An Opening Repertoire for the Positional Player English Translation Copyright © 1997 Ken Neat
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One of the hardest tasks faced by competitive chess players is the development of an opening repertoire suited to their own style of play. As in their companion volume An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Player (also translated by Ken Neat), the authors provide a refined and thoroughly up-to-date opening program, this time selecting variations of a more positional nature. e Practical repertoire based on 1 e4 as White and the Classical Sicilian and King's Indian Defences as Black e Concentrates on solid and reliable lines of play e Provides an easy-to-learn explanation of the typical plans and ideas Eduard Gufeld is one of the most popular and widely travelled grandmasters, and is known throughout the world as a coach, opening theoretician, journalist and author. Nikolai Kalinichenko, author of more than 30 chess books, holds the International Master title in correspondence chess and enjoys a growing reputation as a specialist in opening theory. CADOGAN CHESS BOOKS An Opening Repertoire for the Positional Player English Translation Copyright © 1997 Ken Neat First published 1997 by Cadogan Books plc, 27-29 BerwickStreet, London W1V 3RF Distributed in North America by The Globe Pequot Press, 6 Business Park Rd, P.O. Box 833, Old Saybrook, Connecticut 06475-0833 Allrights reserved No part of this publication may bere produced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any fo rm or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing.from thepublishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record fo r this book is available from the British Library ISBN 1 85744 152 4 Cover designby Brian Robins Typeset by Ken Neat,· Durham Printed in Great Britain by BPC Wheatons Ltd, Exeter An Opening Repertoire for the Positional Player by Eduard Gufeld and Nikolai ·Kalinichenko Translated and Edited by Ken Neat CADOGAN chess LONDON, NF.W YORK CADOGAN CHESS BOOKS Chief Advisor: Garry Kasparov Editor: Murray Chandler RussianSeries Editor: Ken Neat Other chess titles from Cadogan include: The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal The Genius of Paul Morphy Mikhail Tal Chris Ward Improve Your Chess Now Ivan Sokolov's Best Games Jonathan Tisdall Ivan Sokolov Winning in the Opening The Final Countdown John Walker Hajenius & Van Riemsdijk The Art of Chess Analysis Vasily Smyslov: Endgame Virtuoso Jan Timman Vasily Smyslov Basic Chess Openings Practical Opening Tips Gabor Kallai Edmar Mednis More Basic Chess Openings Play the Evans Gambit Gabor Kallai Harding & Cafferty Lessons in Chess Queen's Indian Defence Garry Kasparov Bogdan Lalic Fire on Board: Shirov's Best An Opening Repertoire for the Games Attacking Player Alexei Shirov Gufeld & Kalinichenko For a complete catalogue ofCADOGAN CHESS books (which includes the Pergamon Chess and Maxwell Macmillan Chess lists) please write to: Cadogan Books plc, 27-29 Berwick St, London WI V 3RF Tcl: (0171) 287 6555 Fax: (0171) 734 1733 Contents Introduction 6 PART 1: WHITE REPERTOIRE 1 Sicilian Defence 9 2 Scotch Game 27 3 French Defence 41 4 Caro-Kann Defence 59 5 Pirc-U fimtsev Defence 66 6 Alekhine Defence 73 PART II: BLACK REPERTOIRE 7 Sicilian Defence 84 King's Indian Defence: 8 Four Pawns Attack 105 9 Samisch Variation 114 1 0 Variations with .i.g2 129 11 Classical Variation 139 12 Deviations by White from the Classical Variation 154 13 A verbakh Variation 162 14 Torre Attack 169 15 Trompowsky Attack 174 16 English Opening 179 17 Bird Opening 185 Index of Variations 189 List of Illustrative Games 192 Introduction Opening strategy is the most difficult aspect in the study of chess. The present book (one of the few in the continual stream of chess literature) is aimed at helping readers to solve the problem of studying opening theory. We offer a universal program, suitable both for novices, and fo r players of high class. A most important problem for a player aiming fo r competitive success is the development of an opening repertoire. This is a rather complicated and laborious process, through which we will proceed together with the readers. An opening repertoire depends on many fa ctors, notable among which are the style of a player (tactical or positional), his character, his liking for this or that type of position, and finally- his tournament position, and so on. This book gives an opening repertoire fo r players with a positional style, and, compared with our companion volume An Op ening Repertoire fo r the Attacking Player, represents a kind of second stage in the mastery of opening theory (although many variations are closely linked to the other volume, which is very useful from the organisational point of view). More refined here is the battle fo r the centre, and the systems of defence chosen for Black have a high degree of stability. After 1 e4 eS we recommend the highly insidious Four Knights Variation of the Scotch Game, which gives White a slight but enduring advantage, without allowing the opponent any serious counter-chances. Against the Sicilian Defence the Alapin Variatfon 2 c3 has in recent times become a fo rmidable weapon fo r White. Against the French Defence we recommend the Tarrasch Variation 3 �d2, which for many years was successfully employed by Anatoly Karpov. In the Caro-Kann Defence, Black is set problems by a set-up that has been used at the very highest level (for example, the 1995 Candidates Match Gelfand-Karpov): 3 eS and 4 liJf3. Quieter, but no less dangerous variations for Black, are recommended against the Pirc-Ufimtsev Defence (3 fJ!) and the Alekhine Defence (the c lassical 4 liJf3). Against l e4 as Black we recommend the line leading to the Rauzer Attack or the Sozin Attack, in which Black has counter-play, but does not hurn all his boats behind him, and where it is not easy for White to gain an advantage. And finally, against 1 d4 we suggest the King's Indian Defence - the lavomill' Wl'apon of World Champion Garry Kasparov, as well as one of the Introduction 7 authors of this book, which has served him faithfully for many a decade. Not without reason is Black's powerful piece at g7 called the 'Gufeld bishop'. It should be mentioned that this book includes the most up-to-date chess material (including important games from the first half of 1997), which often clarifies or refutes existing evaluations. Therefore this work will be useful not only to a wide range of chess enthusiasts taking their first steps in studying theory, but also to experienced players, who after studying the book will be able to look anew at many well-known positions. The authors are convinced that the given work will help you to solve the complicated task of developing an opening repertoire, including the most important thing - the problem of the black pieces! After all, a competent repertoire will enable you to raise significantly your standard of play and to improve your tournament results. We are sure that this book will be exceptionally useful to all wishing to improve their mastery of chess. Eduard Gufeld Nikolai Kalinichenko October 1997 8 An Op ening Repertoire fo r the Positional Player Publisher's Note The companion volume by the same authors An Op ening Repertoire fo r the A/lacking Player gives sound methods fo r White of opposing unusual openings such as the Centre Counter Game, and the Nimzowitsch, Owen and St.George Defences. Also covered there are ways fo r Black to proceed when faced by early deviations against the Sicilian Defence. Rather than repeat this material here (which would have added nearly· 40 pages to this book) we refer the reader to the companion volume. Conventional signs used in this book ! good move ! ! excellent move !? move deserving consideration ?! dubious move ? incorrectmo ve ?? blunder = equal position ;!; White has a slight advantage + Black has a slight advantage ± White has a clear advantage + Black has a clear advantage +- White has a decisive advantage -+ Black has a decisive advantage oo unclear position 00 with compensation fo r the material ll with the idea of GM grandmaster IM international master corr. correspondence game PART 1: WHITE REPERTOIRE 1 Sicilian Defence 1 e4 cS centre and controls more space, 2 c3 giving him a stable advantage. The game continued 9 ... .te7 10 lDfl 1lfc 7 11 lL:!g3 0--0--0 12 lL:!g5 i.xg5 13 .txg5 f6 14 exf6 gxf6 15 .te3;!;;; (b) 5 ...cxd4 6 cxd4 lL:!c6 7 liJe2 e5 (little is promised by 7 . ..lL:!b4 8 i.b1 i.a6 9 lL:!t3, when White com pletes a regrouping typical of this type of position, and is ready to drive back the black pieces: 9 ...1i'c7 10 lL:!c3 e6 11 a3 lL:!c6 12 .tg5 lL:!h5 13 d5 lL:!a5 14 e5 with a great advan tage, Schmittdiei-Grooten, Wijk aan Zee 1993) 8 d5 lL:!b4 9 .tb1 i.c5 10 A variation developed by the 19th lL:!c3 0-0 11 a3 lL:!a6 12 0-0 lL:!c7 13 century Russian player Alapin, and .td3 lDfe8 14 liJf3 1i'e7 15 b4 i.d6 one that is very popular today. From 16 i.g5± (Smagin-Milov, Greece the very start White aims to set up a 1993). strong pawn centre, which demands accurate play on Black's part. The main replies are 2 ••• eS (1.1), 2 ... d6 (1.2), 2 ... e6 (1.3), 2 ... dS (1.4) and 2. .lt�f6(l.S). Other moves do nothing to hinder White's plan: 2..