Introduction

One of the great attractions of is of chess so exciting. Two equally strong that the game spreads its wings to players can have two completely dif- cover the whole social ladder. No mat- ferent ways of looking at the same po- ter where a person is from, what age sition. Individual personality really they are, or even where they are going, does come through when you’re play- chess can be shared as a tool for enter- ing the game. tainment and knowledge. Children, Now you may be wondering what adults, men, women, lawyers, politi- on earth has this to do with the French cians, prisoners, accountants, Napo- Defence? Well, let me try to explain. leon, etc, can all enjoy a good game of Throughout the , the chess. has had the reputation When the battle commences the of being a rather solid opening where outside world is forgotten and the White has most of the attacking oppor- players can drift off into their own tunities. It has been considered to be a world of the imagination. The one fairly safe and solid reply to 1 e4, with thing that I find most intriguing about Black often relying on his solid the game is the way in which a per- formation to push the advantage son’s personality can come across in through in the middlegame or even the the way that they play. My own style of ending. play is stereotyped as being extremely once said of the attacking and rather gung-ho. A classic opening: ‘I have never in my life played opposite is that of the English Grand- the French Defence, which is the dullest master Keith Arkell. Keith is known for of all openings!’ his love of the endgame and the ‘nib- This is where I beg to differ. I have ble’. Indeed, Danny Gormally described always considered the French to be an Keith as the ‘Grinder’ and myself as the exciting opening that offers Black very ‘Gambler’ in his entertaining book, Play good counterattacking possibilities. Chess like the Pros. Steinitz had obviously not looked at the To me this is what makes the game opening in the same way that I have!

5

Attacking Chess: The French

Indeed, in the context of chess, I am not The French from even sure if the word ‘Defence’ is ap- Black’s Perspective propriate when muttering the word ‘French’! The title of this book rather 1. The ...c5 pawn break gives away what we are going to be You will find it very hard to play a aiming for. I have tried to pick the most game in the French Defence without aggressive, exciting and sound varia- playing this advance. The move ...c5 is tions that are playable for Black in the often used as a lever by Black, a lever French Defence. I have personally that aims to attack White’s pawn cen- played most of these variations men- tre. tioned and they have often led to some By the nature of the opening moves great encounters. White normally gains a space advan- If you really want to get to grips tage and without any pawn breaks with the French Defence then I would Black would be left with a horribly pas- recommend that after studying this sive position. This is just one reason book you also take a look to see what why it is so important to chip away at the top grandmasters are playing in White’s centre. the French, such as Berg, Korchnoi, Lpu- W______W tian and Morozevich. This will help you obtain an even better understanding of [rhb1kgn4] the opening as a whole. You must also [0p0WDp0p] try to get into the habit of working out [WDWDpDWD] what typical middlegame plans you [DWDp)WDW] should be aiming to execute and even [WDW)WDWD] what type of endgame structures bene- [DWDWDWDW] fit Black and White. Saying that, this [P)PDW)P)] book is hardly geared towards reaching [$NGQIBHR] an endgame! W------W I often think that the most impor- Here we have a typical French Ad- tant thing when learning any opening vance and in this posi- is to understand the main concepts tion Black should play . This is 3...c5! behind the moves that both sides play. such an important pawn break to re- Thus unlike certain books we won’t be member! Without this break White diving head first into the variations. would have a very solid grip over the Instead we will begin by considering centre. various key concepts, aiming to under- In the French Black must do his best stand the various plans and aims on to keep attacking White’s centre. offer to both sides. Later on we will see that the Ad-

6

Introduction vance Variation of the French can often 3. Activating Black’s light-squared develop into a game of ping-pong. via d7 and e8 Black attacks the centre, White defends With the move 1...e6 Black voluntarily the centre, Black attacks the centre... cages in his light-squared bishop. This minor piece can easily remain a bad one throughout the game. For this rea- 2. The ...f6 pawn break You will often find that one of the main son Black should always keep his eyes assets that White has in the French is open for the chance to give it some life. his pawn on e5. This pawn cramps One common way of bringing a lit- Black’s position and gives White a basis tle bit of joy to this piece is by the ma- to develop an attack from. Thus it is noeuvre ...Íd7-e8-g6/h5. It is worth often a good idea to attack the bridge- noting that this is only possible after head with the break ...f6. Black has played ...f6. Take a look at the following example:

J.Hector-E.Berg Swedish League 2005 M.Adams-V.Epishin W______W Tel Apel 1992 [rDb1W4kD] W______W [0p0Whp0p] [WDk4Wgn4] [WgnDpDWD] [0p1bDW0W] [DWDp)WDW] [WDnDp0W0] [N)W)WDWD] [DWDp)WDW] [)W)WDWDW] [WDp)WGW)] [WDWDN)P)] [)W)WDNDW] [$WGQIBDR] [W)BDW)PD] W------W [$NDQDRIW] By playing the undermining 9...f6! W------W Black was able to generate some action After Black’s light-squared 11...Íe8! in the centre and on the kingside. It is bishop finds an active post on h5. From worth noting that the break ...c5 was h5 the bishop puts White’s on f3 ruled out here due to White having in an unpleasant and helps to in- pawns on b4 and d4, so Black really had crease the kingside pressure. to rely on the ...f6 break in order to Just compare the two possible avoid being suffocated. This was a squares for Black’s bishop, d7 and h5. great game and I recommend that you On d7 the bishop is basically a big take your time going over it later on in pawn, but on h5 it obtains a whole new Chapter Three. lease of life.

7

Attacking Chess: The French

This case was an exception though, 4. Closing the position with ...c4 At a number of points throughout this as after the natural sequence 10 Íf1 book I am going to suggest plans based I was able to employ an- Íd7 11 g3 on ‘controlled aggression’. In a lot of other typical French idea. cases this will mean that Black’s first W______W aim is to stop White from gaining good [rDWDkDW4] attacking chances and only then will Black go on to the offensive himself. [0pDbhp0p] The next position is an example of this: [WDnDpDWD] [1WDp)WDW]

C.Briscoe-S.Williams [WDp)WDWD] British Championship, [)W)WDN)W] Great Yarmouth 2007 [WDPGW)W)] W______W [$WDQIBDR] W------W [rDbDkDW4] Here the pawn break gave 11...f6! [0pDWhp0p] me plenty of counterplay in the centre [WDnDpDWD] and on the kingside, as we’ll see in [1W0p)WDW] Chapter Five. [WDW)WDWD]

[)W)BDNDW] 5. Good and bad minor pieces [WDPGW)P)] Whenever you start to play an opening [$WDQIWDR] you should be aware of which pieces W------W tend to be useful and which pieces can Black has to be a bit careful here as hinder you. Basically you must be White’s light-squared bishop is posi- aware of the strengths and weaknesses tioned on an active diagonal. 9...0-0? of your position. would be a mistake as it would allow In general the dark-squared bishop White the chance to play 10 Íxh7+! is often one of Black’s best minor gaining a dangerous attack through pieces. This will obviously depend on the use of the Greek Gift. For that rea- the particular variation, but take the son I decided to first play . This following position as an example. 9...c4! forces White’s bishop to a passive square and closes the centre. J.Emms-S.Williams One word of warning though: do be British League (4NCL) 1999 careful when playing the ...c4 advance, as Black can often lack counterplay af- This is one of main positions in the ter it. Tarrasch Variation. Black has already

8

Introduction played his two main breaks, ...c5 and Black is getting ready to play the ...f6. queenside advance ...b4 when he W______W would be able to off his pas- [rDb1kgW4] sive light-squared bishop. Unfortu- nately for Ni Hua it was White’s move [0pDWDW0p] and Alekseev was able to play . 15 b4! [WDnDphWD] After the sequence 15...Íxe3+ 16 Ìxe3 [DWDpDWDW] ... f6 17 Ìd4 Ìxd4 18 cxd4 [WDW)WDWD] W______W [DWDBDNDW] [rDWDW4kD] [P)WDN)P)] [DWDnDW0p] [$WGQIWDR] [b1WDp0WD] W------W He should now play . This is [0pDp)WDW] 10...Íd6 a very good square for the bishop, tak- [W)W)W)WD] ing aim at the white and covering [)WDWHWDW] the all-important e5-square. In actual [WDW!BDP)] fact White often spends three tempi [$WDWDRIW] trying to exchange the dark-squared W------W bishops with Íg5-h4-g3. ...Black was left with a shockingly We have already mentioned that bad bishop on a6 and White went on to Black’s light-squared bishop can be- win quickly. come a bad piece. Let’s just take one look at an example of this. The French from White’s Perspective

E.Alekseev-Ni Hua Ningpo 2008 1. Exploiting the space advantage W______W The nature of the opening gives White a space advantage and his pawn centre [rDWDW4kD] on d4 and e4/e5 is often a good basis to [DWDnDp0p] build an attack around. This is why it is [b1nDpDWD] so important in the French to play ac- [0pgp)WDW] tively as Black. Black must try and at- [WDWDW)WD] tack the white pawn formation as [)W)WGNDW] quickly as possible. If Black fails to do [W)W!BDP)] this then something along the lines of [$WDNDRIW] the following nasty accident can hap- W------W pen.

9

Attacking Chess: The French

come across quite often in the course E.Gullaksen-S.Williams Oslo 2004 of this book. Black has weakened W______W White’s queenside by exchanging on [rDbDW4ni] c3, but he has also left his kingside [0pDWDp0p] open to attack. [WDWDpDWD] W______W [DW1p)nGN] [rDbDkDW4] [WDWDW)QD] [0pDWhp0W] [)W0BDWDR] [WDnDpDW0] [WDPDWDP)] [1W0p)WDP] [$WDWDWDK] [WDW)WDWD] W------W [)W)WDWDW] In this game I had done nothing to [WDPGW)PD] tackle White’s strong pawn on e5. The [$WDQIBHR] pawn on e5 can often be the bane of a W------W French player’s existence. In this posi- White now played which is 10 Ëg4! tion I tried to strike out with , but the only way that he can hope to gain 17...f6 White had already massed his forces an advantage from the opening. You too near to my king and was able to will find that this is the case in a num- finish me off by playing ber of instances. White must play ac- 18 Íxf5 exf5 when I had no choice but to tively otherwise he will pass the advan- 19 Íxf6! resign. tage over to Black.

2. Let’s start an attack with Ëg4! 3. The f4-f5 breakthrough Black’s g7-pawn will often become a White will often attempt to support his target in the French. This is especially pawn on e5 with the move f4. This con- true in some of the double-edged sys- structs a big pawn centre that Black tems that I am going to recommend. has to keep an eye on. Take a look at One of the best ways for White to start the following position. an attack against Black’s kingside is by playing the move g4. Ë S.Williams-M.Jeanne Uxbridge 2010

J.Tomczak-E.Toth Szeged 2008 (see following diagram)

This is a fairly standard type of Black has just played the move structure and one that we are going to 12...h5.

10

Introduction

W______W 4. Good and bad minor pieces In general White’s best minor piece is [W4b1kgW4] quite clearly his light-squared bishop. [0WDnDpDW] This piece is often of the utmost impor- [WDnDpDpD] tance when starting an attack, as we [DW0p)WDp] can see here. [WDW)W)PD]

[DW)BDNDW] C.Bauer-E.Berg [PDWDNDW)] Internet (blitz) 2004 [$WGQDRIW] W______W W------W This was a bit careless as it allowed [rDbDWDWi] me to play which began a devas- [1pDngr0p] 13 f5! tating attack. Black will often leave his [pDnDp0WD] king in the centre of the board in the [DWDp)WDW] French, but this can carry some risk. For [N)W)W)W)] a start, Black must always watch out [)WDBGNDR] for any breaks that will open up his [WDWDWDPD] king. This is a classic example. [$WDQIWDW] After 13...hxg4 14 fxg6 gxf3 15 W------W Black’s king The opening has been a disaster for gxf7+ Êxf7 16 Îxf3+ Êg8 had been ripped clear of all protection. Black. He has been left with a passive W______W and cramped position. White now played , starting an attack [W4b1Wgk4] 18 Ìg5!? against the black king. This is only pos- [0WDnDWDW] sible due to the strength of White’s [WDnDpDWD] light-squared bishop. The bishop on d3 [DW0p)WDW] is a monster of a piece which aims di- [WDW)WDWD] rectly at Black’s king. [DW)BDRDW] White is often advised to try to hold [PDWDNDW)] on to his light-squared bishop for as [$WGQDWIW] long as possible. Losing the bishop will W------W often mean losing the possibility to There is no defence to the onslaught attack. of White pieces flooding in. Following

17 Îg3+ Íg7 18 Íg5 Ëe8 19 Ìf4 Acknowledgements White’s attack was overwhelming and I would just like to say a quick thank the game was soon over. you to everyone who has helped me

11

Attacking Chess: The French put this book together. My main praise an opening that you can play. No more goes to John Emms for his continued playing the Alekhine! patience and generosity in handing out extended deadlines. Simon Williams, If you ever get around to reading Farnham, this book, Gary O’Grady, you will have March 2011

12

Contents

Bibliography 4 Introduction 5

1 The Advance Variation 13 2 Variation 53 3 The Winawer Variation: White’s 4th Move Alternatives 81 4 The Winawer Variation: White’s 5th Move Alternatives 108 5 The Winawer Variation: White’s 7th Move Alternatives 132

6 The Winawer Variation: The Main Line, 7 Ëg4 162 7 The Tarrasch Variation: White Plays 5 f4 197

8 The Tarrasch Variation: White Plays Íd3 and Ìe2 221 9 The Tarrasch Variation: The Universal System 260 10 The King’s Indian Attack 287 11 Minor Lines 301

Index of Variations 314 Index of Complete Games 319

Chapter 9 The Tarrasch Variation:

The Universal System

In this chapter, the last to deal with the and 3...Íe7. Tarrasch, I am going to concentrate on White’s knight is aggressively the increasingly popular Universal placed on f3 and Black can often find Variation, himself on the receiving end of a nasty 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Ìd2 Ìf6 4 . attack. In keeping with the nature of e5 Ìfd7 5 Íd3 c5 6 c3 Ìc6 7 Ìgf3 W______W this book I will be recommending the super-aggressive move 7...Íe7 8 0-0 [rDb1kgW4] g5!?. This used to be a favourite of [0pDnDp0p] mine, but then I stopped playing it af- [WDnDpDWD] ter a couple of bad results. However, [DW0p)WDW] after a fair amount of new analysis, I [WDW)WDWD] am expecting a rebirth of this variation [DW)BDNDW] in my future games! [P)WHW)P)] In this variation I believe that it is [$WGQIWDR] more important for Black to be aware W------W of White’s main ideas and that is what This is a dangerous system which I am going to concentrate on here. In has been adopted by a number of top general Black’s plan is fairly straight- grandmasters. I have even noticed that forward – he simply wants to destroy England’s no.1 player, Michael Adams, White’s centre. The main problem that has stopped playing the other Tarrasch Black faces is his king position. After variations in favour of this. Inciden- playing the move 8...g5 Black will find it tally, the system has obtained its ‘Uni- hard to ever castle kingside. Thus he versal’ name tag because White can will often have to play the game with play in a similar manner and try to en- his king in the centre or attempt gineer a after both 3...c5 queenside .

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The Tarrasch Variation: The Universal System

has available in the French. 1. White opens things up with f4! White will often lose a pawn in the W______W centre, but this is of little concern to [rhb1W4kD] him as he normally obtains good at- tacking chances in return. White will [DWDngp0p] often start his attack with the move f4. [W0WDpDWD] [0B0p)WDW]

Z.Veroci-L.Gyorkos [WDW)WDWD] Budapest 2007 [DW)WDNDW] W______W [P)WHW)P)] [rDb1kDW4] [$WGQ$WIW] W------W [0pDnDpDp] He now played . As well as 10 Ìf1! [WDWDpDWD] bringing the knight around towards [DBgphWDW] Black’s king, this move also releases [WDWHWDpD] White’s dark-squared bishop which will [DW)WDWDW] shortly play an important role. After [P)WHW)P)] 10...Ía6 11 a4 Íxb5 12 axb5 Îe8 13 the knight had [$WGQDRIW] Ìg3! Ìf8 14 Ìh5! W------W reached a very dangerous attacking Here was an obvious and square. 12 f4! dangerous way to start the attack W______W when the position after 12...Ìc6 13 was pretty unclear. [rhW1rhkD] Íxc6 bxc6 14 Ëxg4 [DWDWgp0p] [W0WDpDWD] 2. The white knight dance: Ìf1-g3-h5! In the Universal System this can be an [0P0p)WDN] extremely effective plan as White’s [WDW)WDWD] knight is already on d2. If White is [DW)WDNDW] given time, he can move this knight [W)WDW)P)] around to a more effective square. Take [$WGQ$WIW] a look at the following game: W------W Indeed, Black’s position quickly went downhill: G.Kasparov-N.Short 14...Ìbd7 15 g3 Ìg6 16 (Zurich rapid) 2001 and h4 Ìdf8 17 Êg2 Ëd7 18 Íh6!! Black’s king did not last much longer. Kasparov gave a model display of This is one reason why I am sug- the attacking possibilities that White gesting that Black plays 8...g5!?. He un-

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Attacking Chess: The French balances the position from an early How should Black continue now? stage and White is not given time to The move 8...0-0 looks very risky as pull off such extravagant knight ma- White’s bishop on d3 is ideally lined up noeuvres. against the h7-pawn and White has a number of ways that he would be able

to start an attack against Black’s king.

Game 48 Let’s first think about what is wrong S.Rublevsky-S.Volkov with White’s set-up. The main thing European Championship, that we notice is the position of his Ohrid 2001 knight on d2. At the moment it is - ing in the dark-squared bishop and it will take a while to get this knight into 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Ìd2 Íe7 We reach the Universal System via the game. Having a knight on d2 will an interesting move order. Our usual also make it harder for White to defend move order would be 3...Ìf6 4 e5 Ìfd7 his d4-pawn, so it makes sense for 5 Íd3 c5 6 c3 Ìc6 7 Ìgf3 Íe7. Black to aim for White’s d-pawn. There are two main ways that Black 4 Ìgf3 Ìf6 5 e5 Ìfd7 6 Íd3 c5 7 c3 can do this: one is by playing 8... b6 Ìc6 Ë This is the starting point of the and the other is the approach chosen opening. The first thing you should no- here. The main problem with the im- tice is that Black does not play the mediate 8...Ëb6 is that White gains an move ...f6 in this particular line. This is attack after 9 Îe1 cxd4 10 cxd4 Ìxd4 due to the aggressive placement of 11 Ìxd4 Ëxd4 12 Ìf3 Ëb6 13 Ëa4. I White’s knight on f3. The problem is do not enjoy defending such positions, that ...f6 can often run into tactics which is why I have gone for a more based around the move Ìg5. counterattacking option in this book.

8 0-0 8...g5!? W______W By playing this move Black plans to chase White’s knight on c3 away with [rDb1kDW4] ...g5-g4. It will then be possible to cap- [0pDngp0p] ture the pawn on d4. However, this is a [WDnDpDWD] very double-edged approach as Black [DW0p)WDW] cannot really consider castling kingside [WDW)WDWD] anymore because his g-pawn has [DW)BDNDW] marched up the board. Indeed, the [P)WHW)P)] game can become very wild and messy [$WGQDRIW] after this aggressive lunge.

W------W 9 dxc5!

262

The Tarrasch Variation: The Universal System W______W W______W [rDb1kDW4] [rDb1kDW4] [0pDngpDp] [0pDWgpDp] [WDnDpDWD] [WDnDpDnD] [DW)p)W0W] [DB)pDW0W] [WDWDWDWD] [WDWDWDWD] [DW)BDNDW] [DW)WDNDW] [P)WHW)P)] [P)WHW)P)] [$WGQDRIW] [$WGQDRIW] W------W W------W This is White’s best response to I still think that this move is under- Black’s pawn push. He wants to open rated here. For example: up the centre as much as possible, so a) 11 b4 0-0 (11...a5!?) 12 Ìd4 Íd7 that he can try to exploit the slightly 13 a4 and now in A.Holst-S.Williams, exposed nature of Black’s king. Aarhus 1998, I now played 13...e5, Other options will be looked at in which was okay, but even better would Giplis-Savchenko towards the end of have been 13...a5! when Black is the chapter. slightly better. b) 11 c4 0-0 12 cxd5 xd5 13 b3 9...Ìdxe5 Ë Ì The knight grabs a central pawn. g4 14 Ëxd5 exd5 15 Íxc6 bxc6 16 This makes sense, but it can leave the Ìfd4 Íd7 was fine for Black in black king open to attack along the e- K.Zalkind-S.Williams, Witley 1999. The file. two bishops should come into their Black actually has a number of op- own later on in the game. tions here and we will look at 9...g4 and 11 Ëe2?! 9...Ìxc5 later on. Too passive. White had a second chance to capture on e5 and he should 10 Íb5?! Black should be fine after this move. have played 11 Ìxe5!, transposing to White should play 10 Ìxe5! which we our next game. will look at next in Rublevsky- 11...Ëc7 Morozevich. Black is getting ready to castle queenside when his strong centre and 10...Íd7 A move that I used to experiment advanced g-pawn will give him very with was 10...Ìg6!?. My plan was to good chances. give some extra protection to my king 12 Îe1 so that I could castle kingside. I also This may also be a slight waste of wanted to combine this with ...e5. time.

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Attacking Chess: The French

xc6 bxc6 20 xa6 c8 would have 12...Ìg6 Ì Ë Î W______W left Black with some for the sacrificed pawn; he just needs to [rDWDkDW4] get either his f- or h-pawn moving [0p1bgpDp] quickly up the board. I expect that [WDnDpDnD] White is better though, as he can gen- [DB)pDW0W] erate good play on the queenside with

[WDWDWDWD] Ìa5 and then b4.

[DW)WDNDW] 18 Îxd5 [P)WHQ)P)] W______W [$WGW$WIW] [WDk4WDW4] W------W I prefer Black’s position. He has [Dp1bgpDW] [pDnDWDnD] ideas such as ...g4, ...Ìf4 and ...e5 all ready to happen. [DW)R0WDp]

13 Ìb3 g4 14 Ìfd4 e5 [BDWDWDpD] The opening has gone very well for [DN)WDWDW] Volkov. He has a massive pawn centre, [P)NDQ)P)] whilst White is lacking any way to at- [$WGWDWIW] tack on the queenside. If only we could W------W get this position every time we played This is pretty much forced as other- the French! wise Black has time to play ...Íe6 on his next move with a good position. 15 Ìc2 White could have tried 15 xc6 Ì 18...Ìd4 bxc6 16 Ía6, but now Black can castle Another option was 18...Íf5!? the other way, 16...0-0, when he is which should give Black pretty decent ready to launch another pawn up the compensation: for example, 19 Îxd8+ board, this time the f-pawn, with a Îxd8 20 Ìb4 Ìxb4 21 cxb4 Íd3 22 good position. Ëe3 Ìf4 with a complicated game ahead. 15...a6 16 Ía4 A rather strange square for the 19 Íxd7+ Îxd7 20 cxd4?! bishop, but the white pawn on c5 will This is a mistake. White should have always make it hard for Black to ever played 20 Îxd4 which would have led achieve ...b5. to a roughly equal position after 20...exd4 21 cxd4 f6. If White can ever 16...h5 17 Îd1 0-0-0! Í Black relies on a little tactical point manage to play d5 then he will be do- to defend his centre. ing well, but in the meantime Black has Instead 17...Íe6 18 Ìb4 Îd8 19 ideas of playing ...h4, ...Îe7 and ...Ìf4

264

The Tarrasch Variation: The Universal System with counterplay against White’s king. 28 Ëb5? This is certainly an interesting position. This is another error. White’s is needed around the centre and king- 20...Îxd5 21 Ìb4 Îdd8 22 d5 White was relying on this move to side in order to defend the light give him good chances. The main prob- squares. lem is... 28...h4! Black is simply threatening to play 22...a5! W______W ...h3 and then ...Ëd5.

[WDk4WDW4] 29 Ëe2 [Dp1WgpDW] 29 Ìc5 allows a number of ex- changes after 29...Ëd1+ 30 Îxd1 Îxd1+ [WDWDWDnD] 31 f1 (not 31 g2?? h3 mate) [0W)P0WDp] Ë Ê 31...Îxf1+ 32 Êxf1 when White would [WHWDWDpD] have had a tough job to hold the ending.

[DNDWDWDW] 29...f5 [P)WDQ)P)] The rest is pretty easy for Black.

[$WGWDWIW] 30 Îe1 Ëd5 31 Îf1 Ëf3 W------W W______W ...which favourably liquidates the [WiW4WDWD] position for Black. [DpDWDWDW] 23 d6 Otherwise d5 drops. [WDWDWDnD] [DWDW0pDW] 23...Íxd6 24 cxd6 Ëxd6 25 Íg5 This is pretty much forced as 25 Ìc2 [W0WDWDp0] allows 25...Ëd1+ with a winning posi- [DNDWDq)W] tion for Black. [P)WDQ)W)]

25...axb4 26 Íxd8 Îxd8 [DWDWDRIW] The dust has settled and Black is a W------W pawn up. Just as important is his con- Black decides to take no risks. A typi- trol over the d-file. Moreover, if Black cally Russian way of finishing off the can manage to exchange queens then game! White will have a hopeless defensive 32 Ëxf3 gxf3 task ahead. The ending is easily winning for Black. His central pawn formation will 27 g3 Êb8 Another option was the immediate prove to be too strong for White. 27... d3 which would force White’s Ë 33 Îe1 e4 34 Êf1 Ìe5 35 gxh4 Ìd3 36 queen to a bad square with 28 c1+ Î Îd1 Îg8 37 Ìd4 Îg2 38 Îd2 Ìf4 39 b8 29 e1. Ê Ë Îc2 Îxh2 40 Êe1 Ìd3+ 0-1

265