 i.xe2 12 ifxe2 i.d6 13 c4 (this is a key part of White's armoury and already cre ates problems for Black due to the threat of c5) 13 ... tt:Je5? (Black has to be careful; he is also losing after 13 ... 0-0? 14 c5 i.xc5 15 tt:Jxc6 bxc6 16 i.xf6 gxf6 17 bxc5 +-, but a better option is 13 ... dxc4 14 tt:Jxc4 'i!ic7 15 tt:Jxd6+ 'ilixd6, even though White is better, as the opening of the position White has a large lead in develop favours his bishop and better devel ment and the main problem is break oped pieces) 14 cxd5? ( 14 c5 i.xc5 15 ing through the black defences. 'i!ib5+ 'i!ixb5 16 tt:Jxb5 wins a piece) 15 'fie7 14 ... tt:Jxd5 15 f4 tt:Jg6 16 tt:Jc4 'iii a6 17 16 'fie2 tt:Jb6 f5 (Black is being driven back on both 17 i.b3 ..td7 sides of the board) 17 ... tt:Je5 18 b5 18 i.d4 :res 'iii a4 19 tt:Jxd6+ Ilxd6 20 tt:Jxe6! (deci 19 'fib2 i.e6 sive) 20 ... tt:Jc4 (20 ... fxe6 21 i.xe5 +-) 20 .:.e2 21 tt:Jxg7+ White seeks piece exchanges to The 3 ... g6 system is a tough nut to clarify the position. crack and I feel the best approach is to 30 lLJxb6 carry on playing in the Colle-Zuker 31 .txb6 lLJd5 tort style. (Please note that for the sake 32 .td4 'iVb3 of convenience I have adjusted the 33 .txg7 ~xg7 move-order of the opening of this 34 lLJd4 'iVd3 game, which actually went 1 d4lLJf6 2 35 h3 lLJc3? lLJf3 g6 3 b3 .tg7 4 i.b2 0-0 5 e3 d5). The final mistake. 35 ... e5 would 4 b3 .tg7 still keep Black in the game, at least 5 i.b2 0-0 (D) temporarily. 36 'iVn 'iVd2 The pure knight endgame is lost, so Black has to lose a second pawn. 37 lLJxb5 lLJe2+ 38 ~h2 lLJc1 39 lLJd4 lLJd3 40 ~g1 e5 41 lLJf3 'ifc3 42 'ii'b1 e4 43 lLJd4 'i!Vxa3 44 b5 This extra pawn decides the day in short order. 6 .te2 44 'ifa5 White's main decision is where to 45 b6 1i'd2 post his light-squared bishop. The 46 b7 1i'xf2+ other possibility is to put it on d3 via 6 47 ~h2 lLJe1 lLJbd2 b6 7 i.d3. However, this has 48 'iVxe4 1-0 two drawbacks. Firstly, the bishop bites on granite as Black's kingside Game 23 fianchetto blunts its power; secondly, Kosashvili - Peker in some lines when Black plays ... c5 it Kfar Sava 1993 may be useful to defend d4 with the queen or rook - then the bishop on d3 1 d4 d5 will get in the way. On the plus side, 2 lLJf3 lLJf6 White's set-up makes it harder for 3 e3 g6 Black to move his knight to e4. 3 ... lLJbd7 4 i.d3 c5 5 b31i'c7 6 i.b2 7 ... .ta6 8 c4 (White is keen to keep his puts paid to any ideas of an early ... e5. light-squared bishop; this move is also 1 d4 d5 2 {jjjJ: Beating the Anti-Colle Systems 19 part of White's plan to attack Black's centre) 8 ... e6 9 0-0 tiJbd7 10 'ii'e2 (White is ready to break in the centre B with e4, so Black counterattacks) 10 ... c5 11 ltJe5 (if you have studied carefully the chapter on the Colle Zukertort then you will be familiar with this move) 11...ltJxe5 12 dxe5 tiJd7 13 f4 (White's attack is not as powerful as usual because Black al ready has a good defensive position on the kingside; on the other hand the g7-bishop is obstructed by White's 10 l:te1 i.b7 11 i.b5 l:tc8 12 ife2 pawn-chain and Black even suffers (White's build-up reveals one of the from some dark-squared weaknesses) drawbacks of Black's set-up: if Black 13 ... i.b7 14 cxd5 exd5 15 e4 'ii'e7 doesn't want to weaken his dark (Black could pass with 15 ... d4 but af squares with ... e6 then he has to waste ter 16 ltJc4 the d6-square would be time passively defending his e-pawn) beckoning) 16 exd5 i.xd5 17 l:tae 1 12 ... l:te8 13 ltJe5 (White immediately l:tfe8 18 ltJe4 (with an eye on d6 and takes advantage of the pin) 13 ... tiJd7 f6) 18 ... i.xe4 (Black decides he can 14 tiJdf3 tiJdxe5 15 ltJxe5 'iVd6 16 a4 not tolerate the knight, but giving up White enjoyed a definite initiative in the bishop-pair is never an easy op Van Riemsdijk-Kawano, Sao Paulo tion) 19 'ii'xe4 a6 20 a4 ~h8 21 i.c4 1995. and White was better in Remling 8 c4 dxc4 Wapner, Budapest 1994. 9 bxc4 ltJc6 6 •.• cS 10 tiJa3 7 0-0 (D) An unusual development of White's Presenting Black with a choice of ei knight, but, with hanging pawns likely, ther continuing to develop normally or White tries to avoid piece exchanges. to trying a dawn raid on the e4-square. 10 b6 7 ... ltJe4 11 h3 cxd4 This is an attempt to take advantage 12 exd4 i.b7 of White's omission of i.d3 and si 13 ltJc2 l:.c8 multaneously to increase the pressure 14 ttJe3 ond4. The white knight is very well placed Instead after 7 ... cxd4 (it is probably here as it exerts influence over both a little premature to relieve the tension the centre and kingside as well as de in the centre) 8 exd4 ltJc6 9 tiJbd2 b6 fending c4. 80 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire 14 ~aS Otherwise ... ~e5 will be annoying. 15 l:tc1 :c7 25 l:.c5 16 'ii'a4 'ifa8 26 hxg6 hxg6 17 'ii'a3 :res 27 ~d3 18 d5 The black king begins to feel the The aim of this thematic thrust is to heat. remove a key defender of the black 27 ~f7 king and blunt the power of the queen 28 l:tf3 l:.h8 and remaining bishop. 29 ~g4 l:.h4 18 ... .i.xb2 30 ~e3 ~f8 19 'ii'xb2 ~d6 31 ~e5+! (D) Black increases the pressure on the critical c4-square. 20 'ii'd4 .i.a6 21 ~d2 Fully securing the c4-point. 21 ... ~ab7 (D) w This knight offer begins the final assault on the black monarch. 31 ... ~g7 The knight can't be taken: 31. . .fxe5 32 fxe5+ ~f5 33 ~xf5 gxf5 34 l:.xf5+ ~e8 35 l:.xf8+ 'it>xf8 36 'ii'f2+ ~e8 37 Black threatens ... b5. 'ii'xh4 +-. 22 l:.b1 ~c5 32 ~xg6 23 h4 33 l:.g3 With the queenside covered for the 34 'ii'xe7+ moment, White logically takes action 35 ~e4 on the kingside. The black position is in tatters as 23 ~d7 White's pieces come crashing through. 24 h5 f6 35 'i¥d8 25 f4 36 'ii'xd8 ~xd8 1 d4 d5 2 tlJf3: Beating the Anti-Colle Systems 81 37 tDxcS bxcS a1) 7 ... 'Wb6 8 c5 'Wxb3 (8 ... ~c7 9 38 fS 1-0 f4 f) 9 axb3 tlJbd7 10 b4 a6 11 b5 ±. White's material advantage will soon a2) 7 ... 'Wc7 (7 ... 'ir'c8 is similar) 8 be overwhelming. .i.d2 tDbd7 9 f4 (it is important for White to put the brakes on ... e5) 9 ... dxc4 Game 24 10 .i.xc4 tDb6 (1 0 ... c5 11 d5 favours Summerscale - A. Marie White) 11 .i.d3 tDbd5 12 a3 .i.e7 13 Oakhamjr 1990 tDe2 'ii'b6 14 'ir'c2 'ii'd8 (this is a bit uninspired; Black should simply bite 1 tlJf3 dS the bullet and castle) 15 f5 (played to 2 d4 ttJf6 weaken Black's grip in the centre) 3 e3 .i.g4 15 ... exf5 16~xf5 g617 .i.h3 (the bish This is a more principled approach op finds a new active diagonal) 17 ... 0-0 than 2 ... .i.g4, as at least the white 18 0-0 tDh5 19 e4 tDc7 20 f4 (White's knight is pinned. central pawn majority begins to make 4 c4 (D) itself felt) 20 ... .i.f6 21 e5 lte8 22 ~g4 .i.g7 23 ltf2 (the black knight isn't go ing anywhere, so White strengthens his kingside position) 23 ... 'ir'h4 24 ltg2 B tlJd5 25 :n f5 26 .i.e1 'ii'e7 27 ~xh5 gxh5 28 tlJg3 ltf8 29 tDxf5 and White converted his material advantage in Lasker-Blackbume, London (4) 1892. b) 4 ... dxc4 (this takes us into a line of the Queen's Gambit Accepted that is unfashionable for Black) 5 tDbd2 (played in order to recapture with the knight on c4, giving it access to e5) 5 ... e6 6 tDxc4 .i.b4+ (Black banks on As usual White strikes back on the speedy development) 7 i.d2 i.xd2+ 8 queenside. 'ii'xd2 tlJbd7 9 !tel (the c-file is a key 4 ... e6 point of contention for both colours; Other plausible moves are: White strives to prevent ... c5 by Black) a) 4 ... .i.xf3 (White should never 9 ... 0-0 10 tlJfe5 tDxe5 11 dxe5 (D) and fear this capture as the resulting posi now: tions are dynamically rich) 5 gxf3!? bl) ll ... 'ii'xd2+ 12 tlJxd2 and now (perhaps surprising, but White has 12 ... tDe8 is fairly grim for Black, but plans for his queen on the queenside) 12 ... tlJd5 13 e4 tlJb4 14 f3 i.h5 15 5 ... c6 6 tDc3 e6 7 'ii'b3 and now: ltxc7 ± is no better. 82 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire tiJxf8+ J:.xf8 32 axb3 ~g4+ 33 ~fl 'ifxh4 34 J:.c6 'ii'e4 35 J:.e6 'ii'f5 36 ~xf5 gxf5 37 b4 b2) 11. .. tiJd7 12 'ii'd4 i.f5 13 g4 (Black's bishop serves as a target to enhance White's initiative) 13 ... c5 14 'ii'f4 i.g6 15 h4 h6 16 g5 h5 17 i.g2 (the bishop is particularly effective along this diagonal...) 17 ... b5 ( ... so much so that Black is prepared to part with an exchange; if instead 17 ... J:.b8 then 18 0-0 with the idea of J:.fd1) 18 5 ... ~c8 tiJd6 ~a5+ 19 b4! cxb4 (19 ... ~xb4+ Again Black could consider the cap allows White to take the black rook in ture on f3. However, this now allows safety: 20 ~xb4 cxb4 21 i.xa8 J:.xa8 White some additional possibilities, ±) 20 0-0 J:.ab8 21 J:.fdl tiJb6 22 i.e4 for example 5 ... i.xf3 6 ~xb7!? (White (White still has a powerful kingside could of course simply recapture on f3 attack, despite castling on that side) and play a la Lasker, but the move 22... tiJd5 23 l:txd5 i.xe4 (23 ... exd5 24 played is far more ambitious) 6 ... tiJbd7 i.xd5 leaves Black the exchange ahead 7 gxf3 J:.b8 8 'ii'xa7 i.b4+ 9 tiJc3 0-0 but completely tied up) 24 tlJxe4 exd5 10 ~a4 (the queen makes a dash for it 25 tiJf6+! ~h8 (25 ... gxf6 26 gxf6. with her booty) 10 ... c5 11 dxc5 tlJxc5 leads to a quick mate) 26 'ii'f3 g6 27 12 ~c2 (Black has a large lead in de tiJd7 (not just winning back the ex velopment but greedy players will like change but allowing White's attack to White's position, and the onus is cer continue unabated) 27 ... b3 28 'iff6+ tainly on Black to prove he has com ~g8 29 e6 (White plays the attack pensation for the two-pawn deficit) with great energy; this is a standard 12 ... dxc4 13 i.xc4 tiJd5 14 i.d2 'ii'f6 pawn-break to lever open Black's 15 i.e2 J:.fd8 (Black is now fully mo defences) 29 ... ~b4 30 exf7+ 8 .:tel 'ii'b8 18 .:te8 9 h3 i.h5 19 a4 'iid6 As we have seen, exchanging on f3 20 'iibl (D) is no picnic for Black, so instead she retreats, hoping for a solid game. 10 g4 Not a chance! I played this game when I was still young and fearless. 10 i.g6 11 liJh4 (D) A case of too many queen moves; it would be better to castle and prepare a b5 break. 20 i.d8 21 b5 cxb5 22 axb5 l2Je4 23 i.b4 'iib6 This move forms an important part 24 0-0 of White's strategy, as it bags the 24 bxa6 'ji'xa6 would have left my bishop-pair, thus compensating for his king in trouble, another reason why I weakened kingside. should have castled earlier. 11 i.e7 24 ... aS 12 l2Jxg6 hxg6 24 ... 'ji'xb5 is the acid test. In the 13 i.g2 tiJb6 cold light of day I have to admit White 14 cxd5 exd5 has insufficient compensation for the 15 l2Ja4 l2Jxa4 pawn. Or 15 ... l2Jc4 16 i.b4. 25 'iia2 'iie6 16 'iixa4 0-0 Black was clearly worried about the 17 b4 a6 pressure on the a- and b-files follow 18 'iic2 ing a capture on b5 and all I can say is 18 'ji'b3 is perhaps more accurate, it was a real stroke of luck! Bluff is an but I wanted to keep an eye on the pos essential part of any killer's repertoire. sibility of ... l2Je4. 26 i.d2 i.b6 1 d4 d5 2 !Df3: Beating the Anti-Colle Systems 85 27 l:tc2 'ii'd7 39 ... :xg6, despite the self-pin, leaves 28 l:tfcl f5 Black with a good grip on the position. 29 .tel 40 B 47 ~xe1 .ib4 plan here is to develop quickly and 48 ~d2 a4 pressurize Black along the open c-file) 49 ~c2 1-0 8 ... ltJc6 9 .ib5 .ie7 10 0-0 0-0 11 l:Hc 1 intending ltJe5, Yusupov-P.Niko Game 25 lic, Belgrade 1991. This is slightly Hebden - Summerscale better for White and certainly not very Upminster 1993 inspiring for the second player. 5 ltJbd2 ltJbd7 1 d4 d5 5 ... c5 is a principled way to fight 2 tLlf3 tLlf6 back immediately against the white 3 e3 c6 centre, although I suspect the concept If 3 ... .if5 then 4 c4 c6 with a trans of moving the c-pawn twice in the first position to Yusupov-Nikolic in the five moves will be alien to most play note to Black's 4th move. ers. 6 cxd5 exd5 (6 ... tLlxd5 allows 4 c4 (D) White a nice space advantage after 7 (1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 lLlf3 tLlf6 4 e3 e4lLlf6 8 e5lLld5 9 dxc5 i.xc5 10 ltJe4 was the actual move-order but again I followed by i.d3 and attacking chances have adjusted it for our convenience.) on the kingside to follow, Staniszew 4 ... e6 ski-Jagodzinski, Polish Ch 1981) 7 b3 This attempt to get an exciting cxd4 8 tLlxd4 jtb4 9 ~c2 tLlc6 10 Semi-Slav variation is neatly parried tLlxc6 bxc6 11 jtd3 (White very sensi by White's clever move-order. bly declines the pawn offer, knowing The main alternative is 4 ... .if5 5 that Black's structural weakness won't cxd5 cxd5 6 'i!Vb3 'fic7 (6 ... 'ifb6 7 go away; not 11 'ifxc6+? .id7 12 'it'xb6 axb6 8 tLlc3 is a bit better for ~c2? l::tc8 +) 11. .. 0-0 12 0-0 .id6 13 White due to Black's weak doubled .ib2 c5 (Black has the dynamic hang b-pawns) 7 tLlc3 e6 8 .id2 (White's ing pawns and White sets about 1 d4 d5 2 tlJf3: Beating the Anti-Colle Systems 87 breaking them up right away) 14 e4 9 ttJeS dxc4 tlJg4 (this early attack backfires on Black chooses to relieve some of Black, who should have played either the central tension, which is no better 14 ... dxe4 15 tlJxe4;!; or 14 ... d4 15 h3 or worse than maintaining it, for ex ~b7 16 ttJc4 ;!;) 15 h3 tlJh2 16 lHd1 ample 9 ... lld8 10 0-0 tlJf8 11 'ii'e2 'it' g5 17 e5! (taking the wind out of tlJ6d7 12 llad1 a5 13 f4 a4 14 e4 Black's sails) 17 ... ~xh3 18 g3 ~g4 (White has been able to build up an 19 ~xh2 ~xd1 20 llxd1 f5 (Black imposing central space advantage and pushes the self-destruct button but he already stands clearly better) 14 ... axb3 was clearly worse in any case, e.g. 15 axb3 lla2 (the minor irritation of 20 ... ~xe5 21 ~xh7+ ~h8 22 tlJf3 Black's rook infiltration in no way 'it'h5+ 23 ~g2 ~xb2 24 llh1 ±) 21 makes up for White's growing initia exd6 f4 22 ttJn (three pieces for a tive and positional advantages) 16 rook is far too much) 22 ... llad8 23 tlJdf3 f6 17 tlJxd7 ~xd7 18 il.b1 llaa8 'it'e2 'ii'h6+ 24 ~g1 f3 25 'it'e5 d4 26 19 e5 (further increasing White's b4 llxd6 27 tlJd2 cxb4 28 tlJxf3 lldf6 command of space and opening the 29 ~e4 1-0 Chernikov-Rapoport, way for the b1-bishop to reach the Ceske Budejovice 1996. kingside) 19 ... fxe5 20 fxe5 ~a3 21 6 b3 ~d6 .i.c3 ~b4? (somehow I knew my op 7 ~b2 0-0 ponent would make this move, which 8 ~d3 "i/e7 (D) draws away a key defender from his This whole plan of preparing ... e5 is kingside) 22 ~xb4 'it'xb4 23 tlJg5 (D). flawed, so Black would do better to play for ... b6 and ... c5 despite being a tempo down on normal Colle-Zuker tort lines. B Black is now completely busted, as the following variations show: a) 23 ... h6 24 tlJf7 lle8 25 tlJxh6+ gxh6 26 'it' g4+ ~h8 27 llf7 +-. 88 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire b) 23 ... 'ifxb3 24 l:.xf8+ l:.xf8 (24 ... <1ttxf8 25 ii'f2+ I had a faint glimmer of hope here, 26 .:tf8+ 1-0 thinking he may have overreached 26 ... .:txf8 27 gxf8'ir'+ ~xf8 28 himself until he played ... :n + :n 29 'ii'g7+ is the end. 5 The Classical Queen's Indian Introduction 7 b3 cxd4 8 exd4 ltJc6 Before we look at the variations relat 9 i.b2 ltJb4 ing to the Classical Queen's Indian, I 10 i.e2 ltJbdS (D) would like to show you a game which will help to explain some of the prob lems White can have if he continues with the standard Colle-Zukertort w set-up. Game 26 Summerscale - Palkovi Budapest 1990 1 ltJf3 ltJf6 2 d4 e6 3 e3 cS 4 i.d3 b6 Black is playing the opening quite 5 0-0 i.b7 creatively and is making full use of the 6 ttJbd2 i..e7 d5-square from an early stage. I had One problem I found as a Colle severe reservations about my next Zukertort player against Queen's In move but was loathe to allow the black dian exponents was that their posi knight into f4. tions had so much flexibility. This w~s 11 g3 i.b4 mainly due to the fact that they could The knight on d5 shows it also has delay ... d5 for as long as they wanted, eyes for my queenside and, not want thus making it harder to carry out the ing to give up the bishop-pair, I was standard plan of ltJe5, f4, etc. In fact, I forced to make a grovelling retreat. used to heave a sigh of relief as soon as 12 ltJbl ltJe4 they did play ... d5 (which wasn't very It felt as if the black knights were often). I think this game clearly illus crawling all over my position. trates the problems White can face be 13 'Wid3 fS cause of Black's flexibility. 14 ltJeS ltJgS The Classical Queen's Indian 91 Here Black sees a forcing continua 24 ~g1 tion and goes for it, but with hindsight I would have been very happy with perhaps simply 14 ... 0-0 would have a draw here as I was only an average kept the advantage. international player while my oppo 15 l:.d1 nent was a much higher rated interna Making an escape-square for my tional master. I knew the onus was on king, which lacks light-squared pro him to make something of the position. tection. 24 ~g4+ 15 lLJh3+ 2s ~n ds 16 ~n lLJdf4 (D) 26 c4 ~h3+ 27 ~g1 'ij'g4+ 28 wn o-o 29 a3 'ij'h3+ w 30 Wg1 'ij'g4+ 31 ~n .i.d6 32 lLJc3 1r'h3+ 33 ~g1 l:.f6 (D) w This is the idea Black was playing for, and to be honest I had completely missed it. Still, there was no use in worrying about it - I just had to knuckle down and take what was thrown at me. In retrospect, I now question Black's decision to win my queen and a pawn for three pieces, as I believe the mate Finally Black makes an aggressive rial imbalance favours White. move towards my king. 17 gxf4 .i.g2+ 34 lLJeS l:.g6+ 18 ~xg2 lLJxf4+ 35 l:.g3 ~xeS 19 ~n lLJxd3 36 dxeS l:.xg3+ 20 l:.xd3 ~h4 37 hxg3 f4! 21 ~g1 d6 38 .i.n 'ij'g4 22 lLJf3 1r'g4+ 39 lLJe2 fxg3 23 ~n 1r'h3+ 40 lLJxg3 l:.f8 92 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire We reached the time-control and it has to be said that over the next few B ~ ~ moves my more experienced oppo- ~0/~• • •~ .. ~• nent outplayed me. ~ ~ •//////~ 41 .i.e2 'ii'f4 •.,. • • 42 :n d4 - BK"' !i; •~ • 43 c;itg2 d3 • • 44 .i.dl g6 ""'!i;·~·ttJ· ,,,,y ~ ~ 45 .i.c3 h5 B~mi•~·• 46 f3 h4 47 ltJe4 !lf5 (D) •%/':,,,, \%-%• • ///•:• . Game 27 Malaniuk - Merino Garcia IQP position where White has attack Linares 1996 ing chances on the kingside. 7 l2Jc3 ..tg7 1 d4 l2Jf6 8 e4 2 l2Jf3 e6 It makes sense to take the space in 3 c4 the centre that Black has so graciously We could reach the diagram posi offered. tion by 3 e3 b6 4 ..td3 ..tb7 5 0-0 c5 6 8 cxd4 c4, which is significant as Black has 9 l2Jxd4 d6 not had the option of ... ..tb4+. Note 10 ..te3 0-0 that ... d5 at any stage would let White 11 f3 a6 transpose back to the Colle-Zukertort. We have now reached a Hedgehog 3 b6 position. White's plan is to pressurize 4 e3 ..tb7 Black on the dark squares and keep a 5 ..td3 c5 close eye on the black pawn-breaks, 6 0-0 (D) ... d5 and ... b5. 6 g6 12 l:te1 l2Jbd7 6 ... ..te7 7 l2Jc3 cxd4 8 exd4 d5 (or 13 ..tn 'iic7 8 ... d6 9 d5) 9 cxd5 l2Jxd5 10 l2Je5 is 14 l:tc1 l:tac8 the main line we consider later. Here 15 'iid2 l2Je5 Black plays more ambitiously, trying 16 b3 l:tfd8 for a double fianchetto. In the main 17 l:ted1 ..ta8 lines the most important decision for 18 ~h1 'iib7 (D) Black is whether he should allow the 19 i.g5 cramping d5 by White. If he doesn't The dark-squared attack begins. want to, he must play ... d5 himself, af 19 'iib8 ter which White takes and we get an 20 'iif4 l2Jed7 94 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire This key move sows the seeds of defeat for Black. 27 axb5 28 :xd5 ltJc5 29 .i.xb5 .:t.e6 30 .:t.d8+ :xd8 31 :xd8+ 1-0 It's forced mate as 31 ... .i.f8 is met by 32 :xf8+ Wxf8 33 i.h6+ Wg8 34 ~d8+ :es 35 ~xe8#. Black Omits ... d5 21 'iih4 :es 22 :c2 Game 28 Stage two of White's plan is sim Zsu. Polgar- Hracek ple: attack the weak d6-pawn. Stara Zagora Z 1990 22 ... 'iia7 22 ... d5 immediately loses a pawn 1 d4 liJf6 after 23 exd5 exd5 24liJxd5 ltJxd5 25 2 liJf3 e6 cxd5 i.xd5 26 i.xa6. 3 e3 b6 23 :cd2 d5 4 i.d3 i.b7 If BlacK 'thought he had prepared 5 0-0 c5 this well, he was mistaken. 6 c4 i.e7 24 exd5 exd5 7 ltJc3 (D) 25 ltJxd5 ltJxd5 26 cxd5 .i.xd5 27 liJb5 (D) The main difference between the Classical Queen's Indian and the The Classical Queen's Indian 95 Colle-Zukertort System we examined achieve ... b6-b5 and this alone is before is the positioning of White's enough to ensure that Black will never queen's knight. This is more actively achieve full equality. Now: posted on c3 than on d2; indeed White a1) 10 ... ltJa6 11 l:.e1 ltJc7 12 1lb1 often counts on this greater central in l:.e8 13 a3 ltJd7 14 .tf4 l:.c8 15 'ifd2 fluence to give him the advantage a6 16 a4 ltJf8 17 b4 (a typical pawn le against inaccurate black responses. ver in such positions, further restricting 7 ... cxd4 Black's possibilities on the queenside) 7 ... 0-0? is a clear positional mistake 17 ... cxb4 18 l:.xb4 ± Bukic-Ljubo as it allows White either a space ad jevic, Bugojno 1978. vantage or a very strong attack against a2) 10 ... a6 11 a4 ltJbd7 12 .tf4 the black king after 8 d5! exd5 9 cxd5 ltJe8 13 'ife2 .tf6 14 l:.ab1 'ife7 15 :fc 1 (D). (again White prepares the critical b4 break) 15 ... ltJc7 16 b4 l:.ab8 17 ltJd 1 l:.fc8 18ltJe3 g6 19 bxc5 bxc5 20 ltJc4 (with the arrival of White's knight on its ideal outpost, White forces Black on the defensive and claims a large ad vantage) 20 ... ltJe8 21 ltJa5 1Xc7 22 ltJd2 .tg5 (the dark-squared bishop is usually Black's pride and joy in the Benoni but here it is fairly ineffective as there are no targets left on the h8-a1 diagonal) 23 .txg5 'ifxg5 24ltJdc4 and White has achieved a dream Benoni po sition, Malaniuk-Polzin, Lyngby 1991. Black is faced with a difficult deci b) 9 ... ltJxd5 (this capture is play sion as to whether he should take the ing with fire, but the alternatives are d-pawn. not much more promising, as we have a) 9 ... d6 (Black declines the prof already seen) 10 ltJxd5 .txd5 11 fered pawn but suffers from being .txh7+ Wxh7 12 'ifxd5 ±(Black suf stuck in a bad Benoni: both black bish fers from an exposed king and weak ops are ineffectively placed) 10 e4. As nesses on the d-file) 12 ... ltJc6 13 .td2 in the Benoni, the main hope of coun .tf6 14 .tc3 Wg8 (14 ... .txc3 15 ._,h5+ terplay for Black lies in pushing his ~g8 16ltJg5 +-) 15 'ifh5 l:.e8 16lbd1 queenside pawn majority, but Black (White now enjoys a definite initia suffers here in that the bishop is get tive, being able to create threats with ting in the way on b7; Black will have almost every move) 16 ... d6 17 1ld5 to lose at least two tempi if he is to (threatening ltJg5) 17 ... g6 18 'ilih6 96 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire (threatening l:.h5!) 18 ... tt:Je5 19 i.xe5 8 ... d5 is dealt with in the next game . .txe5 20 tt:Jg5 'ii'f6 21 'ii'h7+ '&t>f8 22 8 ... 0-0 9 d5 and now: f4 .txb2 23 f5! (D). a) 9 ... h6 10 .tc2 i.b4 11 tt:Je4 exd5 12 tt:Jxf6+ 'ii'xf6 13 cxd5 (White's cen tral space advantage gives him greater mobility and hinders Black's develop ment) 13 ... .ta614 .td3 .txd3 15 1t'xd3 a5 (Black finds a way to develop on the queenside but gives himself a weak ness on b6) 16 a3 .td6 17 .te3 tt:Ja6 18 .td4 tt:Jc5 19 'iib5 'ii' g6 20 :ad 1 a4 21 g3 'ifc2 22 tt:Jd2 l:.fb8 23 tt:Jc4 .tc7 24 d6 .td8 25 l:.de 1 and White has clearly the superior position, B.Lalic Pliester, Isle of Man 1995. b) 9 ... tt:Ja6 10 .tf4 d6 11 dxe6 fxe6 White just keeps on coming, with 12 .tg3 tt:Jc5 13 tLld4 leaves White scant regard for material. better as Black has three pawn islands 23 ... 'ii'xg5 24 fxg6 'ii'xe3+ 25 '&t>h1 to White's two, with the e6/d6 duo be 'ii'f2! (a nice last-ditch try, but Black's ing particularly weak, Malaniuk-Tivia position was beyond repair in any kov, Moscow 1992. case) 26 l:.dd 1 ! l:e2 27 l:xf2 l:.xf2 28 9 d5 '&t>g1 1-0 Dizdar-Plachetka, Slovakia This is the most incisive; I give the Croatia 1996. alternatives only as food for thought: 8 exd4 (D) a) 9 a3 0-0 10 b4 tt:Jbd7 11 l:.e1 l:.c8 I 12 h3 l:.e8 13 i.f4;!; Adler-Genov, Ant werp 1992. b) 9 l::te1 0-0 and now: b1) 10 .tg5 tt:Jbd7 11 'ii'e2 l:e8 12 l:.ad1 l:.c8 13 h3 "i/c7 14 'iie3 'ir'b8 15 d5;!; Lechtynsky-Mokry, Trencianske Teplice 1985. b2) 10 d5 e5 11 a3 a5 12 l:b1 (White's plan should be becoming fa miliar by now: to expand on the queen side with b4 in order to create weak nesses there) 12 ... tt:Je8 13 'ii'c2 g6 14 .th6 tt:Jg7 15 b4 tt:Jd7 16 'ir'e2 .ta6 17 8 d6 l:.bc 1 l:.c8 18 tLla4 l:.e8 19 bxa5 bxa5 The Classical Queen's Indian 97 20 c5 ;!; Chekhov-Bareev, Kharkov 1985. b3) 10 a3liJbd7 11 b4 l:.e8 12 i.b2 Jlf8 13 d5 e5 14 liJd2 g6 15 a4 ;!; Zsu.Polgar-Arnason, Budapest ECC 1989. White's plan is a5 followed by gradually increasing the pressure on the queenside, for example by dou bling rooks on the a-file. c) 9 b3 0-0 10 Jlb2liJbd7 11 l:.e1 a6 12 h3 (White begins an original plan of trebling major pieces on the e file, hoping to land a tactical blow) 12 ... Jtxc6 13 dxc6 liJb8 ( 13 ... ltJe5 14 12 ... :a7? (Black's play looks too slow Jla6 ±; 13 ... ltJc5 14 Jlf5 d5 15 b4 here and he would do better to antici ltJe6 16 b5 ±) 14 'it'a4 (Black's biggest pate the danger on the kingside by problem is his knight on b8: recently ... l:te8 and ... liJf8) 13 l:.e3 'iia8 14 'iie2 undeveloped, it has trouble getting b5 15 l:te1 (White is very sensibly ig into the game again) 14 ... d5 15 ~f4 noring Black's queenside play and .i.d6 16 .i.g5 h6 17 Jlxf6 'iVxf6 18 now begins to introduce some very l:.ae 1 i.c7 (Black jettisons his d-pawn, nasty threats) 15 ... bxc4 16 bxc4 l:te8 which is ultimately lost anyway; his 17 ltJg5 Jlf8 18 ltJxf7! (bang!) biggest problem, however, remains 18 ... cit>xf7 19 l:txe6 l:.b8? (after the the still undeveloped knight on b8, more stubborn 19 ... g6, 20 d5 with the which interferes with the coordination idea of e4 gives White an overwhelm of Black's pieces) 19 ltJxd5 'iVd6 20 ing attack) 20 l:.xf6+! 1-0 Yusupov ltJxc7 'iixc7 21 l:.c1 a6 22 'it'e4 (with Teske, Bundesliga 1995/6. an extra passed pawn on the sixth Returning to the position after 9 d5 rank, and the initiative, White's posi (D): tion is overwhelming) 22 ... g6 23 l:tc3 9 •.• eS l:.a7 24 l:.fc1 l:.c8 25 'it'e3 h5 26 Jle2 Black is well advised to keep the 'iid8 27 l:.d1 'iie7 28 'it'xe7 l:.xe7 29 centre closed. c7 l:.xe2 30 l:.d8+ cit>g7 31 cit>fl 1-0 9 ... exd5 has turned out disastrously Yakovich-Arkell, Hastings 1993/4. in practice: 10 cxd5 0-0 11liJd4liJbd7 10 ltJgS (D) 12 ltJc6 (this is the problem; Black is 10 l:.e1 is a more sedate positional more or less forced to give up his approach, but after 10 ... liJbd7 11 l:tb1 light-squared bishop and will have to White prepares to take advantage of contend with his light-squared weak Black's queenside weaknesses, and nesses for the rest of the game) push his pawn majority, viz. 11. .. 0-0 98 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire 12 b4 :c8 13 liJd2 a6 14 a4 lDe8 15 lDxf7! (with most of White's pieces lDb3 f5 16 .i.n .:n 11 i.d2 i.f6 18 a5 pointing towards the black king, this (White has prepared well for this pawn sacrifice highlights the weaknesses in lever, which gives him an outpost on a5 Black's position and the lack of har and isolates Black's a-pawn) 18 ... bxa5 mony in the black camp) 18 ... ~xf7 19 19lDxa5 2;; Malaniuk-Lysenko, Russia i.xh6! gxh6 20 l:txe7+! 1-0 H0i Cup (Ekaterinburg) 1997. U .Nielsen, Gausdal 1990. b) 10 ... h6 11lDge4lDxe4 12lDxe4 and now: b1) 12 ... g6 (this is an extremely B ambitious approach, aiming to push the kingside pawns before completing development) 13 f4 f5 14 fxe5 dxe5 (14 .. .fxe4 15 i.xe4 gives White a huge initiative for the piece) 15 liJg3 i.c8 16lDxf5 i.xf5 17 i.xf5 gxf5 18 'ir'h5+ ~d7 19 l:xf5 ~c7 20 .:xe5 with three pawns and an attack for the piece, Danner-Siegel, Swiss Cht 1993. b2) 12 ... 0-0 13 'jVh5liJd7 14 i.xh6! 10 liJbd7 (D). Practice has also seen 10 ... 0-0, which gets the king to relative safety and 10 ... h6, putting the immediate question to White's knight: B a) 10 ... 0-0 11 f4 (this is an ex tremely desirable move, positionally speaking, as White introduces the ideas of either playing f5, making it harder for Black to push his kingside pawn major;,ty, or as in the game opening the f-file, in order to attack the black king) 1l...exf4? 12 i.xf4liJbd7 13 'ti'f3 .:te8 14 'ti'h3lDf8 15 l:ae1 (White enjoys a clear advantage due to the superior This intuitive piece sacrifice gives mobility of his forces; at the same time White a huge attack, with a perpetual his space advantage hampers the ma check available as a 'safety net'. noeuvrability of the black bishops) 14 ... gxh6 15 'ir'xh6 f5 16 'ir'g6+ ~h8 15 ... a6 16 i.d2 'ili'c8 17 'ir'h4 h6 18 17 f4 (White boldly goes for it, but this The Classical Queen's Indian 99 attempt to open lines gives Black just enough time to fend off the attack; 17 ltJg3 would be my suggested improve B ment as after 17 ... e4 18 ltJxf5 .:t.xf5 19 i.xe4 ltJf8 20 'ii'h6+ ~g8 21 i.xf5 White has four pawns, a rook and an overwhelming position for two pieces) 17 .. .fxe4 18 i.xe4ltJf6 19 'Mih6+ ~g8 20 'ii'g5+ ~h8 21 'Mih6+ ~g8 22 .i.g6 (White should have taken the perpet ual check) 22 ... e4 23 f5 fic7 24 .:t.f4 i.d8 25 .:t.h4 'fig7 and Black has de fended himself, K.Berg-Ward, Lon 13 fxe6? don 1989. 13 ... 'ii'c8! 14 'ii'a4 (with the idea of 11 f4 g6? 15 fxg6 +-) 14 ... g5 15 ltJb5 fxe6 16 11...a6 is a more solid approach: 12 fxe6 ltJc5 17 ltJxd6++ (D) and now b3 'ilc7 13 a4 (White uses this stan Polgar analysed: dard push to dissuade Black from any ideas of ... b5 and to introduce the idea of i.a3) 13 ... 'i/c5+ (this is too opti mistic, but a more cautious approach such as 13 ... 0-0 would allow White his normal plan of queenside expansion) 14 ~h1 'ii'd4 (this early queen sortie is easily repulsed and amounts to a clear loss of time) 15 'ii'c2ltJc5 16 i.e2 e4 17 .:t.d 1 ltJd3 18 i.xd3 exd3 19 .:t.xd3 gave White a clear material and positional advantage in the game Kharkova Litinskaya, Polish Cht (Lubniewice) 1994. a) 17 ... ~f8 18 ltJxc8 tDxa4 19 12 fS h6 ltJxe7 q;xe7 20 i.c2 ltJc5 21 b4 ltJa6 Black mistakenly kicks the white (2l. .. ltJce4? 22 i.xe4ltJxe4 23 llf7+ knight, assuming that it will retreat. +-; 2l. .. ltJxe6 22 dxe6 ~xe6 23 i.b2 12 ... 0-0 is a better option, although af ±) 22 a3 .:t.ac8 23 i.b3 with the idea of ter 13 fxg6 hxg614 'fie1, with the idea 24 ..tb2 +-. of 'ii'h4, White's attacking chances b) 17 ... 14 ... l2Jc5 15 i.xg6+ ~f8 16 b4 l2Ja6 7 0-0 cxd4 17 l2Je4 +-. 8 exd4 d5 (D) 15 'ii'a4+ ltJ6d7 16 c5! (D) This is maybe Black's most classical approach to the position. Black grabs The light squares around the black his share of central space, and in return king are a serious cause of concern. White gets good attacking chances in 16 ... i.c8 the IQP positions that arise. 16 ... bxc5 17 exd7+ 'ii'xd7 (17 ... l2Jxd7 9 cxd5 4Jxd5 18 i.xg6#) 18 i.b5. 9... exd5 keeps Black's share of space 17 exd7+ 1-0 but leaves the b7-bishop poorly placed. White wins after 17 ... i.xd7 18 c6 10 l2Je5 i.f5 19 c7+ 'ii'd7 20 i.b5. White introduces the threat of i.b5+ and clears the path for White's queen Classical Queen's Indian to enter the fray. with ... d5 10 ... 0-0 11 'ii'g4 l2Jf6 Game 29 Black reintroduces a key defender Khalifman - Lobron of his kingside. Groningen PCA qua/1993 12 'ii'h4 (D) 12 'iWh3!? is an untried suggestion t- d4 l2Jf6 by Keith Arkell. 2 l2Jf3 e6 12 ... l2Je4 3 c4 b6 This very direct approach has scored 4 e3 i.b7 reasonably for Black but I believe there 5 i.d3 c5 is a way for White to gain the advan 6 4Jc3 i.e7 tage. Black's main alternatives are: The Classical Queen's Indian 101 b) 12 ... ltJc6? (over-aggressive; this is a very careless, yet seemingly natu ral move, that an unsuspecting oppo nent might make without much thought) 13 i.g5 (giving Black a choice of ways in which to lose) 13 ... g6 (13 ... 'ii'xd4 14 ltJxc6 +-; 13 ... h6 14 i.xf6 i.xf6 15 'ii'e4 +-; 13 ... ltJxe5 14 i.xf6liJxd3 15 i.xe7 +-) 14 i.a6! h6 (14 ... i.xa6 15ltJxc6 +-; 14 ... ltJxe5 15 i.xb7 +-) 15 i.xh6 liJd5 16 'ii'h3 (Black must lose at least the exchange) 16 ... ltJxc3 a) 12 ... tbbd7 (defensive; this is the 17 i.xb7 tbe2+ 18 ~h 1 ltJcxd4 19 most solid approach as long as Black i.xf8 i.xf8 20 i.xa8 'ti'xa8 21 'ti'e3 continues to play that way!) 13 l:d1 +- Plaskett-Arkell, London 1991. ltJe4? ( 13 ... l:e8 ;!; is better; then White 13 'ir'h3 'ii'xd4 (D) will complete his development and play for a kingside attack) 14 'ii'h3liJdf6 (if Black thought he had the position firmly under control, he was rudely awaken by White's next) 15 d5! (this type of thematic central breakthrough shows why Black should keep the d4- pawn firmly blockaded) 15 ... ltJxc3 16 bxc3 i.xd5 17 i.g5 and now: a1) 17 ... h6 18 i.xh6 gxh6 19 'ii'xh6 (here the concealed attack of White's rook on d 1 against the black queen on d8 makes defence almost impossible for Black) 19 ... 'ii'c8 (or 19 ... 'ii'e8; al- 14 i.f4 ternatively 19 ... i.d6 loses to 20 ltJg4 I recommend as an improvement 14 +-) 20 'ii' g5+ ~h8 21 ltJg4 ltJxg4 22 ltJxf7! l:.xf7 15 i.xe4 i.xe4 16 'ti'g4 'ii'h5+ q;g7 23 'ii'xg4+ ~h8 24 'ii'h5+ ltJc6 17 'ii'xe4 'ii'xe4 18 ltJxe4. At the ci;g7 25 'ii'h7+ 14 4Jf6 20 b4 bS 15 4Je2 'ii'a4 lfl.lfl 16 b3 'ii'e8 White has some compensation for 17 .i.gS 4Je4 the pawn (but no more) in this murky 18 .i.f4 fS position and I suspect both players 19 .i.c4 .i.cS were uncertain who was better. 6 Anti-Benoni Introduction and Unusual Systems B Game 30 Hodgson - Martin Gonzalez Seville 1987 1 d4 lLJf6 2 lLJf3 c5 With this move Black is trying to steer the game into a Benoni type of position. The problem for White is that there is no really good way to avoid with 4 c4. The Benoni is an extremely this. What White can do, though, is dangerous opening and play often be enter a Benoni structure under his own comes quite sharp. This is exactly terms and take a lot of the fun away what Benoni players want and I rec from Black. ommend a way of side-stepping the 3 d5 (D) tactics. This forthright move, gaining space One alternative is 3 ... c4, the so in the centre, is undoubtedly best. Af called Hawk variation, which is a rec ter 3 e3 g6 4 .1d3 i.g7 the benefits of ommendation of Stefan Bucker. If Black's flexible development become White reacts sensibly it fails to im apparent, as he has not yet committed press. 4 lLJc3 'ir'a5 5 i.d2 (5 lLJd2 is the himself to ... d5. White will have to other theoretically approved way of choose between c3 and b3 at some getting the advantage, but the text stage but both moves will take us out move is a lot less complex) 5 ... lLJxd5 side the scope of the repertoire. After (more or less forced, else White will 3 d5 Black is faced with a choice be achieve a souped-up Benoni after e4) tween direct central conflict and quiet 6 e4 lLJxc3 7 i.xc3 ~c5 (after 7 .. :.c7 development. 8 lLJd2 e6 9 i.xc4 lLJc6 10 0-0 Black 3 000 e6 has problems unravelling his king This is the most direct move: Black side) 8 ~d4 ~xd4 9 lLJxd4 a6 10 a4 b6 challenges White to enter a Benoni 11 i.xc4 (White has a large lead in 104 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire development, which allows him to at away a piece; 9 ... ltJbd7 is more stub tack the black position) ll ... i.b7 12 born) 10 exf6 i.xf6 11 i.xf6 'ir'xf6 12 i.d5 i.xd5 13 exd5 e5 (Black drives ltJxb5 +-lDa613ltJxd6+ ~e7 14ltJe4 away the strongly posted white knight; 'ir'f4 15 'ife2 lthf8 16 0-0 ·l:tac8 17 however, putting his pawns on dark l:ad lltJb4 18 l:fe 1 e5 19 'ii'b5 l:c7 20 squares only makes his bishop worse) ltJxc5 1-0 Sukharisingh-Traut, Wies 14ltJf5 d6 15 ~e2 ~d7 16ltJe3 rJi;c7 baden 1988. (played in order to develop the queen 5 i.d2 (D) side) 17 a5 b5 18 i.d2 ltJd7 19 c4 (with a lead in development it is logi cal to open lines for your pieces to ex ploit) 19 ... bxc4 20l:.hcl 8 d6 The only problem Black has to 9 0-0 ~c6 watch now is tactics on the d-file. 9 ... ~d7 10 l:.d1 ~f6 11 'ii'd3 is a 16 iig3 iie7 little better for White, who can inten 17 exd5 .i.xd5 sify his bind on d5 by c4. 18 .i.n iif6 10 c3 19 ~b3 The key to this variation for White This position seems completely is to keep a careful eye on Black's free equal, which makes it even more im ing ... d5 break, which, although diffi pressive how Karpov gradually creeps cult to prevent in the long run, must be up on his top-class opponent. discouraged at present. Here White 19 ... 1:.ad8 prevents 10 ... ~b4 followed by ... d5. 20 l:.d2 10 ... .i.e6 White's main idea for the moment 11 ii'h5 h6!? is to try to gain control of the d-file The immediate 1l. .. d5 can be met without allowing too many simplify by 12 1:.d1 d4 (forced) 13 e5 !? with a ing exchanges. space advantage and attacking chances 20 ... .i.e6 on the kingside. 21 .i.c7! (D) 12 1:.d1 1:.e8 This is a key component in wresting 13 .i.f4 .i.f8! control of the d-file. Black is defending accurately and 21 1:.xd2 threatens to harass the white queen 22 ~xd2 .i.f5 with ... g6. 23 ~c4 l:.e4 14 ~d2 (D) 24 ~e3 .i.c8 To make space for the lady. 25 l:.d1 14 g6 Mission accomplished! The d-file 15 iif3 d5 now belongs to White - thus the first Anti-Benoni 107 B small advantage is accumulated. The 33 l:te1+ knight on e3 is significant in reducing This skewer followed by a fork of Black's possibilities on the e-file. Black's two bishops was the fiendish 25 l:te8 idea behind White's 30th move. 26 h3 iigS 33 ~fS 27 'ii'f3 34 l:xe8 +- ~e6 Karpov sticks to his policy of keep 35 l:txf8 ~xa2 ing pieces on the board. 36 :cs 1-0 27 ... ~g7 Black resigned, seeing no good an 28 ~f4 swer to l:tc7 and not wanting an end Suddenly the black queen is embar game lesson. rassed for squares. 28 ... 'ilie7 4 ... d6 5 e4: Alternatives Alternatives are no better: 28 .. .'ifh4 to 5 ... exd5 29 g3 doesn't help, while 28 .. .'ti'h5 29 'ii'xh5 gxh5 is not the sort of endgame Game 32 to play against the master of exploit Speelman - Suba ing small advantages, and 28 ... 'ii'f6 29 Seville 1981 ~xh6+ loses the queen. 29 ltJdS · 'i!Ve4 1 d4 ltJf6 30 ltJf6!! (D) 2 ltJf3 c5 This wonderful mini-combination 3 d5 e6 forces a gain of material. 4 ltJc3 d6 30 ... c;t>xf6 5 e4 (D) 30 .. .'ifxf3 31 ltJxe8+ +-. Black now has an important choice 31 ~e5++ ~xeS between exchanging on d5 (see the 32 1ixe4+ ~xe4 next game) and trying to retain some 108 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire isolated e-pawn; Black has a long, ar duous defence in front of him) 12 ... l2Ja6 13 c3 tiJd5 14 i.d2 l:tf5 15 l2Jc4 i.e7 16 0-0 :ld8 17 l2Jxa7 l2Jac7 18 a4 tiJf4 19 tiJb5 l2Jcd5 20 :ae 1 tiJf6 21 g3 tiJd3 22 l:txe6 l2Jxb2 23 l2Jxb2 :xd2 24 l2Jc4 :ld7 25 tiJb6 1-0 Benjamin Shaine, Boston 1988. c) 6 ... tiJfd7 7 dxe6 fxe6 8 l2Jg5 i.xg5 9 'ii'h5+ g6 10 'it'xg5 'ii'xg5 11 i.xg5 ;!; Sharif-Luco, Cap d' Agde 1994. White enjoys the advantage of the two flexibility by delaying that exchange bishops and can target the weak d- we focus on the latter approach here. pawn. 5 ... a6 6 dxe6 i.xe6 This is played to prevent the threat 6 .. .fxe6 7 e5leads to a structural ad- of i.b5+. If 5 ... i.e7 then 6 i.b5+ gives vantage for White. Black a choice of ways to reach an in 7 l2Jg5 b5 ferior position: 8 l2Jxe6 fxe6 a) 6 ... tiJbd7? (this is just plain bad) 9 g3 (D) 7 dxe6 fxe6 8 l2Jg5 (Black has no good way to prevent the knight's arrival on e6) 8 .. .'it'a5 9 l2Jxe6 l2Jxe4 (Black rests his meagre hopes on a counterattack but is helpless against the white on slaught) 10 l2Jxg7+ ~f7 11 'if'h5+ ~xg7 12 i.h6+ ~f6 (12 ... 'ittg8 13 'it'd5#) 13 'if'f3+ 1-0 Machulsky-Rios, Philadelphia 1992. Black decided he'd had enough because after 13 ... ~g6 14 'if'xe4+ ~xh6 15 'if'xe7 White will have recaptured the sacrificed mate rial with interest and still have an awe some attack. Tempting Black to win a pawn. b) 6 ... i.d7 leads to a small end 9 ... l2Jc6 game advantage for White after 7 dxe6 9 ... b4 10 l2Je2 l2Jxe4 (Black wins a fxe6 8 e5 dxe5 9 l2Jxe5 i.xb5 10 central pawn but falls behind in devel 'ii'xd8+ i.xd8 11 l2Jxb5 0-0 12 i.e3 opment with his king stuck in the cen (White is better on account of the weak tre) 11 i.g2 d5 12 l2Jf4 'it'f6 13 0-0 Anti-Benoni 109 .l:ta7 (anticipating White's next) 14 16 h4 ltJxd5! (White sacrifices anyway! - Threatening g5, which makes the black king's cover is ripped to Black choose a radical solution ... shreds) 14 ... exd5 15 'ifxd5 ltJd6 16 16 ... g5 i.g5 +-(Black is defenceless against ... but this creates a new target. the onslaught) 16 ... 'ii'd4 (16 ... 'ii'f5 17 17 ltJh3 ltJh7 .l:tfe1+ ~d7 18 .l:te5 'ii'g4 19 .l:td1 .l:tc7 18 f4 (D) 20 'iff7 + 25 d5 4 e4 exd5 26 ii'h6+ ~g8 5 exd5 27 l:.xf8+ If given the chance I recommend A mini-combination to force a win- White recaptures on d5 with the e- ning endgame. pawn. 27 l:.xf8 5 d6 28 'i!i'xe6+ ii'f7 6 lDf3 (D) 29 'i!i'xf7+ l:txf7 30 i..xd5 l:tc8 31 i..e3 ~g7 32 i.xf7 ~xf7 33 .:n+ Black could already resign with a clear conscience. 33 ... ~g7 34 ~g2 i..e7 35 e6 ~g6 36 l:tf5 l:tc6 37 l:te5 ~f6 38 l:te4 l:td6 38 ... l:txe6 39 i..g5+ ~f7 40 l:txe6 ~xe6 41 i..xe7 rj;xe7 is a won king and pawn endgame. 39 ~f3 l:.dl Seeking piece activity is a golden 6 a6 rule of most endgames but here Black The black systems in this section has left himself with too steep a hill to are by and large unambitious (6 ... i..g4 climb. and 6 ... i..e7 lead to similar stodgy po 40 b3 l:td5 41 i..f2 ~g6 42 rj;e2 sitions), the one exception being when rj;g5 43 i..g3 l:td8 44 ~f3 ~g6 45 l:tf4 Black attempts to fianchetto his dark l:td6 46 :r5 l:td2 47 :r1 ..tr6 48 :r8 squared bishop, but this has its draw l:txc2 49 i..e5 i..e7 50 l:tg8+ ~h6 51 backs, as we shall see. The basic plan l:te8 c4 52 J:lxe7 1-0 for White is to develop sensibly and go for the b4 break on the queenside. I 5 ... exd5 6 exd5 can't see the attraction of these lines for Black as he often is left with a dull, Game 33 inferior position with hopes for a draw Short- Eley at best. Rochdale 1977 a) 6 ... i..g4 7 i..e2 i..e7 8 0-0 0-0 9 i..f4lDa6 10 .:e1lDc7 11 h3 i..xf3 12 1 d4 lDf6 i..xf3 l:te8 13 a3 (White is now almost 2 ltJc3 c5 fully developed and can begin his 3 d5 e6 queenside expansion) 13 .....d7 14 b4 Anti-Benoni 111 cxb4 15 axb4 (if White can now 'ii'c2 39 'ii'c3 'ii'xc3 40 l:.xc3 l2Jxd5 (a achieve c4 he will have built up an im mini-victory for Black: finally one of pressive position; Black could seek to his minor pieces achieves what the prevent this with ... b5 but then the a others have only dreamt about- activ pawn would be weak and White ity! Alas, it is not enough to save the would try to exploit the hole on c6 - game) 41 :c4 g5 42 l:.xa7 l2Jxf4 43 just imagine a white knight there) :xb7 l2Je5 44 l:.xf4 gxf4 45 ~g2 h5 15 ... l2Jb5 16l2Je2 (White plans simply 46 gxh5 f6 4 7 :c7 i.h6 48 c6 f3+ 49 'ii'd3 and c4) 16 ... 1r'f5 17 g4 (this is a Wfl 1-0 Mohandesi-Pearson, Erevan very useful move, driving the black OL 1996. queen back and introducing the threat b) 6 ... i.e7 7 i.e2 0-0 8 0-0 (D) and of g5) 17 ... 'ii'c8 18 1t'd3l2Jc7 19 c4 ~ now: (White has achieved all his goals and stands better) 19 ... l2Ja6 20 :ab1 i.f8 21 :ec 1 (Black is suffering from a lack of space, so White refuses to give Black the possibility of exchanging pieces at the moment) 21. .. l2Jd7 22 l2Jd4 'ii'd8 23 i.g2 'ii'f6 24 1t'd2 (the only source of counterplay for Black involves the e5-square, so White pre pares to take that away from Black be fore proceeding with the main plan of advancing on the queenside) 24 ... h6 25 i.g3 l2Je5 26 f4 l2Jd7 27 i.f2 l2Jc7 28 l2Jb3 l:.e7 29 c5 ± (with this next b1) 8 ... l2Ja6 (this should be met with stage completed, White can claim a similar treatment to that in line 'a') 9 large advantage) 29 ... l:.ae8 30 l2Jd4 l:.e1l2Jc7 10 a4 a6 11 l:.b1 i.g4 12 b4 :e4 (this attempt to lash back inevita (again this is the key move) 12 ... l2Jd7 bly fails, but Black was bound hand 13 i.f4 i.xf3 14 i.xf3 cxb4 15 l2Je4 and foot in any case - it is not easy to (this clever move is designed to prevent sit back and wait for what slow torture Black's knight from reaching its ideal your opponent has in mind for you square on c5; the temporary loss of a next) 31 i.xe4 l:.xe4 32 l2Jf5 dxc5 33 pawn is of small importance) 15 ... l2Jf6 bxc5 'ii'a6 34 :a1 '1Wb5 35 l2Jd4 (trap 16l2Jg3 a5 17 c3 :e8 (17 ... bxc3 18 ping the black queen!) 35 ... l:.xd4 36 l:.xb7 leaves Black with a cramped po '1Wxd4 +- (White is two exchanges up sition and no way, in the long term, to -the rest only requires the barest tech hang on to his c-pawn; nevertheless, nique) 36 ... 'i!Vb3 37 l:.c3 'iVb2 38 :d3 this must be superior to the text-move, 112 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire which leaves him with additional tiJbS) 14 ... tiJbd7 (the only move) 1S weakness on the queenside) 18 cxb4 tiJxbS tiJxdS 16ltJxd6! f6 (16 ... tDxe7 .tf8 19 l:.xe8 ltJcxe8 20 .td2 axb4 21 17 .txe7 ±) 17ltJxc8 tDxe7 18 tDxe7+ l:.xb4 ±(now to go with his space ad Wf7 19 tiJdS fxgS 20 tDxg5+ Wg8 21 vantage and bishop-pair, White has a f3 (White has a clear advantage with target on the b-file) 21 ... b6 22 .te3 two pawns and two dominating knights tiJd7 23 .te2 tiJcS 24 .tbS tiJf6 2S for the exchange) 21 ... l:.ae8 22 l:.d 1 .tc6 (the bishop is ideally placed here (White creates a potential attack on the in the heart of Black's position, com black knight and plans lDe4) 22 ... tiJf6!? bining attack with defence) 2S ... l:.a7 (Black sacrifices another pawn in a 26 'ifb 1 tiJfd7 27 tiJf5 'it'f6 28 .td4 (the bid to make his rooks active; 22 ... l:.e2 white pieces coordinate extremely ef 23 tDc3 reveals one of the points be fectively) 28 ... ~g6 29 tDe3 tiJd3 30 hind White's last move, viz. 23 ... l:.e7 .txb6 (White cashes in and picks up a 24 tiJge4) 23 ltJxb6 l:.e2 24 ltc 1 l:.d8 material advantage in exchange for 2S ltJc4 l:.d4 (Chandler points out in the bishop-pair) 30 ... tiJxb6 31 l:.xb6 lnformator that 25 ... ltJd5 loses to 26 tiJcS 321i'xg6 fxg6 33 l:.b4 +- Wf7 34 wn ltJf4 27 ltJh3) 26 wn l:e7 27 b3 tDc4 We7 3S h4 Wd8 36 l:.b8+ We7 37 h6 (or 27 ... ltJd5 28 tDe4) 28 ltJh3 ltJd5 aS (to add to Black's already signifi 29ltJf2ltJc3 (Black is doing his utmost cant problems, knights are particularly to keep the white knight out of e4) 30 ineffective when dealing with passed a4 (trying to tempt Black into a faulty rooks' pawns) 37 ... Wf7 38 .te8+ We7 combination and releasing the passed 39 ~bS Wf7 40 l:.b6 .te7 41 a6 Wf6 42 a-pawn at the same time) 30 ... l:.h4 tiJa5 ~d8 43 l:.xd6+ 1-0 San Segundo (Chandler gives 30... ltJxa4 31 c3 l:.xc4 Cacho, Linares Z 199S. 32 bxc4ltJb6 33 ltJe4 with a winning b2) 8 ... b6?! (this move just looks endgame for White) 31 h3 ltJa2 32 slow) 9 l:.e1 tDa6 10 .tb5! (White l:.a1ltJb4 33 c3 tDc2 34 l:.c1ltJe3+ 35 threatens 1i'e2 winning a piece; al ltJxe3 l:.xe3 36 tiJe4 (the knight finally ready Black's careless eighth move arrives on its most desirable square looks misjudged) 10 ... tiJb8 (a pathe~ic and White has a winning advantage) retreat; however, 10 .. .«~Jc7 11 .tc6 36 ... c4 37 b4 l:.f4 38 ltJcS :tfS 39 aS l:.b8 12 'i!Ve2 wins the bishop on e7) 11 l:.d5 40 ltJe4 l:.ed3 41 We2 l:.bS 42 'ii'e2 (this begins a forced variation l:.a1 l:.d7 43 a6 l:.a7 44 ltJcS l:.b6 4S which leads to an endgame advantage We3 1-0 Chandler-Mi.Tseitlin, Palma for White; it is also possible to play in de Mallorca 1989. the middlegame with the restraining c) 6 ... g6 (D). 11 a4) 11.. .a6 12 'i!Vxe7 'ii'xe7 13 l:.xe7 This is inaccurate because Black axbS 14 .tgS (threatening to take the doesn't have time to fianchetto and get knight followed by either tiJe4 or his king to safety. 7 .tb5+ ltJbd7 8 0-0 Anti-Benoni 113 .i.g7 9 :e 1+ ~f8 10 .i.f4 (the mis time) 15 .i.xh5 gxh5 16 0-0 ± .i.d7 17 placed black king already gives White :fe1 b5 18 axb5 axb5 19 .i.g5 'ii'c8 20 a large advantage) 10 ... 'ii'c7 11 'ir'e2 .i.e7+ (again the poor positioning of 31 ... h6 32 i.xh6 b5 33 i.g5 i.a5 34 axb5 axb5 35 d8'if i.xd8 36 l:lxd8 b4 37 cxb4 cxb4 38 l:lb8 e5 39 g4 b3 40 h5 gxh5 41 gxh5 e4 42 l:.b7+ 1-0 Black delays ... d6 Game 34 Khuzman - Minasian Pula Echt 1997 1 d4 ltJf6 18 i.f5 g6 2 ltJf3 c5 19 i.h3 l:le7 3 d5 g6 20 l:lxe7 ~xe7 4 ltJc3 .ltg7 21 6 ... ltJg4 'ii'xg6 ±leaves White with an invest It was originally thought that the ment-free attack) 14 lDxf5 gxf5 15 white pawns were overextended and .ih6 (it is normal practice to try to re this, together with Black's lead in de move as many defenders from the en velopment, would give Black at least emy king as possible) 15 ... lDe5 16 an equal game. However, White's next 'ii'd2 'ii'f6 17 i.b5 i.d7 18 .ixd7 move, which was a suggestion of Yer lDxd7 19 .ixg7 rJl;xg7 20 0-0-0 (White molinsky, puts that assessment into is now fully developed and ready to question. start the next wave of his attack) The alternative, 6 ... lDe8, fares no 20 ... lDe5 21 l:.h3 t2Jf7 22 lDe2 rJl;f8 better, as White can launch a powerful (22 ... e5 {to stop lDf4} would be met kingside attack by 7 h4! d6 8 e6! (this by 23 lDc3, taking advantage of the sacrifice plays an essential part in newly weakened d5-square) 23 lDf4 weakening Black's kingside pawn l:.d8 24 l:.e 1 lDg7 25 l:.h7 (gradually structure) 8 .. .fxe6 9 h5 (White goes White begins to pile on the pressure) all-out for the kill) and now (D): 25 ... ltJg5 26 l:.xg7 'ii'xg7 (26 .. .C~xg7?? 27 lDh5+) 27 l:.xe6 with a very big plus for White due to Black's weak king. Yermolinsky-Khmelnitsky, USA Ch (Modesto) 1995 finished 27 ... l2Jf7 28 ltJg6+ ~g8 29 l2Je7+ rJ;;f8 30 lDg6+ rJ!;g8 31 f4! 'ii'h7 32 b3! d5 33 'ii'c3 d4 34 1i'xc5 1i'h1 + 35 ~b2 d3 36 lDe7+ rJl;g7 37 lDxf5+ ~h7 38 'ii'e7 'ii'h5 39 l:h6+ 'ii'xh6 40 'ii'xf7+ 1-0. 7 tiJg5! (D) a) 9 ... gxh5!? 10 dxe6! lDf6 (or B 10 ... .ixe6 11 lDg5 with a huge attack) 11 lDg5 with a wonderful attacking position for White. b) 9 ... exd5 10 hxg6 hxg6 11 'ii'xd5+ e6 12 'ii'd3 (White targets the 'weakie' on g6 created by his 8th and 9th moves) 12 ... l:.f5 13 tiJh4 (forcing Black to give up material to relieve his belea guered king) 13 ... l2Jc6 (13 ... l:.h5? 14 116 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire This new idea presents severe diffi 11 ~gS ~xgS culties for Black. As Baburin has analysed, both cap 7 ... 4Jh6 tures on e5 lead to mate: 7 ... ~xe5 leaves the knight stranded a) 1l. .. ~xe5 12 ~xh7! ~xh7 13 and after 8 f4 f6 (forced; 8 ... h6 9 ~h3 hxg6+ Wg8 14 'iYh5 .:te8 15 'iYh7+ wins a piece for White) 9 ~xh7! ~f8 16 i.h6 +-. Wxh7 10 fxe5 fxe5 11 i.d3 White b) 11. .. i.xe5 12 ltJxh7! (D) and threatens a very nasty check on h5. now: 7 ... h5 weakens the kings ide. Then 8 f4 (intending h3 and g4) 8 ... d6 9 e6 gives White an interesting attacking position. B 8 h4 Sounding the charge. 8 ... f6 8 ... i.xe5 (a very greedy move) 9 h5 gives White a murderous attack, as Baburin has analysed: 9 ... ~f5 (forced; 9 ... i.g7 10 ltJxh7! ~xh7 11 hxg6+ fxg6 12 i.xh6 i.xh6 13 'ii'd2 g5 14 'ii'xg5 .:tf6 15 i.d3+ +-) 10 ~xh7!! ~xh7 11 hxg6+ ~g7 12 l:h7+ ~g8 b1) 12 ... ~xh7 13 hxg6++ ~xg6 14 13 ,.h5 fxg6 14 'iYxg6+ i.g7 15 i.h6 'iYh5+ ~f6 15 'iih4+ ~g6 16 'iih7+ .:tf7 16 i.d3 +-. ~f6 17 i.g5+! ~xg5 18 .:th5+ ~f6 19 9 ~ge4 ~f7 .:txf5#. After 9 ... fxe5 White just ploughs b2) 12 ... .txc3+ 13 bxc3 ~xh7 14 on with 10 h5 ~f5 11 hxg6 hxg6 12 hxg6++ ~xg6 (the complications are d6!, creating chaos in the black camp. in White's favour- he enjoys a great 10 hS! lead in development and his attack is By now it should be becoming clear irresistible) 15 'iYh5+ Wf6 16 'iYh4+ that White values his kingside attack and here: (quite rightly) as more important than b21) 16 ... ~g6 17 l:Ih3 +-. his e-pawn. b22) 16 ... ~e5 17 i.f4+! ~xd5 18 10 ... fS i.b5! e5 19 0-0-0+ We6 20 i.c4+ d5 After 10 ... ~xe5 11 hxg6 hxg6 12 21 i.xd5+ 'iixd5 22 .:txd5 ~xd5 23 f4 ttJf7 13 'iYg4 Black is in deep trou 'ii'e7 +-. ble, while 10 ... fxe5 11 hxg6 hxg6 12 b23) 16 ... Wg7 17 i.h6+ ttJxh6 18 'iY g4 leaves White with an imposing 'irxh6+ ~f7 19 'iYh7+ ~f6 20 .:th6+ position. ~e5 21 'iW g7 + l:H6 22 .:th8 +-. Anti-Benoni 117 12 .i.xg5 .i.xe5 18 ... exd5 12 ... h6 is also analysed by Baburin. 18 ... l:tf7 19 lDc7 +-. White has a very attractive way to con 19 i.xd5+ .:e6+ tinue: 13 hxg6! hxg5 14 l:th8+!! i.xh8 19 ... .:f7 is well met by 20 'ifg5 15 ~h5 ltf7 (forced) 16 gxf7+ cJ;g7 cj;g7 21 i.xf7 cJ;xf7 22 llh7+ ~e6 23 17 i.d3 e6 18 0-0-0 with a winning at 'ii'e7+! 'ifxe7 24 dxe7 +-. tack due to the threat of l:thl. White's 20 .i.xe6+ dxe6 pieces coordinate amazingly well, while 21 'ir'g5 Black's queenside remains asleep un The powerful passed d-pawn and til the end of the game. White's monstrous initiative are too 13 hxg6 hxg6 much for Black to cope with. 14 d6! 21 ... .i.d7 White introduces the idea of an at 22 0-0-0 .i.e8 tack on the a2-g8 diagonal. This allows White to tie Black up 14 ... i.f6 completely but even the more natu 15 i.xf6 ltxf6 ral-looking 22 ... lDc6 doesn't stave off After 15 ... exf6 (Baburin) White defeat after 23 l:h6 i.e8 24 d7 .i.f7 25 would have continued by 16 'ifd2 with 'iih4! 'ii'g7 26 d8'ii'+ llxd8 27 llxd8+ a very strong attack. lDxd8 28 Wxd8+ 'iff8 29 l:h8+ cj;xh8 16 .i.c4+ e6 30 'ii'xf8+. 16 ... ~g7 is met by 17 'ii'd2, trans 23 'ilid8! 1-0 ferring the attack to the dark squares. Black is helpless against the threat 17 'ir'd2 'ir'f8 ofd7. 18 lDd5! (D) Black delays or omits ... e6 Game 35 Speelman - Djurhuus Copenhagen 1996 1 d4 lDf6 2 lDf3 c5 3 d5 g6 4 lDc3 .i.g7 5 e4 d6 6 .i.b5+ (D) White insists that his bishop is in- The idea behind this check is to in- vited to the party. terfere with what has proved to be 118 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire ll...i.a6 12 i.xa6 ti:Jxa6 13 'ii'e2 ti:Jc7 14 e5 (this is the thematic pawn-break, B but I would prefer the preparatory l:tadl first) 14 ... dxe5 15 ti:Jxe5 ti:Jxe5 16 i.xe5 (D) and now: B Black's most popular plan, namely to castle, play ... ti:Ja6-c7 and perhaps ... i.g4. White hopes the check will disrupt this approach and force Black onto his own resources. Black has countered in three different ways in practice. al) 16 ... i.xe5? 17 'ii'xe5 l:te8 18 6 ... i.d7 l:tadl (this is the position White would This is the best way for Black to have aimed for with the more accurate block the check, but the alternatives 14 l:tadl) 18 .. .'ii'd7 19 ttJe4 ±(Black has also deserve attention: no good way to prevent the crushing a) 6 ... ti:Jfd7 (perhaps the worst way d6) 19 ... l:tad8 20 d6 f5 21 dxc7 'ti'xdl of getting out of check with the excep 22 't!Ve6+ 1-0 Pira-San Marco, Paris tion of the ridiculous 6 ... ~f8; for no 1993. apparent reason, Black interferes with a2) 16 ... ti:Jxd5 is a good try for his own development) 7 a4! (again equality, e.g. 17 l:tad 1 ( 17 i.xg7 q;xg7 adopting a policy of making it difficult 18 'ti'e5+ ti:Jf6 19 'ti'xe7 l:te8) 17 ... ti:Jxc3 for Black to carry out his most likely 18 i.xc3 't!Vc7 19 i.xg7 ~xg7 20 plan; this move is directed against 'il/xe7 't!Vxe7 21 :txe7 l:tfe8 with fairly Black's expansion on the queenside by level chances. ... a6 and ... b5) 7 ... 0-0 8 0-0 ti:Ja6 9 :tel b) 6 ... ti:Jbd7 (this is more logical, ti:Jc7 10 i.c4 b6 11 i.f4 (White's play but Black has some difficulties unrav is of course not solely concerned with elling his queens ide) 7 a4 0-0 8 0-0 a6 limiting his opponent's possibilities; 9 i.e2 b6 10 i.f4 ti:Je8 11 'illd2 ti:Je5 here he prepares e5, a major idea in (Black tries to keep e5 under lock and this variation- White must open some key) 12 i.h6 ti:Jxf3+ (Black has to give lines in order to attack successfully) ground in the centre, as White is ready Anti-Benoni 119 to exchange both the knight on e5 and in D.Gurevich-Mortazavi, London the bishop on g7 followed by f4, for 1994. example 12 ... J..d7 13 lLJxe5 dxe5 14 9 .:tel lLJc7 J..xg7 cj;xg7 15 f4 ~) 13 J..xf3 J..xh6 10 J..n J..g4 14 'ifxh6 J..d7 15 J..e2 (White never 11 h3 J..xf3 theless prepares f4 followed by a cen 12 'ii'xf3 e6!? (D) tral breakthrough) 15 ... lLJf6 16 f4 'ii'c7 17 'i!Vg5 cj;g7 18 e5 (at last!) 18 ... lLJg8 19 exd6 exd6 20 f5 (the pawn ex changes have significantly weakened the squares around the black king - a fact that White is quick to exploit) 20 ... lLJf6 21 .:tf4 h6 22 'i!Vg3 .:tae8 23 .:tafl J..c8 24 h4 (White has built up his kingside attack patiently and now starts the second wave of attack) 24 ... .:te5 25 fxg6 fxg6 26 J..d3 g5 (a painful move to have to make) 27 hxg5 hxg5 28 J..f5 lLJh7 29 J..xh7 .:txf4 30 .:txf4 cj;xh7 31 .:tf8 (the deci Again we see Black deciding to sive infiltration) 31 ... J..f5 32 .:txf5 take action in the centre before White .:txf5 33 'i!Vd3 1-0 Ztiger-Bischoff, Al can organize a breakthrough himself. tensteig 1993. 13 J..g5 h6 7 a4 0-0 14 J..h4 e5 7 ... J..xb5 is an anti-positional move After 14 ... exd5 15 exd5 l:.e8 16 that just serves to give White extra .:txe8+ ~cxe8 17 J..b5 'ii'e7 18 ~fl pressure along the a-file. White has the advantage in view of his 8 0-0 ~a6 bishop-pair and Black's inability to 8 ... J..g4!? is an unpretentious way contest the e-file. to play the position, but the tempo lost 15 a5 ~ce8 ( ... J..c8-d7-g4) is enough to ensure If 15 ... a6 to prevent White's next, White a small advantage: 9 .:tel ~bd7 then 16 l:Iebl preparing b4 gives White 10 h3 J..xf3 11 'i!Vxf3 lLJe8 12 J..fl (the the edge. bishop is safely tucked away) 12 ... e5 16 a6 (D) (Black resorts to drastic measures to 16 ... l:b8 counter White's long-term plan of f4 Black decides he can't bear the and e5) 13 dxe6 fxe6 14 'i!Ve2 'Wie7 15 pawn to remain on a6 and puts his J..e3 a6 and Black's central pawn hopes in counterplay along the b-file. weaknesses gave White the advantage 16 ... b6 17 J..b5 gives White a nice 120 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire B bind on the queenside and the possi give White an overwhelming posi- bility of organizing a pawn-break with tion. either b4 or f4 at his leisure. 26 ~xg5 17 axb7 l:.xb7 Threatening lt.Je7+. 18 lt.Jb5 26 ... hxg5 The black a-pawn is a serious weak- 27 g3! ness. White takes away one of Black's 18 ... ~b8 sources of counterplay. 19 c4 lt.Jh7 27 ... lt.Jf6 20 ~a3 f5 27 ... l:.xb2 can be met by 28 'i!i'g6 In view of his positional problems, targeting g5 and introducing the idea Black has to go for counterplay. of ~d3-f5-e6. 21 exf5 gxf5 28 ~xf3 'it'd7! (D) 22 lt.Jxa7 lt.Jg5 After 22 ... l:.xb2 the black queen be comes overloaded: 23 lt.Jc6 'i!Vb7 24 lt.Je7 + rj;f7 (24 ... ~h8 25 lt.Jg6+ +-) 25 lt.Jxf5 +-. 23 lt.Jc6 ~c7 24 'it'g3 f4 25 ~d3 (D) Black's light-squared weaknesses become a crucial factor, enabling White to part with the exchange. 25 ... f3?! After 25 ... e4 26 l:.xe4 lt.Jxe4 27 'i!Vxe4 the threats of ~d3 and lt.Je7+ 29 'it'e2 Anti-Benoni 121 White is two pawns ahead and the rest is just a matter of restricting Black's counterplay. 29 30 i.g2 g4 31 h4 i.h6 32 l:a7! It's always a good idea to exchange pieces when material ahead. 32... l:xa7 33 ti:Jxa7 e4 34 .,c2 l:.e8 35 ti:Jb5 'iie5 36 ti:Jc3 q;g7 37 ti:Jxe4 +- 'ii'd4 38 l:.e2 ti:Jxe4 39 l:.xe4 l:.xe4 40 'iixe4!? 1-0 so deserves some respect) 5 c3 ti:Je4 6 Black resigned since, even with op ti:Jbd2 (White could consider 6 i.h4, posite-coloured bishops, his material but decided the lead in development deficit is just too large. outweighed giving up the bishop-pair) 6 ... ti:Jxg5 7 ti:Jxg5 h6 8 ti:Jgf3 d6 9 e4 The aggressive 3 ... b5 ti:Jd7 10 a4 (this is a typical pawn-lever in this variation, seeking to exploit the Game 36 weaknesses left by Black's third move) Khalifman - Fominykh 10 ... bxa4 (10 ... b411 ti:Jc4 gives White's Russian Ch 1995 knight a wonderful outpost although it has to be said the text-move does the 1 d4 ti:Jf6 same thing) 11 :xa4 1fc7 12 'iYa1 (the 2 ti:Jf3 c5 weakness of the black a-pawn clearly 3 d5 b5 outweighs White's slightly backward This is possibly the most ambitious b-pawn) 12 ... ti:Jb6 13 i.b5+! (White try for Black, striking out and gaining aims to exchange off the light-squared space on the queenside. bishops to strengthen his control of the 4 i.g5 (D) queenside light squares) 13 ... i.d7 14 This Trompowsky-like response is i.xd7+ 'iYxd7 15 l:.a6 ti:Jc8 16 0-0 the theoretically recommended one. (White enjoys a clear advantage, with a 4 •.. i.b7 lead in development and targets on the Black has quit4! a large choice of al queenside) 16 ... e5 (to stop White play ternatives here: ing e5) 17 dxe6 fxe6 18 ti:Jh4 (White a) 4 ... 1fa5+ (this looks almost like now skilfully opens up a second at a beginner's check but it is designed to tacking front on the kingside; Black's disrupt White's natural development; inactive pieces are poorly placed to it was played by an ex-world champion counter this) 18 ... ~t7 19 f4 'iYd8 (the 122 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire natural-looking 19 ... i.e7 loses after bll) ll ... 'ii'f6?! (a pawn-grabbing 20 f5! i.xh4 21 fxe6+ ~xe6 22 'ii'a2+ mission which proves totally counter ~e7 23 l:tf7 +) 20 liJhf3 1ie8 21 f5 (the productive) 12 i.e3 'ir'xb2 13 i.xc5 winning breakthrough) 2l. .. exf5 22 'ii'c3 (Black has been wasting time 'i!ia2+ 'ii'e6 23 ltJe5+! (White exploits with queen moves {this is the fifth} all the pins masterfully) 23 ... ~e7 24 and retribution is not long in coming) ltJc6+ ~d7 25 'ir'a4 0-0 15 0-0 d5 16 c4 .i.d6 17 'it'c2 and not surprisingly with no other pieces Black had insufficient compensation yet developed against White's well for his pawn deficit in Arkell-Collas, mobilized force, Black is completely Cappelle Ia Grande 1991. lost) 16 ttJxe5 0-0 17 i.h3 'ii'f6 18 c) 4 ... 'ir'b6 (Black ensures he can tiJg4 'ikg7 19 'ii'xe7 .i.b7 20 0-0 f6 21 avoid doubled pawns but he loses time 'ifxg7+ rJ;xg7 22 tiJf3 l:.e8 23 l:[d6 in the process) 5 .i.xf6 'ifxf6 6 c3 g6 7 l:.e6 24 l:.xe6 dxe6 25 .i.g2 ttJa6 26 e4 (D). l:.d 1 .i.d5 27 c4 .i.c6 28 tiJg5 1-0 Eng qvist-Kallgren, Stockholm Rilton Cup 199617. c2) 7 ... 'ii'b6 is a more sensible ap proach, getting the queen away from the danger area, but it is difficult to imagine that Black could achieve equal ity after so many queen moves. 8 tiJbd2 d6 9 a4 (again Black has problems hold ing his queenside together) 9 ... bxa4 10 t2Jc4 'ikc7 11 'ifxa4+ tiJd7 ( 11.. ..i.d7 avoids the problems of the game, but leaves White better after the simple 12 'ii'a5) 12 'ii'c6 (highlighting Black's White threatens .i.xb5 and e5, forc light-squared weaknesses) 12 ... 'ii'b7 ing the queen to move yet again. Black (exchanging queens is disastrous for has tried two options: Black: 12 ... 'ii'xc6 13 dxc6 tiJf6 14 tiJb6 c 1) 7 ... b4 8 e5 'it'f4 (the queen is in l:.b8 15 ttJxc8 l:.xc8 16 l:.xa7 ttJxe4 17 for a tough ride wherever she goes but i.a6 +-) 13 e5 (the thematic central she is particularly vulnerable here; breakthrough) 13 ... .tg7 (13 ... dxe5 14 better is 8 ... 'ii'b6 9 tiJbd2 .i.b7 10 ttJc4 tiJfxe5 'ikxc6 15 ttJxc6 is very pleasant with a small edge for White) 9 tiJbd2 for White) 14 exd6 e6 15 'tixb7 .i.xb7 .i.g7 10 g3 'it'f5 11 t2Jc4 (White is 16 dxe6 fxe6 17 tiJg5 (White has a de ready to continue gaining time by cisive material advantage) 17 ... .i.d5 18 .i.d3 so the black queen tries to fight ttJe3 l:.b8 19 .i.c4 l:.xb2 20 0-0 .i.xc4 her way out of trouble) 11 ... 'ife4+ 12 21 ttJxc4 %:[b7 22 :ae1 .i.f6 23 :xe6+ 'ii'e2 'ii'xd5 13 1:<;11 'ife6 (13 ... 'ii'c6 14 ~f8 24 f4 h6 25 ttJe5 hxg5 26 ttJxd7 + tiJd6+ exd6 15 exd6+ ~f8 16 'ii'e7+ l:xd7 27 fxg5 :f7 28 gxf6 1-0 Razu 7 ... i.c5 b) 14 .. .f5 (a radical way to get rid Black plays very dynamically but of the weakness, but a pawn is a pawn!) White can achieve an advantage by at 15 exf5 b4 16 lLla4 'ii'a5 17 lLlxc5 'ir'xc5 tacking the weak queenside pawns. 18 i.c4 d6 19 f6! l2Jd7 (19 ... gxf6 hor 8 0-0 a6 ribly weakens the kingside: 20 l:e1 ±) 9 a4 jfb6 (D) 20 fxg7 l:.e8 21 lLlg5 lLlf6 22 'ii'a1 l2Jg4 23 'ii'b1 lLlf6 24 'ii'a1 l2Jg4 25 'ii'a4 lLlf6 26 lLlh3 i.xd5 27 i.xd5 'ti'xd5 28 'ii'xb4 ± Browne-Quinteros, Buenos Aires 1979. 10 ... 0-0 11 l2Jd4 l:e8 11. .. i.xd4 12 cxd4 ~ leaves Black without compensation for his inferior pawn-structure. 12 i.f3 d6 13 axb5 axb5 14 l:.xa8 i.xa8 15 b4 cxb3 10 c3!? 16 'ii'xb3 i.xd4 An unusual approach, but by no Not 16 ... b4? 17 'ii'a4 forking a8 and means bad. The alternative 10 axb5 is e8. much more direct; after 1O ... axb5 11 17 cxd4 (D) l:xa8 i.xa8 12 lLlc3 0-0, 13 b3 is per haps the most principled way to take advantage of Black's queenside pawn advances. After 13 ... cxb3 14 cxb3 Black has been unsuccessful from this position: a) 14 ... .:.e8 15 'ti'd3! i.b7 (15 ... b4 16 lLla4 'ir'a5 17 tLlxc5 'ii'xc5 leaves Black with no compensation for his structural weaknesses) 16 'ir'xb5 i.a6 17 'ifa4 i.xe2 18 ,lLlxe2 lLla6 19 'ir'xd7 l:xe4 20 l2Jc3 l:.b4 21 d6 1-0 Piket Brenninkmeijer, Groningen jr Ech 1986. Black is faced with back-rank The trio of white pawns control many mate, the threat of l2Jd5 and the con important central squares. tinuation 21. .. 'ii'b8 22 .:tel!. 17 ... l2Ja6 126 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire 17 ... 'ii'xd4 18 'i!Vxb5 is not a favour- away his fundamental problem - lack able exchange for Black. of space. 18 ttJa3 :bs 34 ttJxa6 i.xa6 19 :dt g6 35 'iVc3 i.b7 20 tDc2 i.b7 35 ... b4 36 'ifc6. 21 i.e2 i.c8 36 'iVb4 i.a6 White's advantage lies in his im 37 f4 · g5 (D) posing centre, which severely limits Black's counterplay. 22 h3 i.d7 23 :at :as 24 'i¥b2 ttJc7 25 :xa8+ ttJxa8 26 'ii'al ttJc7 27 ttJb4 Black is by and large reduced to moving to and fro. 27 ... h5 28 i.d3 ~f8 29 ~n i.c8 30 32 g4! h4 33 This decisive breakthrough leaves Black defenceless. 44 ... fxe5 45 dxe5 ~d8 45 ... dxe5 46 'iff8+. 46 e6 f6 47 'iVc3 ~e7 (D) 48 'iVc6! 'iVb7 49 ~b3 'ii'c8 50 ~b4 i.b7 51 'ii'xc8 i.xc8 52 ~xb5 i.b7 53 i.c4 1-0 The endgame is lost for Black, as ei An excellent example of complete ther his bishop will be trapped or the domination by a top-class grandmaster. e-pawn will promote. 7 The Anti-Dutch 2 Jtg5 Introduction and Unusual Second moves B for Black Dutch specialists tend to be quite un compromising, creative types. They of ten know their pet lines very well and make no secret of their aggressive in tentions. I have used the 2 .tg5 Anti Dutch successfully for a number of years. Very few players I have encoun tered have felt comfortable on the black side. Even fewer have been able to find or his e7-pawn. White's last move is a their way to a playable game. For this direct attempt to take advantage of this reason many Stonewall Dutch enthu very problem. Here we look at options siasts play l ... e6 followed by 2 .. f5 but for Black where he tries to side-step as we shall see White can cause prob the issue or mistakenly challenges lems with the unusual move 3 d5!?. White to prove his strategy. We will The main theme running through both concentrate in this game on diver these systems is that White is looking gences from the main lines (2 ... g6 and for an advantageous time to play the 2 .. h6 3 .th4 g5). e4 pawn-break, which often ruins the 2 ... d6 black pawn-structure. Alternatively Black has: a) 2 ... c5 (striking back at the cen Game 37 tre) 3 dxc5 tt:Ja6 4 e4 (this is a funda Rowson - Preuss mental attacking move in the .tg5 Copenhagen 1996 Anti-Dutch, by which White levers open the centre for his pieces to come 1 d4 f5 flying out) 4 ... fxe4 5 tt:Jc3 tt:Jxc5 6 2 .tg5 (D) .te3 tt:Je6 (6 ... e6 loses a piece to 7 In the Dutch Defence it is very diffi .txc5 .txc5 8 'ii'h5+; what is not so cult for Black to organize himself satis obvious is that 6 ... b6 also loses mate factorily without moving his g8-knight rial- I believe it was Chris Ward who The Anti-Dutch 2 i..g5 129 first pointed out that 7 i.xc5 bxc5 8 White had won a pawn in Atalik 'ii'h5+ g6 9 'ii'd5 l:b8 10 'ii'e5 arrives Panagiotopoulos, Ano Liosia 1996. at an extremely unusual situation b2) 4 ... d6 5 ltJc3 ltJd7 6 e4 fxe4 7 where the white queen is forking both ltJxe4 ltJgf6 8 ltJxf6+ (White takes a black rooks!) 7 ltJxe4ltJf6 8 i.d3 g6 9 very no-nonsense approach in this h4 i..g7 10 tt:Jxf6+ exf6 11 ltJf3 b6 12 game and simply completes develop 'ti'e2 i..b7 13 0-0-0 'Wic7 14 h5 0-0-0 ment as quickly as possible, and then 15 l:h4 and White had a nice initiative puts the semi -open e-file to good use) to go with his structural advantage in 8 ... ltJxf6 9 i.d3 e5 10 l2Je2 i.e6 11 0-0 Miles-Meulders, Amsterdam 1978. i.e7 12 dxe5 dxe5 13 'ifc2 g6 14 l:fe1 b) 2 ... c6 (making a bolt-hole for (White has a clear advantage thanks Black's queen) 3 c4 'ti'b6 (3 ... h6 4 i..e3 to Black's weak isolated e-pawn, so with the idea of f3, i..f2, and play sim rather than subject himself to a long, ilar to note 'b1' to Black's 4th move) 4 painful defence Black stakes every 'ti'd2 (D) and now Black can continue thing on a desperate attack) 14 ... l2Jg4 to ignore White's dark-squared bishop 15 ltJf4 ltJxf2 16 c5 i..xc5 17 l2Jxe6 or chase it away: liJh3+ 18 simply developing!) 10 ... 'iia5 11 d5 'ii'xa4 12lllxa4 ltJe5 13 dxe6 ltJg4 14 B l:.d7 lllxf2 15 l:tg 1 ltJg4 16 ltJg3 lllxe3 17 ltJh5 0-0 18 e7 1-0 Wells-Musson, lraklion ECC 1997. 3 ltlc3 h6 A very committal decision, as now Black suffers in nearly all the tactics as a result of his weak kingside light squares. 4 i.d2 (D) i.g2 l:.d8 12 l:.c1 with a clear advan tage to White because of the weak d5- pawn, Ricardi-An.Rodriguez, Villa B Martelli 1997. c2) 5 ... i.b4+ 6 ltlc3 0-0 7 'ii'b3 i.xc3+ 8 bxc3 ltlc6 (this temporarily loses a pawn but Black is also worse after 8 ... dxc4 9 i.xc4+ ~h8 10 ltJe2, when he has no compensation for his structural defects) 9 cxd5 ltla5 10 'ii'b5 b6 11 i.e2 i.b7 12 i.f3 a6 13 'it'd3 'it'd? 14 c4 b5 15 cxb5 axb5 16 ltle2 i.xd5 17 i.xd5+ 'iixd5 18 0-0 is 4 ltJf6 a little better for White, although a 4 ... d5? 5 e4 dxe4 (5 ... fxe4 6 'ii'h5+ draw was agreed in Fominykh-Guliev, ~d7 7 'iixd5+ +-) 6 'iih5+ ~d7 7 Russian Cht (Kazan) 1995. 'ii'xf5+ +-. c3) 5 ... i.e6 6 cxd5 'it'xd5 (6 ... i.xd5 5 e4 fxe4 7 ltlc3 i.f7 8 'iif3 'iic8 9 i.d3 g6 10 . 6 ltlxe4 .trs ltlge2 ltJd7 11 h4 h5 12 0-0 c6 13 e4 ;;!; 6 ... lllxe4 7 'ii'h5+ ~d7 8 'iif5+ e6 9 Danielian-Yilmaz, Moscow 1992) 7 'iixe4 ±. ltlc3 i.b4 8 ltlge2 g5? (losing, but the 7 ltlg3 .th7 alternatives leave White with a very 8 ltlf3 ltlbd7 pleasant position, e.g. 8 ... i.f7 9 'ir'a4+ 9 .i.c4 d5 ltlc6 10 0-0-0 i.xc3 11 ltlxc3 ±) 9 10 i.d3 (D) ti'a4+ ltJc6 10 0-0-0 (it is a measure of White shows good understanding. the drawbacks of the black position Swapping off light-squared bishops that White forces the win of a piece by highlights Black's kingside weaknesses The Anti-Dutch 2 ii.g5 131 16 ltJe5+ ltJxe5 17 dxe5 ltJd7 B 18 ii'h5+ ~g7 19 ltJf5+ exf5 20 e6+ 1-0 There's not much to be done about 'iff7+. Main Line: 2 ... g6 Game 38 Summerscale - G. Wall and is of far greater relevance than London 1994 White's doubled d-pawns. 10 ... .i.xd3 1 d4 f5 11 cxd3 c6 2 .i.g5 g6 12 0-0 ii'b6 This could be considered the main 13 b4 g5 line of the .i.g5 Anti-Dutch. Black is asking too much of his po 3 ltJd2 (D) sition. As unsavoury as it may be, he had to castle queenside and hope to brave it out. 14 .i.c3 e6 15 ii'e2 (D) The point behind putting the knight here rather than c3 is that, as in the main game, White retains the option of c4 should Black play ... d5. 3 ... d5 15 ... 'it>f7 Black has a major and popular al Now the end is swift. ternative in the form of 3 ... .i.g7, which 132 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire White should meet with the central ad f4 .id6 (13 ... i.xb2 14 ltb1 is no better vance 4 e4: for Black) 14 0-0-0 h6 15 'ii'xe6+ a) 4 ... .ixd4 ?! (this is the only way ~xe6 16 tDxd6 ~xd6 17 .ih4 and for Black to try to exploit White's White was better because of his move-order but it allows White a huge bishop-pair and the exposed black initiative) 5 exf5 .ixb2 6 fxg6 and king in Hodgson-Lim Hoon Cheng, now: Manila OL 1992. a1) 6 ... .ixa1 7 'i!t'xa1 tiJf6 8 tDe4 b12) 7 ... ttJf6 8 tiJd3 0-0 9 i.f4 0-0 9 gxh7+ ~h8 (9 ... 'iPxh7 10 i.d3 (White is keeping a careful eye on with a huge attack) 10 .ih6 ;!;. Black's possible pawn-breaks, ... e5 a2) 6 ... hxg6 7 .:tb1 (7 .id3 is dan and ... c5) 9 ... 'ii'b6 10 c3 .if5 11 'ii'b3 gerous {for both sides} and for those c6 12 .ie2 tiJbd7 13 0-0 ttJe4 14 ltfe1 who want to go all-out) 7 ... .ig7 8 .id3 ltae8 15 ltJfe5 ltJdf6 16 f3 tiJd6 17 and for the price of a pawn White has a ifxb6 axb6 ~nd now rather than the dream attacking position. over-ambitious 18 g4 of Chekhov b) 4 .. .fxe4 5 tDxe4 d5 6 tDc5 (D) Vyzhmanavin, Moscow 1992, 18 .ifl and now: would have kept White's advantage due to his firm grip on e5 and the back ward black e-pawn. b2) 6 ... b6 7 tiJb3 ltJf6 (7 ... ttJh6 B turned out very badly when played by a future super-GM: 8 h4 tDf7 9 ltJh3 ifd6 10 'ti'd2 e5 11 0-0-0 ttJxg5 12 hxg5 e4 13 'ii'f4 .if8 14 g3 c6 15 f3 .ixh3 16 .ixh3 'ii'xf4+ 17 gxf4 .id6 18 f5 .if4+ 19 ~b1 gxf5 20 .ixf5 e3 21 ltdg1 ~f8 22 g6 1-0 Nalbandian Topalov, Biel 1993) 8 ltJf3 0-0 9 i.e2 ltJe4 (9 ... c5 allows White the better pawn-structure after 10 c4 .ie6 11 b1) 6 ... 'iid6 7 ttJf3 with two main cxd5 .ixd5 12 dxc5 bxc5 13 0-0 ;!; possibilities: Glek-Bronstein, Minsk 1983) 10 .ie3 b11) 7 ... e5 (this asks too much of ifd6 (Black very sensibly goes about the black position, which is not well completing his development before enough developed to support such a trying to break out; however, it is still thrust) 8 tDxe5 .ixe5 9 'ii'e2 tDc6 10 not enough for full equality) 11 0-0 tiJb3 ttJxd4 (this allows Black to keep l2Jd7 12ltJbd2 .ib7 13 l2Jxe4 dxe4 14 hold of his important dark-squared .ic4+ .id5 15 l2Jd2 i.xc4 16 ltJxc4 bishop) 11 ttJxd4 ~f7 12 tiJb5 'i!t'e6 13 'iid5 17 'i!t'e2 e5 18 dxe5 tDxe5 19 The Anti-Dutch 2 i.g5 133 tlJxe5 'ii'xe5 20 'ii'c4+ ~h8 21 c3 ~ 15 tlJe2 h5 (D) Miles-Van Mil, Isle of Man 1995. White has the better chances due to his plan of attacking the weak e-pawn. 4 c4 c6 5 e3 i.g7 6 'ii'b3 h6 7 i.h4 tiJf6 8 cxd5 It is important to exchange now, be fore Black has a chance to play ... e6. 8 000 cxd5 9 i.b5+ tlJc6 10 :c1 (D) Black may as well try this, as with normal play he is completely lost. 16 i.e5 h4 17 0-0 h3 18 l:c1 i.c6 19 tiJf3 i.h6 20 tlJg3 tiJd7 21 'ifc2 f4 22 ..g6+ 1-0 2 ... h6 3 i.h4 g5 4 e4! Game 39 10 000 g5 Summerscale - Santo-Roman 10 ... 'ii'd6 was the only way to avoid Montpellier 1994 material loss although White retains a clear edge after 11 i.g3 'ii'e6 12 tiJgf3. 1 d4 f5 11 :xc6 2 i.g5 h6 The move Black missed. 2 ... d5 is inaccurate when White 11 ooo bxc6 hasn't blocked his c-pawn. In practice, 12 i.xc6+ i.d7 this has been roughly treated, with 13 i.xa8 'iixa8 White getting a favourable version of 14 i.g3 the Queen's Gambit, e.g. 3 e3 c6 4 c4 White is a clear pawn up. 'ii'b6 5 'ii'c2 e6 6 tlJc3 tiJd7 7 cxd5 14 000 0-0 cxd5 8 i.d3 tiJdf6 9 tiJf3 tlJe4 10 134 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire .i.b5+ .i.d7 11.i.xd7+ ~xd7 12 tDe5+ 12 llJbd2 gives White an edge thanks 1-0 Cohen-Curran, Lyons 1993. to his better pawn-structure, Prie - 3 .i.h4 g5 Santo-Roman, French Ch 1997. This is the most testing response to 5 .i.g3 fxe4 White's opening: Black launches an 5 ... f4 allows White to reveal his attack on the kingside using White's main idea: after 6 .i.xf4 gxf4 7 ~h5+ bishop as a target. To do so without ~f8 8 'ii'f5+ Black is faring badly first developing entails some risk, as whichever way he plays now, for ex you might expect. ample: 4 e4! (D) a) 8 ... ~e8 9 .i.e2 llJf6 (9 ... h5 10 Note that most other black third .i.xh5+ 1:txh5 11 ~xh5+ ~f8 12 'iVf5+ moves here are equally well met this ~e8 13 tDf3 gives White a clear ad way. vantage with a rook and soon three pawns for two pieces with Black hav ing lost castling rights) 10 e5 e6 11 'ii'g6+? (11 'iVxf4leaves White a pawn up, as the f6-knight can't move on ac count of .i.h5+) 1l...~f8 12 exf6 'iVxf6 13 'ii'xf6+ .i.xf6 14 c3 and White's in accuracy had clouded the issue in Wachtel-Sloan, Chicago 1994. b) 8 ... llJf6 9 e5 d6 10 'ii'xf4 dxe5 11 dxe5 tDc6 12 llJf3 'ii'd7 13 exf6 .i.xf6 14 tDc3 and in Summerscale-Bauer, Montpellier 1995, I converted my ex tra pawn, which set me up nicely for This is the key idea: White rips my first GM norm. open the centre and offers a piece 6 llJc3 llJf6 should Black want to take it. 7 f3 exf3 4 ... .i.g7 8 llJxf3 (D) The alternatives are: White has now got a much better a) 4 ... gxh4?? 5 ~h5#. version of the Staunton Gambit since b) 4 ... d5 5 'ilih5+ ~d7 6 .i.xg5 Black has significantly weakened his dxe4 7 .i.h4 ±. kingside. White's plan is simply to try c) 4 ... llJf6 5 e5 e6 6 exf6 'iii xf6 7 to play on these weaknesses as much .i.g3 f4 8 llJf3 ttJc6 9 c3 b6 10 .i.b5! as possible . .i.b7 11 .i.xc6 dxc6! (ll. .. .i.xc6?! 12 8 d6 llJe5 0-0-0 13 ttJxc6 dxc6 14 'i!i'f3 e5 9 .i.c4 ttJbd7 15 h3 ~e7! 16 .i.h2 exd4+ 17 'iie2 ±) 10 'iWd3 The Anti-Dutch 2 i..g5 135 want to castle kingside: 15 ... 0-0 16 :he 1 l:ae8 17 h4 g4 18 tt:Je5 'ifc8 19 tt:Jg6 :n 20 .i.xd6 ±. 16 :xd6 'ii'xd6 17 .i.xd6 l:xd6 18 ti:JbS l:b6 19 ltJfd4 1-0 1 d4 e6 2 ltJf3 f5 Game40 Cifuentes - Bricard 10 tt:Je5 is also an interesting possi Andorra 1991 bility. 10 ... ti:Jf8 1 d4 e6 11 dS 2 ti:Jf3 fS By grabbing more space I more or 3 d5 (D) less obliged Black to open the centre for my better developed pieces. 11 eS 12 dxe6 .i.xe6 13 .i.xe6 tt:Jxe6 14 0-0-0 '6'd7 (D) This move aims to disrupt Black's normal flow in the Dutch and will be especially effective against Stonewall players, who will be at a bit of a loss now. The aim is to gain a small safe advantage but there are sharper op 15 'it'c4! 0-0-0? tions along the way too. Black cracks under the pressure but 3 ••• d6 it is easy to understand why he didn't Alternatives are: 136 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire a) 3 ... l2Jf6 4 dxe6 dxe6 5 jfxd8+ undermining Black's big pawn-centre) ~xd8 6l2Jc3 i.b4 7 i.d2 c6 8 e4 (this 12 ... l2Jd4 13 'iVc3 l2Je6 14 g6 (this is move seeks to leave Black with a per one of the tactical drawbacks of the manent weakness on e6) 8 .. .fxe4 9 exchange on g5 for Black, as the pawn tDxe4 i.xd2+ 10 tDexd2 and, having becomes a real thorn in his side) achieved his objective, White enjoyed 14 ... h6 15 11fe5 dxc4 16 e3 'Mig5 17 a small advantage in Cifuentes-D.Parr, 11fxe4 0-018 i.xc4 (White has an attack Hastings 1994/5. and an extra pawn to boot) 18 ... ~h8? b) 3 ... exd5 4 11fxd5 d6 (D) and now (18 ... .:te8 is better) 19 i.xe6 l:te8 20 White has two choices; the first is iVd5! (White holds on to his extra solid but aggressive, while the second piece) 20 ... 11if6 21 i.xc8 l:taxc8 22 is highly materialistic yet hard to re 11if7 11i g5 23 l2Jf3 l:xe3+ 1-0 Grana fute: dos Gomez-Sorroche, Olot 1994. b2) 5 tlJg5 (this is a very sharp op tion that wins material at the expense of White's development; this game shows some of White's possibilities, but my gut feeling would be to leave this one alone) 5 ... 11fe7 6 tDxh7 c6 7 'Mib3 i.e6 8 1lig3 :txh7 9 'iig6+ 'iff7 10 11fxh7 i.e7 11 l2Jd2 l2Jd7 12 l2Jf3 l2Jf8 13 11ih3 f4 14 g4 0-0-0 15 11ih5 g6 16 11fa5 i.xg4 17 'ilxa7 tlJd7 18 i.d2 iVc4 19 'ii'd4 1-0 Hauchard-Bricard, Belfort 1992. c) 3 ... i.d6 4 dxe6 dxe6 5ltJc3ltJf6 b1) 5 i.g5 (this is the safer option, 6 e4 (again this is the critical pawn as White develops hoping to exploit break for White) 6 ... i.b4 7 'ifxd8+ the weakness of the light squares later) ~xd8 8 i.d2 fxe4 9l2Jxe4 i.xd2+ 10 5 ... i.e7 (5 ... l2Jf6 is answered by 6. l2Jexd2 and again White is better, as he 11ib3) 6 h4 (White wants to open the has a simple plan of developing and h-file for his rook, which would give pressurizing Black's weak e-pawn, him some interesting tactical possibil Ortega-Kovacevic, Formia 1995. ities as we shall see) 6 ... l2Jf6 7 11ib3 4 dxe6 i.xe6 (White is hoping for ... h6, which would 5 l2Jg5 (D) further weaken Black's light squares White tries to drive the bishop from on the kingside) 7 ... l2Je4 8ltJbd2ltJc6 its best diagonal and prepares the way 9 l2Jxe4 fxe4 10 l2Jd2 i.xg5 11 hxg5 for e4. d5 12 c4 (White rightly goes about 5 ... 'ii'd7 The Anti-Dutch 2 i..g5 137 B 6 lLlc3 lDf6 White is slightly better here in view 7 g3 of his bishop-pair. Against a normal 7 e4 is also interesting here. move like 16 ... a6 he should continue 7 c6 with a4 and b4, with a queenside at- 8 lLlxe6 'ifxe6 tack. Black, perhaps lulled into a false 9 .i.h3 dS sense of security by the closed nature 10 0-0 lLlbd7 of the position, blundered with: 11 'it'd3 g6 16 ... ~b8?? 12 'it'e3 lLle4 17 .i.xa7+ 1-0 13 lLlxe4 dxe4 The bishop is immune from capture 14 'it'c3 :tg8 on account of 'iia5+ winning the rook 15 .i.e3 0-0-0 on d8. Black, probably disgusted with 16 :rd1 (DJ himself, called it a day. 8 Odds and Ends Here I will examine the various irregu This is perhaps the most irregular of lar systems that Black tries from time all the openings we cover. The other to time. The key is to keep your cool attempts to confuse White are: when faced with these openings. Just a) 1 ... e6 (l...b6 will come to the develop sensibly and use the space ad same thing) 2 tLlf3 b6 (Owen's De vantage you are invariably given. fence is the only variation after 1... e6 Above all, don't expect too much and that takes us outside the scope of those don't underestimate your opponent already analysed) 3 e4 i.b7 4 ~d3 just because he plays a few funny (the best way to meet unusual varia looking moves in the opening. I used tions is to play simply - and the clear to make a living in intermediate tour est plan in this position is to complete naments off opponents who did ex development, protect the pawn-centre actly that! and then expand on the queen side) 4 ... c5 5 c3 tLlf6 6 tLlbd2 tt:Jc6 7 a3 i..e7 Game 41 8 0-0 d6 9 b4 cxd4 10 cxd4 l:tc8 11 Summerscale - Basman i..b2. White has completed all his ob British Ch (Plymouth) 1992 jectives and stands better. b) l...b5 (the StGeorge) 2 e4 i.b7 1 d4 (D) 3 ~d3 e6 4 tt:Jf3 a6 (the St George used to be in my repertoire and I found it most difficult when White simply played to keep the central tension) 5 B tt:Jbd2 tt:Jf6 6 0-0 c5 7 c3 tt:Jc6 8 l::te 1 cxd4 (8 ... '1!Vb6 9 e5 tt:Jd5 10 dxc5 i..xc5 11 tt:Je4 i.e7 12 i.g5) 9 cxd4 l::tc8 10 a3 (D). Again, this idea of queenside ex pansion is quite effective. 10 ... tt:Ja5 11 'ife2 'ti'b6 12 b4 tt:Jc4 (Black has over looked a tactic; instead he should swallow his pride and retreat) 13 i..xc4 bxc4 14 tt:Jxc4 'ti'c6 (Black hits 1 ... h6 c4 and e4) 15 tt:Ja5! 'ilc7 (15 ... 'ilxe4 Odds and Ends 139 as when he used to play it. However, I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Bill, for if he hadn't ferried me around for away club matches I wouldn't be where I am today. 2 dxe5 l2Jc6 3 tiJf3 'ti'e7 4 l2Jc3 l2Jxe5 5 e4 (a very sensible approach, not attempting a direct refu tation but keeping hold of a space and development advantage) 5 ... c6 6 i.e2 l2Jxf3+ 7 ~xf3 d6 8 0-0 i.e6 9 .:te 1 'ti'd7 10 ~f4 ~e7 11 'ti'd2 t2Jf6 12 :ad1 gave White a clear advantage in loses a piece to 16 'ti'fl 'ti'd5 17 l:te5) Timman-Hendricks, simul 1987. 16 d5 ~a8 (this loses a second pawn, f) 1... d5 2 tiJf3 c6 3 c4 e6 4 e3 (the but Black's position was pretty dis only way for Black to create problems gusting in any case) 17 'ti'xa6 1-0 within our repertoire is if he plays ... ) Torre-Winants, Brussels 1986. 4 ... f5 (a delayed Stonewall; however, c) 1... c5 2 d5 f5 is the so-called an effective response was played Clarendon Court - an opening with against me in the European Club Cup) which I have a 100% score as Black, 5 l2Jc3 tiJf6 6 ~d3 i.d6 7 h3 0-0 8 g4 including a victory over Mark Reb (D). den, but I suspect it is because nobody has played 3 e4! fxe4 4 l2Jc3 tiJf6 5 g4 (White threatens g5, more or less forc ing Black's response) 5 ... h6 (this is a B serious weakening of the black king side) 6 ~g2 d6 7 h3 tiJbd7 8 l2Jge2, when White has every reason to look to the future with confidence. He can recapture on e4 at will and then set about probing those light-squared weaknesses. d) 1 ... l2Jc6 2 tiJf3 d5 transposes to the Anti -Chigorin line already dis cussed in Game 20. This is the big idea. Black would be e) 1. .. e5 is the Englund Gambit, foolish to take on g4 and open the h which used to be a favourite of my old file and so must find a way to defend club president at Fulham, Mr Bill against gxf5. 8 ... l2Je4 (this is the most Jenkins. Unfortunately it is still as bad natural move but it does not solve all 140 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire of Black's problems) 9 gxf5 exf5 10 6 j.c4 tt:Jc6 cxd5 lt:Jxc3 11 bxc3 cxd5 12 'i!Vb3 j.e7 7 lt:Jge2 tt:Jf6 13 j.a3 i.xa3 14 'ti'xa3 lt:Jc6 15 0-0-0 8 'ili'b3 l:h7 (D) i.e6 16 l:.hg1 ~h8 17 l:.g2 l:.c8 18 l:dg1 (the white king is surprisingly safe, whilst the g7-pawn is targeted; ... g6 will just encourage the h-pawn w to advance, so I defended passively) 18 ... l:tc7 19 14 l:lac1 Threatening d5, so Black prevents this. 14 ... d5 15 exd5 Of course White wants to open the centre as the black king is stranded. 15 ... liJb4 (D) I took a glance at Black's position and noted its rather ridiculous ap pearance. Therefore I started looking for a forced win. 16 ltJxc8 l:lxc8 20 :xc8 it'xc8 17 'ir'a4+ b5 21 .txa6 'ir'c7 18 .txb5+! ~e7 22 d6 .txd6 19 'ir'xb4+ ~f6 23 'ii'b7 1-0 Index of Variations 1: The Barry Attack 7 ... ~a5 32 7 ... b6 33 1 d4ltJf6 7 ... ~b6 33 2ltJf3 g6 3l2Jc3 d5 2: The 150 Attack 4 i.f4 !1Lg7 5 e3 (D) Modern Defence 1 d4 g6 2 e4 !1Lg7 3ltJc3 d6 4 !1Le3 (D) 5 ... 0-0 5 ... a6 10 5 ... ltJbd7 10 5 ... lZJh5 10 5 ... .1f5 11 4 ... c6 5 ... .1g4 12 4 ... a6 38 5 ... c6 14 5 'iWd2 ltJd7 6 .1e2 c5 5 ... b5 39 6 ... .1g4 18 6ltJf3 b5 40 6 ... b6 20 6 ... c6 27 Pirc Defence 7ltJe5 1 d4ltJf6 7 ... cxd4 30 2ltJf3 g6 7 ... ltJc6 31 3l2Jc3 !1Lg7 Index of Variations 143 4 e4d6 2 ... ~g4 70 5 i.e3 (D) 2 ... c5 70 2 ... l2Jc6 71 2 ... .i.f5 72 3 e3 c6 3 ... c5 75 3 ... g6 78 3 ... t2Jbd7 78 3 ... i.g4 81 3 ... .i.f5 86 4c4 86 5: The Classical Queen's Indian 1 d4 tiJf6 5 ... 0-0 2 lDf3 e6 5 ... l2Jg4 43 3 e3 c5 5 ... c6 44 4~d3 b6 6 ~d248 5 0-0 ~b7 6 c4 ~e7 3: The Colle-Zukertort System 6 ... g6 93 7 l2Jc3 cxd4 1 d4d5 7 ... 0-0 95 2 lDf3 tiJf6 8 exd4 d5 3 e3 e6 8 ... d6 96 4 ~d3 c5 9 cxd5 l2Jxd5 5 b3 10 l2Je5 100 5 ... l2Jc6 with ... .i.d6 54 5 ... cxd4 54 6: The Anti-Benoni 5 ... ~e7 62 5 ... ~d6 with ... t2Jbd7 63 1 d4 lDf6 5 ... l2Jc6 with ... i.e7 63 2 lDf3 c5 5 ... ii'a5+ 67 3d5b5 3 ... c4104 4: 1 d4 d5 2 lDf3: 3 ... e6 4 lDc3 d6 (4 .. Jti'a5 104; 4 ... g6 Beating the Anti-Colle Systems 104; 4 ... exd5 105) 5 e4 107 3 ... g6 4 l2Jc3 .i.g7 5 e4 d6 (5 ... 0-0 114) 1 d4 d5 6 .i.b5+ 117 2 tiJf3 tiJf6 4 i.g5 i.b7 144 A Killer Chess Opening Repertoire 4,.,'ji'a5+ 121 2 ... c5 128 4 ... l2Je4 122 2 ... c6 129 4 ... 'ji'b6 123 2 ... ~f6 129 4 ... d6 123 2 ... g6131 5 i.xf6 124 2 ... d5 133 3 i.h4 133 7: The Anti-Dutch 8: Odds and Ends 1 d4f5 l...e6 2 ~f3 f5 3 d5: 1 d4 (D) 3 ... d6 135 3 ... ~f6 136 3 ... exd5 136 3 ... i.d6 136 B 2 i.gS (D) l...h6 2 e4 140 l ... e6138 l...b5 138 l...c5 2 d5 f5 139 l...~c6 139 2 ••• h6 l...e5 139 2 ... d6 128 l...d5 (Stonewall) 139