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Pirc/Modern Defence Analysis Center. The Race In opposite-side-castling situations there is only one golden rule: get your own attack moving. This is
because no defense can hold out against an opponent who is free to throw everything at you. In the game between Evgeny Sveshnikov and Loek Van Wely from the Biel Interzonal, the players steered their kings in
opposite directions, and mating attacks began as early as move 9! Sveshnikov is an expert in certain hyper-aggressive White systems, and he forced Van Wely, Holland's new star, to take desperate counter-measures.}
Sveshnikov - Van Wely, Biel (IZ) 1993 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 g6 4 Be3 Bg7 [Since part of White's plan is Qd2 and Bh6, often Black delays the development of this bishop in order to snap on h6 from f8, saving time.
Also, since White's 4th evinces a possible intention to castle queenside, Black often starts a queenside storm with 4 ... c6 or 4 ... a6 followed by ... b5. For example, in A. Ivanov - Ehlvest, NY Open 1990, play
continued 4 ... c6 5 Qd2 (in Sveshnikov - Rukavina, Pula 1990, Sveshnikov switched gears with 5 h3 Nbd7 6 f4 Bg7 7 Qf3) b5 6 Bd3 (in Judasin - Wolff, NY Open 1990, White played 6 f3 Qc7 7 O-O-O, in this line 6 ... Bg7 7
Bh6 Bh6 8 Qh6 was double-edged, Kamsky - M. Gurevic, Reggio Emilia 1991) Nbd7 7 Nf3 - White has abandoned the plan of castling queenside - Bg7 (alternatives were 7 ... Bb7 or 7 ... e5) 8 Bh6 O-O 9 Bg7 Kg7 10 e5 and
White stood better. Later in the same event Seirawan played even more provocatively against Ivanov: - with Black having already played ... Bg7 instead of ... Nf6 - 4 ... a6 5 h4 h5 6 Qd2 Nf6 7 f3 b5 8 Nh3, and Yasser
overvalued his bishop with 8 ... Bb7 instead of the prudent 8 ... Bh3 9 Rh3 e6, etc.] 5 Qd2 c6 [Nothing is to be gained by 5 ... Ng4 6 Bg5.] 6 f3 [White's setup is reminiscent of the Yugoslav Attack
against the Dragon.] Nbd7 [In games 3 and 5 of the Gelfand - Nikolic Candidates Match in Sarajevo 1991, Nikolic tried 6 ... Qa5 here. Game 3 continued 7 g4 h5 8 g5 Nh7 9 f4 O-O 10 Nf3 e5, and Black was cramped but
his king was safe and he had some counterchances. Game 5 deviated slightly: 7 g4 b5 8 Nge2 h5 9 g5 Nfd7 10 f4 and White maintained the edge.] 7 g4 e5 8 O-O-O O-O DIAGRAM [Neither player has decided to hedge their
bets; both declare where they live and set their respective attacks in motion. {But the raw strength of White's h-file attack has led Pirc players to seek other approaches to the Be3 system.}] 9 h4 b5 {[ 9 ... h5
gives White a choice between the positional 10 g5 Nh7 11 f4 or the uncompromising 10 Nh3.]} 10 h5 ed 11 Bd4 b4 12 Nb1 {[ Sveshnikov does not mind consigning this knight to a passive role, banking on the kingside
attack to decide matters. 12 Na4? Nb6 is good for Black, and putting the knight on e2 would clog the Q's route to h2 and the B's route to c4.]} Qa5 [It was possible to drive the bishop off the diagonal with 12 ...
c5, but this would not have been desirable: 13 Be3 Qa5 14 hg followed by Bh6 is amazingly efficient. After all, Van Wely played 10 ... ed to distract the bishop from getting to h6.] 13 hg hg 14 a3 [White cannot
afford to only play offense, as after 14 Qh2 Qa2 15 Ne2 c5, Black established long diagonal threats before White can get in Ng3 and g5.] c5 15 ab DIAGRAM Qa2 [The queen takes up a most annoying post.
Instead, 15 ... cb would leave Black without a method for dislodging the bishop from d4, although Black gets the c-file open quicker. But Van Wely was afraid of 16 Bc4! Ne5 17 g5!! Nxc4 18 gf! Nxd2 19 fg f6 20 gf(Q)+
Kf8 21 Rd2 and wins. If Black sidesteps this with 17 ... Nh5, then 18 Bd5 Rb8 19 f4 is strong.] 16 bc Rb8 [Threatening 17 ... Ne4! 18 fe Qb2+!] 17 Qh2 Rd8 [By giving the Black king more breathing room, it is
now possible for a potential Bxf6 to be answered by recapturing with the bishop. 17 ... dc? would have lost to 18 Bxf6 Nxf6 19 Qxb8. Very complicated is the attempt to open the long diagonal immediately with 17 ...
Nh5!?, temporarily closing the h-file and hitting b2. Then 18 gh Bd4 would be no good for White, and 18 Bg7 Kg7 19 b3 Nc5 20 gh Rb3 is a mess. But in this line it seems that White can take everything with impunity: 19
gh! Rb2 20 Nc3 Qa3 21 hg!] 18 c6 [Suddenly Sveshnikov tries to steal some major material.] Nh5 19 Bg7 Kg7 20 b3 {[ It seems 20 gh was still possible, but since Black cannot save his material, Sveshnikov
consolidates.]} Nc5 21 Bc4! [Overhasty would have been 21 c7 Rb3 {22 cd(Q) Rb1+ 23 Kd2 Nb3+}. Now Black has too much stuff hanging to attempt to retract his plans.] Be6 22 c7 Bc4 23 cd(Q) Rb3 {DIAGRAM}
24 Qhd6 {[Setting up his own mate threats.]} Qb2+ 25 Kd2 Rd3+ 26 Ke1 Qc2 27 Q6f8+ [More picturesque would have been 27 Q6f6+ Nf6 28 Qh8 mate.] |
