Openings Survey (a supercourse)

Hi, This is GM Mike Rohde, and welcome to the Supercourse "Openings You Should Know". Everyone, from beginner to Grandmaster, is concerned about the openings. The main questions are "What openings should I play", "Do I know my openings well enough", and "How do I build a repertoire". In this course we are going to learn something about the openings and, just as important, how to attack the strategic planning questions in building an effective opening repertoire.

When I was about 12-13 years old, I studied Modern Chess Openings, 10^th edition and developed a great understanding of most openings. While I am not suggesting that you go out and get comparable volumes (especially as we are going to give you all of the information right here), I am going to give you this secret of top players - -

The best way to become a good openings player is to learn a little bit about a lot of openings!

Then, later you develop your opening repertoire from a position of strength, confident that you can specialize to pursue enhanced results. Most learning players make a huge mistake – learning one or two openings, and then they are lost when they are out of their limited repertoires!

Let’s start with the Double King-Pawn openings. As you may have learned from the Italian Game Tutorial here at Chesswise, you really must learn the Giuoco Piano and the Two Knights Defense. By learning, in the context of this supercourse, I really mean being able to play with relative confidence the first 8-10 moves of the opening. Now, even if you decide that you will not play the Ruy Lopez, because you are always going to play the Giuoco with White, and you play, for example, the Sicilian with Black, I think you will do yourself a tremendous favor by learning a few moves of the Ruy Lopez anyway! This is what I mean by having a good openings education – because different openings have some similar ideas and some contrasting ideas, and you can increase your chess strength geometrically by becoming familiar with them.

After 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 is the Italian Game, comprising the Giuoco Piano and the Two Knights Defense. There is no question that this is one of the most important positions in chess. If Black plays 3 … Nf6 (which is the Two Knights Defense), then 4 Ng5 already attacks the weak square f7. Particularly for children and other beginning players, this creates all sorts of problems. White is threatening to capture on f7 with his knight, with a double attack against Black's queen and rook. Therefore, Black virtually has to play the move 4 … d5, blocking off the White bishop from attacking f7. Then White plays 5 exd5 and unless Black already has some special knowledge about this position, he is likely to get into some trouble. This is because the natural move 5 … Nxd5 allows too strong lines for White. Probably the strongest move for White here is 6 d4, as then 6 … Nxd4 is a mistake because of 7 c3, spearing the knights along the d-file. Going back to the position after 6 d4, if Black plays 6 … exd4, then 7 O-O is strong, as Black is coming under a direct attack. White has an even more tempting move after Black's 5 … Nxd5. This is 6 Nxf7, a really fun move to play because of its name: the Fried Liver Attack. After 6 … Kxf7 7 Qf3+, then Black has to play 7 … Ke6 if he wants to avoid losing back his knight on d5 for nothing. After 8 Nc3, the position is a little unclear but certainly full of danger for Black.

Thus, in this short little segment, we have learned a little bit about the Fried Liver. But there is a better way for Black to play the Two Knights Defense, and let's start that from the beginning. This is, after the opening moves 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 Ng5 d5 5 exd5, Black should play the move 5 … Na5 (by the way, 5 … Nd4 is an even more complicated alternative). Black's trip to the edge of the board with 5 … Na5 is a pawn sacrifice after 6 Bb5+ c6 7 dxc6 bxc6, but the line makes sense for this reason: White started an early attack with 4 Ng5 which, although it caused a problem on f7, also decentralized the White knight and committed time to the attack (at the cost of regular development). If Black can derail the White initiative, it may be worth a pawn to do so, as then Black will have neutralized White's threats and taken advantage of the lack of development of White's other forces. For this reason, the Two Knights Defense is a perfectly good defense to play (although Fischer and Steinitz, for example, preferred the White side of it), only if you know about 7 or 8 moves of theory. I still advise all of my young students, for whom memorizing theory can be difficult, to avoid the Two Knights Defense signature move 3 … Nf6, and play 3 … Bc5, which is the Giuoco Piano.

Let's move to the basic position of the Giuoco Piano. This comes about after the moves 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5. Giuoco Piano, paradoxically, is Italian for "Quiet Game". The important point about 3 ... Bc5 is that Black obtains classical development with counterattacking chances, and also, White cannot start the attack against f7 with the move 4 Ng5? as Black's queen still controls that square. After the move 4 d3, we arrive at the Giuoco Pianissimo ("Very Quiet Game"). Nevertheless, this is how many games develop, and quite logically. With 4 d3 White envisions the move Nf3-g5 as his queen bishop now defends that square. However, the important point about playing the Giuoco Piano for Black is that now he plays 4 ... Nf6. Then the move 5 Ng5 is not very strong as Black will play 5 ... O-O, castling and defending the f7 point with his rook. Therefore, White should refrain from 5 Ng5 and instead play developing moves like Bc1-g5, Nb1-c3 and castling, and Black will often do the same. The symmetrical nature of the position is what gives it the name "Quiet Game", but things can get pretty wild, depending on who can get their attack going first, using the queen bishop on g5 (or, for Black, g4), and then moving the queen knight into the center (d5 or d4) to increase the pressure on the pinned piece.

Let's examine the position in detail from the Giuoco Pianissimo after moves 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 d3 Nf6. Then play often continues 5 Nc3 d6 with a symmetrical position. Notice that if Black now starts copying, he will get in trouble, as is almost always the case. For example, we can continue with 6 O-O O-O 7 Bg5 Bg4?! 8 Nd5 Nd4?! Black now is in bad shape after 9 Bxf6 gxf6 (notice that the copying 9 … Bxf3 loses to 10 Qd2! Qd7 11 Qg5) 10 Qd2! and 10 … Bxf3 will lose to 11 Qh6. Going back to the position after 6 O-O, 6 … Bg4 is an interesting move for Black. Then 7 Bg5 is actually not strong for White, because Black plays 7 … h6, and then 8 Bh4 g5 is good for Black. White's extra tempo has worked against him in this instance because he used it to castle while Black remained uncastled. This allows Black to throw his kingside pawns forward with impunity against White's castled king. Therefore, after 6 … Bg4, let's play a more circumspect move for White – 7 h3. Then Black can consider the wild 7 … h5, hoping again to use the fact that White has castled and he has not. 7 … h5 is not really a strong move because White can play quiet moves such as 8 Be3 or 8 Bg5 here, but if White is either too curious or too greedy, and plays 8 hxg4, an amazing scenario can follow. Naturally, Black plays 8 … hxg4, and then on 9 Ng5, 9 … g3 is strong. If White then continues on the path of self-destruction with 10 Nxf7, then the punishment is 10 … Nxe4!! This move threatens to play … Rh8-h1+ followed by … Qd8-h4+ and mate, or to play simply … Qd8-h4 at once. After 11 Nxd8, White gets mated by 11 ... gxf2+ 12 Rxf2 Bxf2+ 13 Kf1 Rh1+ 14 Ke2 Nd4 mate.

To recap, we can now state with authority that in the Two Knights Defense, the main issue is White's early attack on f7, and in the Giuoco Pianissimo, the battle revolves around who can institute an effective pin on the opposing king's knight. Instead of attempting to learn every move of these openings (at this state in any event an impossible task), let's see what the Ruy Lopez has to offer in terms of strategic insight. After the opening moves 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6, White plays 3 Bb5 to reach the Ruy Lopez, also known as the Spanish, and universally regarded as one of the cornerstones of chess opening theory. With 3 Bb5, White is not thinking about directly attacking the opponent's king (recognizing, that is, that Black will probably castle kingside); rather, he is interested in "pressurizing" the pawn at e5. In this regard, White would like to force Black into one of the following: give up central space with the exchange … e5xd4 (where a White pawn on d4 may be backed up by a pawn on c3), or maintain the pawn at e5 at the cost of passive or tactically unfavorable piece placement.

The immediate question in the Ruy Lopez is whether White is really threatening to win a pawn right now. The Morphy Defense, which arises after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6, openly challenges this aspect of the Ruy. If then White plays 4 Bxc6 (the Exchange Variation), Black should play 4 … dxc6 and then if 5 Nxe5, then 5 … Qd4, with a double attack on the knight and the e-pawn, is good for Black (and also, by the way, 5 … Qg5 and 5 … Qe7 would also recover the pawn). So White is not menacing the e-pawn right now. But in this Exchange Variation, White should play not the hasty 5 Nxe5, but rather, 5 O-O, a line popularized by Bobby Fischer. Then the threat to e5 becomes real, and on, for example, 5 … f6, then 6 d4 illustrates some of the themes we discussed – pressure on e5 designed to win better control of the center. After 6 … exd4 7 Qxd4, White has the better pawn structure, but here Black's two bishops serve to minimize his disadvantage.

Therefore, instead of the Exchange Variation, White more often simply retreats his bishop to a4. After the moves 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 the pressure on e5 still exists, but in more muted form, as Black can now break the pseudo-pin with the move … b7-b5. To understand the dynamics of this opening, let's follow the main line of the Closed Ruy Lopez. After 4 Ba4, Black plays 4 … Nf6, instituting a counter-attack against White's e-pawn on e4. Then 5 O-O prepares play on the e-file, ready to meet 5 … Nxe4, which would be the Open Defense to the Ruy with 6 d4, effectively winning back Black's e-pawn as 6 … exd4 7 Re1 would be dangerous. Going back to 5 O-O, Black can play 5 … Be7. This move blocks the e-file and threatens to capture White's e-pawn with impunity. Now White plays 6 Re1, defending his own e-pawn, and for the first time White is actually threatening the pawn on e5! Specifically, the threat is 6 Bxc6 dxc6 7 Nxe5. Therefore, Black now plays 6 … b5, shielding the c6-knight from the eyes of White's bishop. After 7 Bb3 both sides will generally proceed with their development, but we should note that White's main plan is still to play c2-c3 and then d2-d4 to box Black into a passive position.

Now let's revisit the Giuoco Piano for a moment. After 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5, the move 4 c3, known as the Moeller Variation, poses problems for Black. Here White aims to play the move d2-d4, not only to push back the Black bishop, but also to run over the square e5, and hand-to-hand combat can arise very quickly. The main line is 4 ... Nf6 5 d4 exd4 6 cxd4, and now if Black plays a bishop retreat, the advance of White's center pawns can be overwhelming. Therefore, Black must gain time with 6 … Bb4+ with continuing complications.

In my view, this is a good example of the need to learn a little bit about a lot of different openings. Familiarity with the Ruy Lopez strategy of obtaining central pressure can make a player much stronger in, say, the Giuoco Piano.

The 2 Knights Defence

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3 Bc4 - The Giuoco Piano / 2 Knights Defense

The most important chess opening to learn, especially for young players, is the Italian Game, comprising mainly the Giuoco Piano and the Two Knights Defense. This is because this opening focuses on the early assault on the square f7 (or f2), which is a weak square in the opening as it is only defended by the king.

The opening moves of the Italian Game are 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4. Then Black's main choices are 3 ... Bc5 (the Giuoco Piano), and 3 ... Nf6 (the Two Knights Defense).

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1 e4 e5

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Above is the position after the moves 1 e4 e5. These moves introduce the so-called "Double King-Pawn Openings" or "Open Games". Moving the king-pawn two squares forward is the most classical move, because is occupies and controls the center, and allows for quick development of the king bishop and queen, which facilitates early castling.

White's choices in this position are 2 Nf3 (the classical move), 2 Nc3 (the Vienna Game), 2 f4 (the King's Gambit - which we would not recommend for beginning players!), 2 Bc4 (the Bishop's Opening) and 2 d4 (the Center Game). With 2 Nf3, White develops his king knight to its best square, and attacks the Black e-pawn. This is more popular than 2 Bc4, because against 2 Bc4 Black can play 2 ... Nf6, which attacks the White e-pawn (as well as keeping the White queen from causing any trouble by coming out to h5).

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This is the position after 2 Nf3 Nc6. 2 ... Nc6 by Black is the most common response. Other tries are 2 ... Nf6 (Petroff's Defence), 2 ... d6 (Philidor's Defence) and 2 ... f5?! (the Latvian Counter-Gambit, but we would prefer to avoid any move with our f-pawns). After 2 ... Nc6, White could respond with 3 Nc3 (the 3 Knights Game, which would probably turn into a 4 Knights Game after the reply 3 ... Nf6), 3 d4 (the Scotch) or 3 Bb5 (the Ruy Lopez - also called the Spanish).

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White has played the most direct attacking move, 3 Bc4. Now, aside from the fairly passive 3 ... Be7 (the Hungarian Defense), Black has two main replies, 3 ... Bc5 and 3 ... Nf6.

The Giuoco Piano

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This is the Giuoco Piano, which, paradoxically, is Italian for "Quiet Game". The important point about 3 ... Bc5 is that Black obtains classical development with counterattacking chances, and also, White cannot start the attack against f7 with the move 4 Ng5? as Black's queen still controls that square.

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This is the position after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 d3, the Giuoco Pianissimo ("Very Quiet Game"). With 4 d3 White envisions the move Nf3-g5 as his queen bishop now defends that square. However, if Black now plays 4 ... Nf6, then 5 Ng5 is not very strong as Black will play 5 ... O-O, castling and defending the f7 point with his rook. Therefore, White should refrain from 5 Ng5 and instead play developing moves like Bc1-g5, Nb1-c3 and castling, and Black will often do the same. The symmetrical nature of the position is what gives it the name "Quiet Game", but things can get pretty wild, depending on who can get their attack going first, using the queen bishop on g5 (or, for Black, g4), and then moving the queen knight into the center (d5 or d4) to increase the pressure on the pinned piece.

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This is the position after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 c3, the Moeller Variation of the Giuoco Piano. Here White aims to play the move d2-d4 to push back the Black bishop, and hand-to-hand combat can arise very quickly. The main line is 4 ... Nf6 5 d4 exd4 6 cxd4 Bb4+ with continuing complications.

The 2 Knights Defence

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This is the position after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6. Black counterattacks the White e-pawn, but White is allowed to play the fierce move 4 Ng5, which threatens to play 5 Nxf7, with a double attack against Black's queen and rook!

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After 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 Ng5 Black just about has to play the move 4 ... d5, shutting off the pressure on the bishop's diagonal. Then after 5 exd5, Black can play 5 ... Nxd5, but this allows the dangerous sacrifice 6 Nxf7, known as the "Fried Liver Attack". If White does not want to make the knight, he can play 6 d4 instead. In the diagram position, after 4 ... d5 5 exd5, a good idea for Black is to play the move 5 ... Na5, pushing the dangerous bishop off that diagonal (and responding to 6 Bb5+ with 6 ... c6). In this way, Black hopes to prove that White has misplaced his pieces on an early raid, although White is up a pawn at the moment.

A highly recommended first step is to explore our "Italian Game" Tutorial. The Tutorial, which includes diagrams for each move, illustrates the Most Important Chess Opening, arising from the moves 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4. Enter the Tutorial Now!

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•Center Game [1 e4 e5 2 d4] - an antiquated but surprising opening where White can get a strong attack against even the most careful defenders. Center Game •Vienna Game or Bishop's Opening [1 e4 e5 2 Nc3 or 2 Bc4] - White keeps open the possibility of playing the move f2-f4 a la the King's Gambit. Vienna Game and Bishop's Opening •King's Gambit [1 e4 e5 2 f4] - the ultimate "romantic" opening: White sacrifices a pawn for the attack. King's Gambit •Philidor's Defence [1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6] - the ultimate "strongpoint" defence: Black fortifies the e5 square. Philidor's Defence •Petroff's Defence [1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6] - symmetry is the theme here, but this can be dangerous! Petroff's Defence •Scotch Opening [1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4] - a favorite of World Champion Garry Kasparov. Scotch Opening •4 Knights Game [1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 Nc6] - a Classical Opening which also appeals to very young players. 4 Knights Game •Evans Gambit [1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 b4] - a daring Gambit with many unresolved questions. Evans Gambit •Giuoco Piano [1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5] - Italian for "Quiet Game" but really pretty wild - see the Tutorial. Giuoco Piano •2 Knights Defence [1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6] - leading to the "Fried Liver Attack", this one must be mastered by young players - see the Tutorial. 2 Knights Defence •Ruy Lopez [1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5] - also known as the Spanish Game. Ruy Lopez (w/o 3 ... a6) •Ruy Lopez [1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6] - 19th century Louisianian Paul Morphy's defence to the Ruy. Ruy Lopez (Morphy Defence) •Ruy Lopez [1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7] - the cornerstone of modern chess theory. Ruy Lopez (Closed)

Gateway to GM Mike Rohde's "Megaplan" Chess Openings

Here we provide sample opening analysis in many different openings. This is a sample Analysis Center: Najdorf Variation

ECO Classification "A"

Reti Opening A quiet opening with many positional traps. White plays 1 Nf3 and, in the ensuing play, fianchettoes his king bishop, but avoids both d2-d4 (Queen Pawn Openings) and c2-c4 (the English).

English Opening Characterized by 1 c4, with distinctive features after 1 ... e5 or 1 ... c5 by Black. White also often uses the English to sidestep certain Black defences against 1 d4.

Queen Pawn Openings This includes the Torre (1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 followed by 3 Bg5), the Trompovsky (1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5) and other tricky systems where White plays 1 d4 but does not afterward push his c-pawn 2 squares.

Benko Gambit The incredible countergambit 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 b5 where Black sacrifices his b-pawn for long-term play on the queenside.

Benoni Defense The unbalanced central pawn formation after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 e6 leads to very sharp play.

Dutch Defence The uncompormising 1 d4 f5 where Black stakes a claim on the square e4 and hopes for kingside expansion later.

ECO Classification "B"

Center Counter 1 e4 d5; a stodgy defence which has gained a lot of respect since Anand surprised Kasparov with it.

Alekhine's Defence The hypermodern 1 e4 Nf6 entices White to overextend in the center.

Pirc / Modern Defence 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 (or 2 ... g6). Black looks for counterplay with his fianchettoed king bishop.

Caro-Kann Defence With 1 e4 c6 Black concedes the "little center" but obtains full development in a weakness-free position. Used by Anatoly Karpov to propel himself back to the top.

Sicilian Defence 1 e4 c5 - The defence to play when you have to win. The c-pawn's job is to cut down a White pawn arriving on d4. White gets quick development, but Black counterpunches with his central pawn mass.

ECO Classification "C"

French Defence 1 e4 e6 - a fighting defence rich in tactical and strategical complexities.

King's Gambit The romantic gambit 1 e4 e5 2 f4. Fischer thought he busted this one. We are not so sure.

Vienna Game and Bishop's Opening 1 e4 e5 2 Nc3 or 2 Bc4; 19th century openings still breathing fire in the hands of Larsen, Shabalov and others.

Petroff's Defence After 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 the question is whether Black can equalize by force; a post-modern battleground.

Four Knights 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 Nf6: A turn of the century staple sees a modern renaissance.

Italian 3 Bc4 The Giuoco, the 2 knights, and other long-time favorites. The most important opening for young players to learn.

Ruy Lopez 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Exerting immediate pressure against e5, this is the bread and butter of chess theory.

ECO Classification "D"

Slav Defence 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 - a very popular solid defence to 1 d4.

Queen's Gambit Accepted 1 d4 d5 2 c4 dxc4: Another tough line, this defence often leads to isolated-queen-pawn positions.

Queen's Gambit Declined 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 - This completes the trio of Classical defences to 1 d4. In most lines, White must choose between a queenside "minority attack" and central maneuvers.

Grunfeld Defence 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5, a sharp defence where White has many forcing lines, this was used by Kasparov in his ascent to the throne.

ECO Classification "E"

Catalan Opening 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 d5 4 Nf3 - Like a Queen's Gambit but White fianchettoes the king bishop, giving rise to great complications if Black snaps on c4.

Bogo-Indian Defence 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 Bb4+ - Black is prepared to trade his king bishop and then build a dark-squared pawn chain or obtain play a la the Queen's Indian.

Queen's Indian Defence 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6: New discoveries in the Kasparov 4 a3 line, the classical 4 g3 line and the hybrid 4 Nc3 line made this the premier battleground of the 80s.

Nimzo-Indian Defence 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4. Nimzovich's most important contribution, a cornerstone of modern chess.

Twice Kaidanov found himself on the Black side of a Reti. In his last round game, where a win would have tied for first, Kaidanov attempted to play a Queen's Gambit Accepted, but Alburt refused to push his d-pawn two squares: 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 e6 4. Bxc4 c5 5. O-O Nf6 6. Qe2 a6 7. a3 b5 8. Ba2Bb7 9. a4 Nbd7 10. Na3 bxa4 11. Nc4 Be7 12. d3 Nd5 Clearly, Black has a fine game here, but after 13. Bb1 Bc6 14. Bc2 O-O 15.Bd2 N5b6 16. e4 Nxc4 17. dxc4 Bf6 18. Bc1, Kaidanov played 18 ... Qa5? overlooking the trick 19. e5! with the point 19 ... Bxf3 20 Qd3! g6 21 exf6; after 19 ... Be7 20. Bd2 Qc7 21. Bc3, Alburt had a large advantage and went on to win in 48 moves. Earlier in the event, Kaidanov fared better against Igor Ivanov, with this system - 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 Now Suba's 3 a3!, meant to be an improvement on 3 b4 f6, is very interesting. 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 e5 5. d3 Nf6 6. 0-0 Nd7 7. Na3 Be7 Played like a Classical Benoni with colors reversed; the chances are even. 0 - 1 in 38.

Rohde - Polgar, Z., NY INt. 1992, A26 1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Nf3 f5 4 d4 e4 5 Ng5 h6 [I believe that 5 ... Bb4 is Black's best here. I had just faced the continuation that Polgar chooses in Rohde - Browne, Philadelphia International 1992, so I was able to play the opening quickly.] 6 Nh3 g5 7 Ng1! [Black's kingside space advantage will be nullified by h2-h4.] Bg7 8 e3 Nf6 9 h4 Kf7?! [In Steinitzian fashion, using the king (the only available piece) to shore up the defence of g5. Instead Rohde-Browne featured a battle over the f4 square - 9 ... g4 10 Nge2 Nh5 11 Nd5 Ne7 12 Nef4 Nxf4 13 Nxf4 h5! followed by ... Rh6! and ... Ng6.] 10 Nh3 Kg6 11 f3 Qe7 12 fxe4 Nxe4 DIAGRAM [If Black had played 12 ... fxe4, then 13 Nf2 would threaten 14 Nfxe4 too strongly. After the text, 13 Nd5 is tempting, because if 13 ... Qf7?, then 14 Qh5+!! Kxh5 15 Nhf4+ gxf4 16 Nxf4+ Kg4 17 Be2+ Kg3 18 Rh3 mate! But 13 ... Qd6! would stop all this.] 13 Nxe4 Qxe4 14 Bd3! Qxg2 15 Bxf5+!! [The start of an incredible king-hunt.] Kxf5 16 Rf1+ [A critical move. Not 16 Qd3+ Kf6! 17 Rf1+ Ke7 18 Qg6 Qg3+ 19 Kd1 gxh4! 20 Rf7+ Kd8 and Black is better. The text 16 Rf1+ disallows 16 ... Kg6 17 Qd3+ Kh5 18 Nf4+! gxf4 19 Qf5+ Kxh4 20 Rxf4+, etc.] Ke6 17 Qh5 DIAGRAM Ne5 [A tough choice. 17 ... Rf8 loses to 18 Qg6+ Bf6 (18 ... Rf6? 19 d5+) 19 hxg5 hxg5 20 Rxf6+! Rxf6 21 Nxg5+. Not as clear is the groveling 17 ... Ke7?! (J. Polgar) 18 Qf7+ Kd8 19 Qxg7 Re8. The desperate 17 ... Bxd4 fails to 18 exd4 Qg3+ 19 Rf2!, but the bizarre 17 ... Qg3+ 18 Kd1 Bxd4!? may be tried.] 18 dxe5 Bxe5 19 Qf7+ Kd6 20 Rf6+ Kc5 [20 ... Bxf6 loses quickly to 21 Qxf6+ Kc5 22 Qxh8, because Black still cannot take the knight on h3, due to 23 Qd4+.] 21 b4+! Kxb4 22 Bd2+ Ka3 [If the king went back to c5, then 23 Rf5! wins - 23 ... d6 (or 23 ... Qg3+ 24 Nf2 and Black's situation has not improved) 24 Qxc7+ Qc6 25 Bb4+ Kxc4 26 Rc1+.] DIAGRAM 23 c5 [Ultimately, the WHite queen will cross over to the queenside to deliver checkmate, even though Black gets to have fun for a few moves.] d5 24 cxd6 Bg3+ 25 Rf2 Qh1+ 26 Ke2 Bg4+ 27 Kd3 Bd1 28 Bc1+ Ka4 29 Qc4+ Ka5 30 Bd2+ 1 - 0 CHAMELEONS As he proved last year in New York, Julio Granda-Zuniga is one of the best at creating ferocious attacks from quiet openings. Likewise, Yasser Seirawan, a fearsome positional player, has sharpened his style considerably. When the two met in Buenos Aires, both shed their camouflage early. Granda's incisive opening play led to an opportunity to start an explosive attack which might have run most players off the board. Instead, Seirawan refused to give ground, and found a brilliant way to hold onto his extra material. The question became, whether Seirawan could reorganize his position before the second wave of the attack arrived. Granda-Zuniga - Seirawan, Buenos Aires 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 Nc3 e6 [This method of entering the hedgehog system avoids aggressive White systems such as 3 ... b6 4 e4 d6 5 d4 cxd4 6 Nxd4 Bb7 7 Bd3, when a quick f2-f4-f5 is possible, or 3 ... b6 4 e3 Bb7 5 d4 cxd4 6 exd4 e6 7 a3 threatening d4-d5, and preparing 7 ... d5 8 cxd5 Nxd5 9 Ne5! On the other hand, with 3 ... e6 Black has lost the opportunity for the double fianchetto which could develop after 3 ... b6 4 g3 Bb7 5 Bg2 g6, etc.] 4 g3 b6 5 Bg2 Bb7 6 O-O Nc6 [Much less common than 6 ... Be7 or 6 ... a6, the text has been popularized by Nick DeFirmian. The main idea is that Black achieves the typical Hedhehog goal of exchanging light-squared bishops after 7 d4 Nxd4! 8 Nxd4 Bxg2 9 Kxg2 (R.K. Delaune once essayed the solid 9 Nxe6 against DeFirmian) cxd4 10 Qxd4 Qc7 with equality.] 7 e4! [An important innovation. White prepares to play d4 without allowing the exchange of bishops, and Black loses time if he locks the position up with 7 ... e5. In Salov - Seirawan, Rotterdam 1989, Yasser awarded White an exclam for 7 b3 in Inf. 47, game 46, claiming that the immediate 7 e3 is met by 7 ... Be7 8 d4 cxd4 9 exd4 Na5 10 b3 d5, although White looks quite happy after 11 Ne5 (threatening 10 b4!) O-O 12 Bg5 Rc8 13 Rc1. In any case, Granda's method is more incisive - if now 7 ... d6 8 d4 cxd4 9 Nxd4, Black's position lacks the dynamism generally associated with the hedgehog. ] e5 8 d3 g6 [This logical attempt to economize on the move 8 ... d6 meets a shocking reply. The game Illescas - Ulybin, Chalkidiki 1992, which deviated on the 6th move but reached a similar formation, illustrates Black's difficulties: 6 ... d6 7 Re1 Be7 8 e4 e5 9 d3 O-O 10 Nh4 Nc6 11 Nf5 Nd4 12 f4 with the initiative.] DIAGRAM 9 Nxe5!! Nxe5 10 f4 Nc6 [It is hard to give the piece back sensibly. Black just loses on 10 ... d6?? 11 fxe5 dxe5 12 Bg5 Be7 13 Qf3. And 10 ... Bd6 11 fxe5 Bxe5 12 Bh6 is uncomfortable. Likewise, 10 ... Neg4 11 e5 Bxg2 12 Kxg2 Be7 13 exf6 Nxf6 14 f5 O-O 15 Qf3 fails to solve Black's problems. Given this aggravation, Black holds onto the extra material.] 11 e5 Ng8 12 f5 [In this drastic situation, it is not easy to come up with workable defenses. Possible is 12 ... Rb8, freeing the c6 knight for duty on d4 or e5. Seirawan comes up with a fearless and cold-blooded idea.] Nh6!! 13 Ne4 Nxf5 [If 13 ... Nxe5 14 Bg5 is too strong.] 14 Nf6+ Ke7 15 Nd5+ Ke8 16 Nf6+ Ke7 DIAGRAM 17 g4 [Amazingly, there is no clear follow-up to 17 Bg5 Qb8.] Nfd4 18 Qe1! [The queen is headed to f2, to put inolerable pressure on f7 and f6. Again, 18 Bg5 Qb8 is inconclusive.] Qb8 19 Nd5+ Kd8 20 Bg5+ Kc8 21 Rxf7 DIAGRAM Ne6! [A solid move, shoring up the f8 bishop. The tempting 21 ... Qxe5? runs right into 22 Bf6!, and 21 ... Nxe5? loses to 22 Rxf8+! Rxf8 23 Ne7+ Kc7 24 Qxe5+ d6 25 Qg7.] 22 Bf6 Ncd8? [It turns out that this move allows White inroads into Black's position through well-timed exchanges. Better was 22 ... Rg8, and Black can wriggle forward with ... Ncd4, ... Bc6, etc. while White is stymied. An excellent example of this kind of defensive maneuvering is Granda's effort against Patrick Wolff from the '92 Reshevsky Memorial.] 23 Re7 Rg8 24 Re8 Bc6 25 Bxd8! [Much better than 25 Ne7+ which recovers the exchange but brings Black's pieces to life. Granda foresees that the e-pawn will become a monster. Another possibility was 25 Qh4, but Black can muddle with 25 ... g5 26 Qxh7 Rg7.] Nxd8 26 Nf6 Rh8 27 Bxc6 dxc6 28 Qe4 Qc7 29 e6 DIAGRAM Bg7 [A humorous variation is 29 ... Rb8 30 e7 Bxe7 31 Rxe7 Qd6 32 Ne8.] 30 e7 Rxe8 31 Nxe8 Bd4+ 32 Kh1 Qd7 33 Nd6+ Qxd6 34 e8(Q) [Granda has an extra queen in return for a bishop and knight. Seirawan puts up a remarkable resistance, but there is no denying the outcome.] a5 35 Rf1 Ra7 36 Rf8 Rd7 37 Q4e6 Qxe6 38 Qxe6 Kc7 39 Qe2 Bg7 40 Rf2 Bd4 41 Rf3 Nf7 42 Rf4 Nd6 43 Kg2 Nc8 44 b3 Re7 45 Re4 Rf7 46 Qe1 Rd7 47 Qg3+ Kb7 48 h3 Rf7 49 h4 Rd7 50 Re6 Bc3 51 Qf3 Nd6 52 Qf8 Nc8 53 Re8 Rc7 54 Rd8 Bg7 55 Qe8 Bf6 56 Rxc8 1 - 0 A34 Dzindzihasvili - Browne, North American Open, Rd. 6 1 Nf3 c5 2 g3 [Move order considerations in the Reti/English complex are very important. It is well known that after 2 c4 Nf6 Browne would head towards the Hedgehog: 3 Nc3 b6, or 3 g3 b6. But 2 g3 disallows the Hedgehog unless Black is willing to risk transposition to the King's Indian attack - 2 ... b6 3 e4. 2 g3 invites Black to occuply the center with 2 ... d5 with a Reversed King's Indian in store. Browne's usual reply to 2 g3 is 2 ... g6, which can lead to an English if White plays c4, a King's Indian if White plays c4 and d4, or a Gruenfeld after 3 c3 Bg7 4 d4 cxd4 5 cxd4 d5. Browne explained that he had not fared well with 2 ... g6 against Dzindzi in the past.] Nf6 3 Bg2 Nc6 4 O-O e6 [Deciding against the King's Indian 4 ... g6 5 c4 Bg7 6 d4 cxd4 7 Nxd4 O-O 8 Nc3 Nxd4 9 Qxd4 d6.] 5 c4 Be7 6 d4 cd [Opting for a Hedgehog-type formation without the fianchetto of the Queen's Bishop. 6 ... d5 would enter the Tarrasch or the Semi-Tarrasch.] 7 Nd4 O-O 8 Nc3 a6 9 Bf4 Nd4 10 Qd4 d6 11 Qd3 Qc7 [The pressure against d6 is very uncomfortable, but if first 11 ... Nh5 12 Be3, and 12 ... Rb8 13 Ba7! Ra8 14 Qe3, or 12 ... Qc7 13 Na4 take advantage of the weak b6 square.] 12 Rfd1 Rd8 13 Ne4!! [If 13 Rac1 (threatening 14 c5) Nh5! 14 Be3 Bd7 and Black completes his development.] Ne4 14 Be4 h6 [Better than the panicky 14 ... f5 15 Bg2 Rb8 16 e4.] 15 Rac1 g5 [A critical moment. The threat was 16 c5, and the dark-squared bishop had to be driven away. Browne prefers weakening his kingside in the hope of later creating dynamic play to the immobilization of his center that would result from 15 ... e5. The tournament situation mandated this risky decision.] 16 Be3 Bd7 17 Qb3! [More headaches! White threatens 18 Bb6 and 18 Qxb7.] Rdb8 [The more active 17 ... Re8 fails to 18 Qxb7 Qxb7 19 Bxb7 Rab8 20 Bxa6 Rxb2 21 c5! d5 22 Rd2. With the text Black hopes to eventually expand on the queenside, but White's 20th move will hinder those plans.] 18 Bb6 Qc8 19 Qd3 Bc6 20 b3!! [Stopping the planned freeing maneuver 20 ... Bxe4 21 Qxe4 Qc6 which now fails to 22 Qxc6 bxc6 23 Bc7 as the b-pawn is protected. Meanwhile, the move envisions the reorganization Bb6-d4-b2 and Qc3.] a5 21 Bh7+ Kg7 [On 21 ... Kf8 22 Qc3 e5 23 c5 things start to unravel.] 22 Bd4+ Kf8! [Again refusing, for positional reasons, the invitation to play 22 ... e5. Black's position would not be pretty after 23 Bb2 b6, although he would still be kicking.] 23 Be4 [Trying to clear a path to h7 for the queen.] f5 24 Bc6 Qc6 25 Bb2 a4?? [Hastening to create counterplay, Black only encourages White's b-pawn to join the fray. Passive defense with 25 ... Kf7 26 Qc3 Rg8 was best. The ironic aspect of 25 ... a4 is that Black had better chances of opening the a-file by leaving the a-pawn where it was as White may have needed to open a second front with a2-a3 and b3-b4. As so often happens when one is conducting a long and arduous defence, time pressure rears its ugly head.] 26 b4 Kf7 27 b5 Qe4 [Losing, but 27 ... Qc7 28 e4 was not much of an alternative.] 28 Qc3 f4 [On 28 ... Rg8 or 28 ... e5, 29 f3 is curtains because of 29 ... Qxe2 30 Re1.] 29 Qg7+ Ke8 30 c5! [The inevitable break. Since 30 ... d5 31 c6 is grisly, Black wants to be shown.] Bf8 31 Qg8 dc 32 Bg7 Ke7 [32 ... Qf5 loses to 33 Rd6 Rd8 (33 ... Ke7 34 Rcd1) 34 Rxe6+ Kd7 35 Rd1+ Kc7 36 Be5+ Kc8 37 Rxd8+ Kxd8 38 Rf6.] 33 Bf8+ Rf8 34 Qg7+ Rf7 35 Rd7+ Kd7 36 Qf7+ Kd6 [An unfortunate stroll, but if the king goes back Black will lose the rook.] 37 Rd1+ Ke5 38 Qg7+ Kf5 39 g4+ 1 - 0

Rohde - Ashley 1 Nf3 c5 2 c4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e6 4 g3 b6 Entering the Hedgehog. The major alternative here was 4 ... d5, the Tarrasch. 5 Bg2 Bb7 6 O-O d6 7 d4 cxd4 8 Qxd4 a6 Black's wall of central pawns may grow in strength later; his immediate concern is not to let d6 come under attack from a knight on b5. 9 Ng5 A well-known variation was 9 b3 Nbd7! 10 Ba3 Nc5 (shielding the d-pawn) 11 e4 Qc7 12 e5 dxe5 13 Qxe5 Rc8! and White does not have too much. The object of the text is to realight on e4, putting pressure on d6. 9 ... Bxg2 10 Kxg2 Be7 11 Rd1 Qc7 With this move Ashley begins to go down the wrong path. Correct was 11 ... O-O because 12 Nge4 can be met comfortably with 12 ... Ne8! securely rooting the d6-pawn, and preparing to push White back with ... f7-f5. 12 Nge4 O-O 13 Nxf6+ This leads to a strong position. 13 ... Bxf6 14 Qxd6 Qxc4 15 Qxb6 Nc6 Played quickly, looking for compensation for the pawn. Not good would be 15 ... Bxc3 16 bxc3 because of White's very strong bishop in variations like 16 ... Qxe2 17 Ba3 Re8 18 Qb7. 16 Qb3 Qxb3 17 axb3 Nd4 18 Ra3 Tempting was 18 Be3 as 18 ... Nxb3 19 Ra3 Rfb8 20 Na4 is juicy, but Black can instead play 18 ... Nc2! wrecking White's pawn structure, which would generate real counterplay. 18 ... Rb8 19 Ne4 Nc2 On 19 ... Nxb3 20 Bf4 is very strong. 20 Nf6+ gxf6 21 Ra4 Rxb3 22 Bh6! Nb4 Or 22 ... f5 23 Rxa6! 23 Rd4! With a big advantage

A Heritage Event This year's Lloyd's Bank tournament was probably the strongest ever, as many of England's best players came home to roost in the wake of the London Times World Championship and the current chess fever. At Lloyd's Bank, Jonathan Speelman took top honors. Games between Anthony Miles and Dr. John Nunn are always classic because of their radically different styles. This time, Miles used the quiet but pervasive Torre Attack to put a bear hug around the famous tactician and squeezed until Nunn surrendered a pawn. This, however, was a sufficient margin. Miles - Nunn, Lloyd's Bank 1993 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 c3 [Sometimes this is played on move 2, on the theory that White will eventually play the move whether Black plays 2 ... e6 or 2 ... g6. This worked to good effect in a US Championship game between Kavalek and Browne in which Walter took about 40 minutes to play 2 ... g6.] Bg7 4 Bg5 O-O [An unpopular but not bad move here is 4 ... Ne4; play could continue 5 Bh4 O-O 6 e3 d5 7 Nbd2 with a slight edge.] 5 Nbd2 d5 [On the Pirc-like 5 ... d6, White usually occupies the center with 6 e4 Nc6 7 Bd3 e5 8 O-O. Then Black's sharpest is 8 ... h6 9 Bh4 Qe8! enabling ... Nh5.] 6 e3 Nbd7 7 Be2 [Putting the bishop on e2 instead of d3 keeps it out of trouble and leaves White some chance of d-file pressure if central paws are exchanged.] Re8 8 O-O [In Rohde - Olafsson, World Open 1993, I played the extravagant 9 Bf4 here to prevent Black's next, which up until now was considered to be an equalizer.] e5 DIAGRAM 9 Nb3! [Typically, Miles has found a way to put some dynamism into a staid position. It becomes clear that he has no intention of doing anything in the center and gives Black an opportunity to play ... e4, in which case White's queenside play with c3-c4 will be strong, or to play ... exd4, after which White will have a small but permanent advantage after cxd4, thanks to the c-file.] c6 10 Rc1 a5 [A sensible decision to gain space. The extreme method 10 ... e4 11 Nfd2 b5 might be met by 12 a4 a6 13 Na1! with the idea of b2-b3 and c3-c4.] 11 c4 a4 [Weak would be the immediate 11 ... dxc4 12 Bxc4 a4? 13 dxe5 or, in this line, 12 ... exd4 13 Nbxd4.] 12 Nbd2 ed [Nunn may have been worried about his pawn chain after 12 ... e4 13 Ne1 Nf8 14 cxd5 cxd5 15 Nc2. But Black can improve with 13 ... Nb6 14 Nc2 dxc4 15 Nxc4 Nxc4 16 Bxc4 Be6.] 13 Nd4 Qa5? [A false sense of activity is generated by this pin-breaker. The exchange-seeking 13 ... Nb6 was indicated.] 14 cd Qd5 15 Bf4 Ne5 16 Qc2 Bg4 DIAGRAM 17 Bc4! [Refusing to allow a comforting exchange of minors as 17 ... Nxc4 18 Nxc4 leads to the loss of the a-pawn after 18 ... Rad8 19 Nb6, or tremendous pressure after 18 ... Qd8 19 h3 followed by 20 Rfd1.] Qa5 18 h3 Bd7 19 Be2 Rac8 [Black wants to take some squares under his control with either b7-b5 or c6-c5.] 20 Rfd1 b5 [Unfortunately, 20 ... c5 is met by 21 N4f3 Nxf3+ 22 Bxf3 b5 23 Bb7 winning the c-pawn.] 21 N2f3! [Seems to relieve the tension, but actually planning a stunning combination.] Nxf3+ 22 Bxf3 DIAGRAM Nd5 [On the intended 22 ... c5, Miles had prepared 23 Bb7!! cxd4 24 Bxc8 Bxc8 25 Qxc8! Rxc8 26 Rxc8+ Bf8 27 Bh6 Nd7 28 Rxd4 and wins, e.g. 28 ... Qa6 29 Rxf8+ Nxf8 30 Rd8.] 23 Bd6 Qb6 [Tricky was 23 ... Nb6 with ideas such as 24 Nxc6 Bxc6 25 Bxc6 Re6 26 b3 Bf8! But the cautious 24 b3 followed by Qc2-e2 would be effective.] 24 Qc5 Qxc5 25 Bxc5 [White has established an iron grip on the dark squares and the c6 pawn is weak, but stubborn resistance may have been afforded with 25 ... Red8 26 b3 axb3 27 axb3 Be8 and if 28 Nxb5 Nxe3. The defense Nunn selects aims to control e4, but has the serious drawback of releasing counterspiel against b2.] Nf6 DIAGRAM 26 Ba3! [Accurate. b2 is defended so that 26 ... Ne4 is defeated by 27 Nxb5.] Rb8 27 Bd6 Rb6 28 Nxc6 Bxc6 29 Bxc6 Rc8 30 Bb4 [The back rank threat provides for a necessary disentangement.] Bf8 31 Bxf8 Kxf8 32 Bf3 Rc4 33 Kf1 [Black's advanced queenside would pose technical problems for many players, but Miles makes the extra pawn count quite quickly.] Ke7 34 Ke1 Nd7 35 Bd5 Rxc1 36 Rxc1 b4 37 Rc7 Kd6 38 Ra7 Ne5 39 Bxf7 Nd3+ 40 Kd2 Nxf2 41 Rxa4 Ne4+ 42 Ke2 Rb7 43 Ra6+ Kc5 44 Bb3 Rd7 45 Ra5+ 1 - 0 Timman - Kasparov, VSB rd. 3 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 Bg5 [Even at the world-class level, this move is often a sign that one just does not feel like the battling the King's Indian right now.] Bg7 4 c3 [This move order is designed to discourage Black from playing an early ... c7-c5. Now if 4 ... c5 5 dxc5 Na6 (5 ... Ne4 6 Be3 Na6 7 Bd4, or 6 ... Qc7 7 Qd5), then 6 e4!? is interesting: 6 ... Nxc5 (not 6 ... Ne4?? 7 Bxa6 Nxg5 8 Nxg5 bxa6 9 Qd5) 7 e5 Ng4 8 Bf4 and suddenly WHite is messed up by 8 ... Ne4!] b6 [Most usual is 4 ... O-O 5 Nbd2 d5.] 5 Bxf6 Bxf6 6 e4 Bb7 7 Bd3 c5 8 d5?! [Very committal; it was not necessary and it does not gain time. Moreover, White's bishop will be forced to an awkward post.] e6 9 Bc4 O-O 10 O-O Na6 11 Qd3 Nc7 12 d6 Ne8 13 Nbd2 Bg7 14 h4 [It seems the overprotecting 14 Rad1 was in order here.] a6 15 a4 Qb8 16 e5 f6 17 h5 fxe5 18 hxg6 h6 19 Rfe1 Qxd6 20 Qxd6 Nxd6 21 Nxe5 Bxe5 22 Rxe5 Rf4 23 Bd3 Raf8 24 f3 a5 25 Kf2 Kg7 26 Rh5 Ne8 27 Kg3 Nf6 28 Re5 Nd5 29 Be4 R4f6 30 Nc4 DIAGRAM Nf4!! A brilliant combination, Kasparov finds a way to make his central superiority count. 31 Bxb7 Rxg6+ 32 Kh2 Rxg2+ 33 Kh1 d5 [Now Black gets the piece back somehow.] 34 Nxb6 Rb8 35 Rxe6 Rxb7 36 Rd6 Rg5 37 Rd1 d4 38 Nc4 Kh7 39 Re1 Rh5+ 40 Kg1 Rg7+ 0 - 1

Kreiman - Rohde 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 Bg5 I felt Kreiman might play the Torre, as Kreiman mainly plays 1 e4, and the Torre is regarded as a safety valve for 1 e4 players playing 1 d4. 3 ... c5 4 c3 More common is 4 e3. 4 ... cxd4 On 4 ... Qb6, I thought White can play 5 Bxf6!? with the idea 5 ... Qxb2 6 Bg5 Qxa1 7 Qc2 menacing Mf3-d2-b3. With the c-pawns gone, this will not work for White. 5 cxd4 Qb6 6 Qc1 Nc6 7 Bxf6 gxf6 8 e3 d5 9 Be2 Bd7 10 Nc3 Rc8 Black has a static pawn formation but he also has the two bishops and good control of the center. 11 O-O f5? Weak because e5 will be available to the White knight in many lines. Much better was the quiet 11 ... Be7 with a satisfactory position. 12 Qd2 Be7 13 Rfc1 O-O 14 Na4! Now I had to play very carefully to equalize. 14 ... Qa5! 15 Qxa5 Nxa5 16 Nc5 Bc6! The plan is to kick White out with ... b7-b6. Meanwhile, if 17 b4 Nc4 White cannot win a pawn with 18 Bxc4 dxc4 19 Rxc4 due to 19 ... Bxf3 20 gxf3 b6 snaring the knight. 17 Ne5 b6 18 Nb3! A strong move giving White the potential for a pull. Black's next is forced. 18 ... Bb7 19 Nxa5 bxa5 20 Nd7 Rxc1+ 21 Rxc1 Rc8 22 Nc5 White has a small edge. After further vicissitudes, the game ended in a draw.

The Benko Gambit is an amazing countergambit first fully worked out and put into practice by the great Hungarian-American positional player Pal Benko. After 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 b5 the ideas are as follows: After 4 cxb5 a6 5 bxa6 Black will ultimately obtain strong pressure on the half-open b- and a-files in conjunction with a powerful fianchettoed bishop on g7. This pressure can be worth a pawn minus even going into the endgame. These ideas are justified by the pawn chain, wherein White's d4-d5 accedes to a fundamental Black initiative on the queenside in return for a gain of central space. The Benko Gambit attempts to put these pawn structure theories to work immediately. Also, Black aims to obtain strong pressure on the a6-f1 diagonal. Necessary for the success of the Benko, after 5 ... g6 6 Nc3 Bxa6, if White wants to support the d5 pawn with the move 7 e4, then he will lose the right to castle after 7 ... Bxf1 Kxf1.

3 critical variations which avoid the dreaded Benko structure:•1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 b5 4 Nf3•1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 b5 4 cxb5 a6 5 f3•1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 b5 4 cxb5 a6 5 e3

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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.e3 g6 The modern lines against White's 5 e3 system involve a quick counterattack against the d-pawn with 5 ... Bb7 or 5 ... axb5 6 Bxb5 Bb7 7 Nc3 Qa5, etc. 5 ... g6, ignoring White's 5 e3 system which both defends the b5 pawn and keeps the White bishop on the f1-b5 diagonal, is an older line which is not very impressive. 6.Nc3 d6 The main line here runs 6 ... Bg7 7 a4 O-O 8 Nf3 e6 9 dxe6 fxe6 10 Qd6. With the text, Black abandons the idea of counterattacking the d5 pawn. 7.a4 Bg7 8.Bc4 0-0 9.Nge2 e6 10.e4 An interesting and unclear question which runs throughout this game is whether White should (a) take on e6, so as to expose pawn weaknesses in Black's camp, at the risk that Black will later expand in the center with ... d6-d5, or (b) defend his outpost on d5, risking that Black will get counterplay as White's pieces will be passively placed. 10...axb5 11.Bxb5 Bb7 12.0-0 Na6 13.Nf4 Qe7 14.Re1 This was a good moment for 14 dxe6 fxe6 15 Re1 with a tremendous position for White; ... d6-d5 will be very hard for White to get in given the opposition on the king file. 14...Nc7 15.Bc4 Again, 15 dxe6 was reasonable, though not as strong as before; now Black should respond with 15 ... Nxe6 16 Nxe6 Qxe6; I still prefer this line to White's retreat 15 Bc4. 15...Ba6 16.Qd3 Rfb8 17.Ra3 The b-file pressure is beginning to provide full compensation for the pawn now; it was therefore better to open up a new front with 17 Bxa6 followed by 18 dxe6, so as to give Black a weak d-pawn. 17...Bxc4 18.Qxc4 Rb4 19.Qa2 exd5 This recovers the pawn. 20.Nfxd5 Nfxd5 21.Nxd5 Nxd5 22.Qxd5 Raxa4 23.Bg5! Qe5 Not 23...Rxe4?? 24.Rxe4 Rxe4 (or 24...Qxe4 25.Qxe4 Rxe4 26.Ra8+ Bf8 27.f3 with the threat of Bg5-h6, winning.) 25.Ra8+ Bf8 26.Rxf8+! and White wins. 24.Qa8+ Best. This simplifying maneuver at least gets rid of the terribly stong Black bishop on g7. 24...Rxa8 25.Rxa8+ Bf8 26.Bh6 Qe7 27.Rxf8+ Qxf8 28.Bxf8 Kxf8 29.Re2 1/2 - 1/2 Black should play on - the plan is to move the king up and then play ... f7-f5. If White exchanges off his e-pawn, Black's d-pawn is passed. If White plays f2-f3, then an exchange on e4 will leave the resulting White e4 pawn very weak.

Kaidanov - deFirmian, rd. 3. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nf3 g6 7. g3 Bg7 8. Bg20-0 9. 0-0 Nbd7 10. h3 A useful comparison can be made between this game and D. Gurevich - deFirmian, U.S. Champ. 1994, which featured 10 Bf4 Qe7 11 h3 h6 (also reasonable is 11 ... Nh5 with the distinction that after 12 Bg5, 12 ... f6 is good because after 13 Bd2 f5 can be played as in Stohl - Enders, Erfurt 1994, as White has not gotten e2-e4 in yet) 12 e4 g5 13 Bd2 Rb8 and Black has dispensed with the preparatory move ... a7-a6. a6 11. Bf4 Qe7 12. e4 h6 deFirmian varies from Vaganian - Sax, Rotterdam 1989, which featured 12 ... Nh5 13 Bg5 Bf6 14 Bh6 Ng7 15 Re1 b5 16 Kh2 b4 with chances for both sides. 13. Re1 Ne8 14. h4 Rb8 15. Qd2 Both sides have chances; 1/2-1/2 in 44. Kaidanov - Shabalov, rd. 5. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. g3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 8. Nf3O-O 9. O-O Na6 10. Nd2 Nc7 11. Nc4 Nfe8 12. Bf4 f5 At this year's Chicago Open, D. Gurevich tried 12 ... b5 here, but had real problems after 13 Na5. 13. a4 b6 14. Rc1 Ba6 15. b3b5 16. axb5 Nxb5 17. Nxb5 Bxb5 18. e4 fxe4 19. Bxe4 a5 20. Re1 a4 Shabalov's methodical play has worked out very well, but 1-0 in 47.

The basic Benoni pawn structure arises after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 e6 4 Nc3 exd5 5 exd5. Then after 5 ... d6 White has many choices -

•6 e4 g6 7 f4 Bg7 8 Bb5+ or 8 e5 (8Bb5+ gets two thumbs up!)•6 Nf3 g6 7 Bf4•6 Nf3 g6 7 e4 Bg7 8 Be2•6 Nf3 g6 7 e4 Bg7 8 h3 O-O 9 Bd3•6 Nf3 g6 7 g3•6 Nf3 g6 7 Nd2•6 Nf3 g6 7 Bg5

Many Benoni players, for example American GM Nick deFirmian, use this move order: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6; then if 3 Nc3 Bb4 (the Nimzo-Indian, not the Benoni!) or if 3 Nf3 c5 (the Benoni). This is because of great respect for the power of the White system listed above with f2-f4 and Bf1-b5+. Using this move order, Black only enters the Benoni if White is precluded from playing this line because his knight is already on f3!

Kaidanov - gurevich 1996 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.Bg2 0-0 9.0-0 Na6 10.Nd2 Not very effective here is 10 e4 Bg4 11 h3 Bxf3 12 Qxf3 Nd7 as in Rashkovsky - Kotsur, Kurgan, 1993, because of Black's easy counterplay and well-placed minor pieces. Nc7 Strange things happened in Sherbakov - Nun, after 10 ... b6!? 11 Nxd6 Ba6?! (probably better is 11 ... Qxd6 12 Bf4 Qd7 13 d6 Ne6 14 Bxa8 Nxf4 15 gxf4 Qg4+ 16 Bg2 Qxf4, and nothing is clear) 12 Qa4!? Qxd6 13 Bf4 Qd7 14 Qxd7 Nxd7 15 Bxc7 with better chances for White. 11.Nc4 Nfe8 12.e4! If White can do this, then the whole line with 9 ... Na6 is ready for the trash heap. In Todorov - Solozhenkin, Cappelle Open, 1994, 12 a4 b6 13 Qd2 (or 13 Qc2 f5, Sherbakov - Emms, Hastings 1993) Ba6 14 b3 transpired. b5 13.Na5 b4 After this move, c5 becomes a target in lines where White breaks with e4-e5. A big improvement here might be 13 ... Qd7!! which prepares to meet 14 Nc6 with 14 ... Bb7. Or if 14 a3, then Black can just go about his business with 14 ... Ba6 15 Re1 Bd4 followed by ... Ne8-g7. 14.Nc6 Qd7 15.Na4 Ba6 16.Re1 Bb5 Losing time with the bishop, but Gurevich's idea is that the pressure against a4 will forestall the break e4-e5. 17.a3! A nice shot, which necessitates the following exchange if Black wants to keep his pawn structure intact. Bxa4 18.Qxa4 a5 19.Qb3 Nf6 20.e5 Rae8 21.axb4 axb4 22.Be3! Now things are really starting to fall apart for Black. Ng4 23.Bh3 c4 24.Qxb4 dxe5 25.Ra7 Nxd5 1 - 0

Alekhine's Defence is a sharp and forcing defence characterized by 1 e4 Nf6. The Defence is named after Alexander Alekhine, who wrested the World Championship away from Jose Capablanca in 1927. Alekhine is known as a great attacking player, but this defence bears the influence of his contemporary Aron Nimzovich, as it is ultra-hypermodern: Black entices the White center forward in hopes of destroying it later.

After 1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 (2 Nc3 offers a transposition to the Vienna Game after 2 ... e5; the true Alekhine's continuation is 2 ... d5, after which 3 exd5 Nxd5 gives Black easy equality; much trickier is 3 e5! and Black has 3 ... Nd7, 3 ... Ne4 or 3 ... d4.) Nd5 3 d4 is the main line. Then 3 ... d6 and

The Main Lines•4 Nf3 [the Modern Variation]•4 c4 Nb6 5 f4 [the Four Pawns Attack]•4 c4 Nb6 5 exd6 [the Exchange Variation]

[White "R. Dzindzichashvili"][Black "I. Khmelnitsky"]1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 exd6 6. Nc3 Be7 7. Bd3 Nc6 8.Nge2 Bg4 9. f3 Bh5 10. 0-0 Bg6 11. b3 Bf6 12. Be3 d5 13. c5 Nc8 14. a3 N8e7 15.b4 Qd7 16. Qd2 Bxd3 17. Qxd3 h5 1/2-1/2 [White "I. Khmelnitsky"][Black "L. Alburt"]1. e4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e5 Nfd7 4. f4 c5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 e6 7. Bg2 Be7 8. 0-00-0 9. Kh1 f6 10. exf6 Bxf6 11. Qe2 Kh8 12. d3 Nd4 13. Nxd4 cxd4 14. Nd1 Re8 15.Nf2 e5 16. Qf3 Qc7 17. Qxd5 Qxc2 18. Ne4 Nb6 19. Qc5 Qxd3 20. Nxf6 gxf6 21. fxe5Bf5 22. exf6 Be4 23. Bh6 Nd7 24. Bg7+ Kg8 25. Qd5+ 1-0 [White "R. Dzindzichashvili"][Black "L. Alburt"]1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 cxd6 6. Nc3 g6 7. Be3 Bg7 8. Rc1O-O 9. b3 e5 10. dxe5 dxe5 11. Qxd8 Rxd8 12. c5 N6d7 13. Bc4 Nc6 14. Nf3 Nd4 15.Ng5 Rf8 16. Nce4 Nf5 17. O-O Nf6 18. Nd6 Nxd6 19. cxd6 Bd7 20. a4 Bc6 21. Rfd1a6 22. f3 Rad8 23. Bxa6 Nd5 24. Bf2 Bh6 25. h4 Rfe8 26. Bc4 Rxd6 27. Rd3 Rd7 28.Rcd1 Red8 29. Ne4 Kg7 30. Nc5 Rd6 31. a5 Kf8 32. b4 Ke7 33. Ne4 Ne3 34. Nxd6 1-0

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.]

Some people find the Caro-Kann Defence to be yet another reason not to play 1 e4 as White! In the hands of a player who knows a little theory, the Caro-Kann can be a very solid defence. After 1 e4 c6 White can choose to mix it up with 2 c4 with the idea 2 ... d5 3 cxd5 cxd5 4 exd5 Nf6 (4 ... Qxd5 5 Nc3 Qd6 is okay but does not appeal to everybody) 5 Bb5+ with immediate complications revolving around how, and whether, Black will recover his pawn.

The main lines are 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 (the Advance Variation 3 e5 has gained a lot of ground in the last few years) dxe4 4 Nxe4 and now:

•4 ... Bf5, the Classical line, about which a young Kasparov wrote a book•4 ... Nf6 is a tricky line accepting doubled pawns•4 ... Nd7 adopted by Karpov in a big way

Dzindzi - Khmelnitsky, Eastern Masters May 1992, B10 1 c4 c6 2 e4 d5 3 exd5 cxd5 [Black has the option here of 3 ... Nf6!?, gambitting a pawn after 4 dxc6 Nxc6, or transposing to the Panov-Botvinnik after 4 d4 cxd5. Therefore, if White wants to make sure that he can get in 5 Bb5+ as in the game, then he should play on the third move 3 cxd5.] 4 cxd5 Nf6 5 Bb5+ Bd7 [The main variation is 5 ... Nbd7 6 Nc3 g6, etc.] 6 Bc4 Bf5 [Borrowing an idea from the Center Counter (1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Nf6 3 Bb5+ Bd7 4 Bc4 Bf5). But in that opening, with the c-pawns still on the board, Black does not have so many worries about the a4-e8 diagonal. An interesting alternative is 6 ... b5 7 Bb3 Na6. Not to be recommended is 6 ... Qc7 (with the idea 7 Bb3 Nxd5) 7 d3!, etc.] 7 Nc3 Nbd7 8 d3! [This extra support for the bishop allows White to hold the extra pawn longer.] Nb6 9 Nge2 Rc8 10 Ng3 Bd7 [Not 10 ... Bg6? 11 Qb3 threatening a2-a4-a5 and Bc1-e3.] 11 O-O g6 [Khmelnitsky cannot recover the pawn with 11 ... Nxc4 12 bxc4 Rxc4 13 Qb3.] 12 Nge4 Nxe4 13 Nxe4 Bg7 14 Bg5 [Dzindzi, after having obtained an overwhelming position, tries to land a knock-out punch. A mundane but strong continuation was 14 Qb3 O-O 15 Be3.] f6 15 Bf4 f5! [Suddenly, Black is in the game again, as he will finally recover the pawn, but Dzindzi maintains a strong positional advantage.] 16 Nc3 Nxc4 17 dxc4 Rxc4 18 Qd2 O-O 19 Rfe1 Be8 20 Be5 b5 21 b3 Rc8 22 Bxg7 Kxg7 23 Qd4+ Kg8 24 d6 [Trying to decide the issue by brute force. On the slower 24 Rac1 a6, there is no concrete continuation.] Qxd6 25 Nd5 DIAGRAM [Threatening total destruction, but Khmelnitsky keeps finding defences!] Rd8 26 Rad1 Rf7 27 Qxa7 Kf8 28 Nc3 [Unable to crash through, Dzindzi trades a pair of rooks and reorganizes the assault.] Qb8 29 Qc5 Rxd1 30 Rxd1 Rf6! [Another good defensive repositioning.] 31 Nd5 Re6 32 h4 Kf7 33 Qc1 Qe5 34 Qh6 [Testing the waters on the kingside.] Kg8 35 Ne3 Rd6 36 Rc1 Bc6 37 Qg5 Qf6 38 Qf4 h5! [Solid. The White knight can never get to g5.] 39 a4! [Playing his last trump: the a-pawn makes a run for it.] bxa4 40 bxa4 Kg7 41 a5 e5 42 Qb4 f4 43 Nc4 Re6 44 a6 Bxg2! 45 Kxg2 Qxh4 [The threat is 46 ... f3+.] 46 Rc3 Qg4+ [On 46 ... e4 White has 47 Qb2! Kh6 48 Rh3.] 47 Kh2 Qh4+ 1/2 - 1/2 Wolff - Granda, rd 4, NY Int. 1992, B17 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5 Ng5 [This agressive move has replaced 5 Bc4 as the main line. Of course Black cannot reply 5 ... h6? 6 Ne6.] Ngf6 6 Bd3 e6 7 N1f3 h6 [The accepted continuation is 7 ... Bd6, but Granda does not believe in White's coming piece sacrifice.] 8 Nxe6 fxe6 9 Bg6+ Ke7 10 O-O DIAGRAM Qc7 [The beginning of a 14-move process of disentanglement!] 11 Re1 Kd8 12 c4 [Not 12 Rxe6 Bd6 followed by ... Nf8 and ... Bg4.] Bb4 13 Re2 Nf8 14 Ne5? [Looks strong but better was the calm 14 Bc2! with ideas of Ne5 and Bf4 and Black would not be up enough material to compensate for the misery that he would be about to experience.] Nxg6 15 Nxg6 Re8 16 c5 Ba5 17 Qa4 [Insufficient is 17 a3 Qf7.] Nd5 18 Ne5 Bd7 19 a3 b5 20 Qc2 Qb8 [While Black completes his development, White will gobble up the kingside pawns. But Black's extra piece will tell in the long run.] 21 Qh7 Bc7 22 Qxg7 Bxe5 23 Rxe5 Kc8 24 Bxh6 Qc7 25 Bd2 Kb7 26 a4 a5 27 Qg3 Rg8 28 Qd3 b4 29 Rae1 Rh8 30 Bg5 Rag8 31 h4 Qc8 32 g3 Qf8 33 f4 Qf7 34 Kf2 Ne7 35 Bxe7 Qxe7 36 Qf3 Qf6 37 R1e3 Rg7 38 Rd3 Be8 39 Rde3 Bf7 40 f5 Bh5 41 Rxe6 Qxe6 42 Re6 Bxf3 43 Kxf3 Rhg8 44 f6 Rxg3+ 45 Kf4 R8g4+ Ke5 Rxh4 47 Re7+ Ka6 48 f7 Rf3 49 Re6 Rxf7 50 Rxc6+ Ka7 51 d5 Re7+ 52 Kd6 Reh7 0 - 1

EXCITING FINISH Going into the 10th and final game of the Candidates Match between Nigel Short and Anatoly Karpov, Karpov needed to win as Black to avoid losing the match. Since the Sicilian may be the only defense against e4 that prevents White from obtaining a risk-free position, Karpov had to venture it. Some players in Short's position, needing only a draw to win the match, might have essayed a quiet or drawish system. Indeed, how to draw as White against the Sicilian is a subject that I have been wrestling with for some time. But Short made no attempt to duck out, and instead engaged Karpov in an opposite-sides-castling battle. The line of the Richter-Rauzer which Karpov selected concedes doubled pawns on the kingside but ensures a complex middlegame. The only problem was that Short obtained a great position. He threw his kingside pawns forward menacingly, and stymied Karpov's queenside play. When Karpov tried to break in the center, Short sacked a pawn to disorganize Karpov's forces. When Karpov rushed to defend the kingside, Short invaded the queenside, winning material. Suddenly, Karpov freed his game with a desperate and brilliant combination. At the critical moment, however, he misfired, and Short was home free. B63 Short - Karpov, Candidates, B63 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 [Resisting the temptation to play the "safe" 3 Bb5 which , for example, I used to secure a draw as White against Benjamin to make a GM norm in the 1987 New York Open.] cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 Bg5 [The signal move of the Richter-Rauzer, essentially committing White to an opposite sides castling situation. 6 Be2 would have led, after 6 ... g6 to the Classical Dragon, after 6 ... e6 to the Scheveningen, or 6 ... e5 to the Boleslavsky.] e6 7 Qd2 Be7 [The leading American exponent of this system is D. Gurevich. The other main lines are 7 ... a6 8 O-O-O h6 (popularized by Dlugy), and 7 ... a6 8 O-O-O Bd7 (as played the Zaltzman variation).] 8 O-O-O O-O DIAGRAM 9 Nb3 [The main line is 9 f4 h6 10 Bh4 (Not 10 Bxf6 Bxf6 11 Nxc6 bxc6 12 Qxd6 Qb6 with good play) e5 with tremendous complications. The text 9 Nb3 is recommended by Nunn in his classic Beating the Sicilian, and was once played by Karpov against Kasparov! That game, from the ____ World Championship, continued with Kasparov innovating 9 ... a5 10 a4 d5, and after 11 exd5 Nxd5 Black soon equalized. Later, however, Vitolinsh and Tal discovered 11 Bb5! which has scored well for White. Note that after 9 ... a5, in contrast to the game, 10 Bxf6 would not be good because of 10 ... Bxf6! 11 Qxd6 Qxd6 12 Rxd6 a4.] a6 10 Bxf6 gxf6 [Karpov has obtained a very double-edged position, where White can not play to keep the draw in hand for fear of simply losing the initiative. With his next move, Short commences a general and fearless kingside advance. A good alternative plan was demonstrated in Adams - Frias, London 1990: 11 Qh6 Kh8 12 Qh5! (to inhibit ... Rg8) Qe8 13 f4 Rg8 14 Bd3 Rg7 15 g4 b5 16 h4 b4 17 Ne2 e5 18 f5 and White has slightly better chances. And in Vitolinsh - Smirin, USSR championship 1989, wild complications ensued after 11 f4 b5 12 Bd3 Kh8 13 Rhe1 Rg8 14 Nd5!? exd5 15 exd5 Ne5!? 16 fxe5 fxe5 17 Kb1 Bg4 18 Be2, and though Black's position has some nice features, again White is more comfortable.] 11 h4 Kh8 [Black can also try dispensing with this standard precautionary move. In Jansa - Sax, Biel Interzonal 1985 play continued 11 ... b5 12 g4 b4 13 Ne2 a5 14 Nbd4 Ne5 15 g5 (a pawn sacrifice which Black ignores) a4 16 Ng3 b3. Black seems to have gotten there first but White took twice on b3 (17 axb3 axb3 18 Nxb3) and later prevailed. Sax was so impressed that he then tried the White side of this line, against Van der Wiel, in Brussels 1985. Van der Wiel diverged with 14 ... Nxd4 15 Nxd4 Bb7 16 g5 f5. After 17 Rg1 White was planning a vicious attack: for example 17 ... Bxe4 18 h5, etc. But Black found 17 ... f4! shutting off White's queen's access, and after 18 h5 e5 the players agreed to a draw, in view of 19 Nf5 Bxe4 20 Nxe7+ Qxe7 21 Qxd6, etc.] 12 g4 b5 [In several games Black has tried first 12 ... Rg8 here. Campora - Zueger, Dubai Olympiad 1986 continuted 13 g5 (White is always willing to sac a pawn to open the h-file) fxg5 14 hxg5 e5 15 f4 Rg7 (Not 15 ... exf4? 16 Rxh7+!) 16 Kb1 exf4 17 Qxf4 Ne5 18 Bh3 Bxg5 with an unclear position. In Judasin - Aseev, USSR 1987, after 12 ... Rg8 13 g5, Black played 13 ... b5 14 f4 Bb7 15 Kb1 b4 16 Ne2 a5 17 Bg2 a4 18 Nbd4 Na5, and White started munching with 19 Qxb4 d5 20 Qxa4 and somehow survived.] 13 g5 b4 DIAGRAM 14 Na4! [Although the knight is a potential target here, it is also quite annoying. Moreover, it stops the advance of the a-pawn. Karpov may have been surprised by this placement.] Rg8 15 f4 [Only Black would be helped by 15 gxf6 Bf8! and if 16 Qf4 Rg6.] Rb8 16 Kb1 [Now 16 gxf6 would lead to an unclear situation after 16 ... Bxf6 17 Qxd6 Qe8, as White's pieces seem disorganized.] Bf8 17 Be2 e5 [It is easy to be suspicious about this move in light of what later transpired, but Black's position was already difficult. On 17 ... Bd7 18 Nac5 Be8! 19 Nxa6 Rb6 gives compensation, but instead White plays 18 gxf6! Qxf6 19 e5, or 18 ... Na5 19 Nac5. And 17 ... f5 18 exf5 exf5 19 h5 is dangerous.] 18 f5! [Short is willing to sacrifice a pawn to deny Karpov the use of the e5 square, open the h-file, and cut the board in half, so as to concentrate threats on one side or the other.] fxg5 19 hxg5 Rxg5 [Black is too passive after 19 ... Qxg5 20 Qd5 Nd8 21 Na5! and 22 Nc4.] DIAGRAM 20 Qe3! [Preparing the re-entry of the knight via b6. Since Be2-c4-d5 is in the air, Karpov allows Na4-b6 and hurries to prepare counterplay.] Qf6 21 Nb6 Ne7 [Of course, Nb6-d5 had to be stopped also.] 22 Nxc8 Rxc8 23 Bxa6 Rd8 24 Qb6 Ng8 [Karpov must have had this position in mind when he played 20 ... Qf6. 25 ... d6-d5 is in the air.] 25 Na5!? [Stalking the rook on d8 ... Simpler was 25 Qxb4.] d5 26 Nc6 Rd6 27 exd5 Ne7 28 Qxb4? DIAGRAM [Correct was 28 Qc5 untangling and keeping an eye on g1. Then 28 ... Nxf5 29 Bd3 and Black is in bad shape. But after the text Karpov embarks on a very unusual combination in which he sacs a piece and then converts his pinned rook into a battery:] Nxd5 29 Rxd5 [Probably better, although very unclear, was 29 Qh4 h6 30 Bb5.] Qg7? [Threatening 30 ... Rg1+ and 30 ... Rxd5. A pretty move, but as Seirawan points out, he should have played 29 ... Rxd5! Then after 30 Qxf8+ Rg8 31 Qe7 (to answer 31 ... Qxc6 with 32 Qxf7; if 31 Qb4 Qxc6 32 Qh4 h6 33 f6 Rg6 34 Bd3 Qxf6!) Black has the stunning 31 ... Qh6!! 32 Re1 Qxc6.] 30 Rxd6 Rg1+ 31 Rd1 Rxd1+ 32 Rxd1 Bxb4 33 Nxb4 Qg4 [The sting at the tail end of the combination, which, however, works only to the extent of picking up the pawn on f5, as Short scrambles away from the double attack on his rook and knight, and simultaneously makes luft, preserving his 3 pieces vs. the queen material edge.] 34 Rd8+ Kg7 35 a3 Qxf5 36 Rd1 h5 37 Re1 Qe6? [Time trouble becomes a factor. Short's last move was designed to control the e4 square next with 38 Bb7, and Karpov reacts to that. Although White was probably winning in any event, there was no excuse not to play 37 ... h4, just to see if the h-pawn can do any damage.] 38 Bb7 f5 39 Bd5 Qf6 [Better was 39 ... Qd6.] 40 c4 e4 41 c5 [Time pressure is over, and the c-pawn will score a touchdown after 41 ... h4 42 c6 Qd8 43 Be6 or 42 ... Qe7 43 Na6. 1 - 0 Tate - Ashley, NY Open Rd. 9 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Nc6 6 Bg5 e6 7 Qd2 a6 8 O-O-O h6 [The popular "Dlugy Variation" of the Richter-Rauzer.] 9 Be3 Qc7 [Another line is the immediate 9 ... Nxd4 followed by 10 ... b5.] 10 f3 Rb8 [This unusual move reserves options, lends strength to ... b5-b4, and avoids problems concerning the sensitive b6 square.] 11 g4 Ne5 DIAGRAM [A very provocative move. The centralized White knight on d4 is no longer "marked", and White is tempted by ideas of f3-f4 and e4-e5. On the other hand, the knight pressurizes the White pawns, and aims for c4. If White stops to defend the h-pawn with 12 h3, then 12 ... b5 13 f4 Nc4 14 Bxc4 bxc4 brings the rook on b8 to life.] 12 f4! [Sidetracking the Black knight and getting his own attack started.] Nexg4 13 Bg1 [It seems that 13 e5 Nxe3 14 Qxe3 dxe5 15 fxe5 Nd7 is not good enough. Now 14 h3 is threatened.] e5 [Of course not the passive 13 ... h5? 14 h3 Nh6 15 e5, etc. Very interesting was I. Gurevich's suggestion 13 ... b5! Then 14 h3 b4 is good for Black, so White probably has to stop for 14 a3.] DIAGRAM 14 Bb5+!!? [Another wild line is 14 Nf3! exf4 15 e5 dxe5 16 Bb5+ with 16 ... Bd7 17 Bb6, or 16 ... axb5 17 Nxb5 Qd7 (not 17 ... Qe7 18 Bc5) Qa5 and continuing complications.] axb5 15 Ndxb5 Qd8 [Better was 15 ... Qc6, but Ashley wanted to avoid the irritant 16 Na7.] 16 Bc5 [Not good enough was 16 h3 exf4 17 hxg4 Bxg4.] d5! [This defuses the pressure on d6.] 17 Ba7 Ra8 DIAGRAM 18 Nxd5? [Tate finally overcombines. Later he recommended 18 Rhe1 to stop ... Rxa7 followed by ... Bc5, but Black can reply 18 ... Bb4! 19 h3 O-O! Instead, now was a good moment for 18 h3! Rxa7 19 Nxa7 Bc5 20 hxg4 Bxa7 21 g5 Ng4 22 Nxd5 and Black is in trouble.] Nxd5 19 Qxd5 Qxd5 20 Nc7+ Kd7 21 Nxa8 Qd6! [Cleaner than the also possible 21 ... Qxd1+ 22 Rxd1+ Kc6 23 Rd8 b5! 24 Rxc8+ Kb7.] 22 Bb8 Kc6 23 Bxd6 Bxd6 24 Rd3! [A good way to create chances in this lost ending.] b5 Rhd1 Bc5 26 Rd8 Rxd8 27 Rxd8 Bb7 28 h3 Nf2? [The crusher was 28 ... exf4! 29 hxg4 f3 30 Kd2 f2 31 Ke2 b4.] 29 fxe5 Nxh3 30 c3 Nf2 31 b4 Be7 32 Rb8 Bg5+ 33 Kc2 h5? [Overlooking White's threat. 33 ... Bxa8 was still convincing. After White's next, he is back in it, and we need Pal Benko to figure out what is going on.] 34 a4! Bxa8 35 axb5+ Kd7 36 Rxa8 Bf4 37 Rf8 Ke7 38 Rh8 h4 39 Rxh4 g5 40 Rh8 Bxe5 41 Rg8 f6 42 b6 Kf7 43 Ra8 g4 44 Ra1 g3 45 Rg1 Nxe4 46 c4 Ke6 47 Kd3 f5 48 Ke3 Ng5 49 c5 f4+ 50 Kd3 f3 51 Re1 f2 52 Rxe5+ Kxe5 53 Ke2 Nf3 54 b7 Nd4+ 55 Kf1 Nc6 56 b5 Nb8 57 c6 Kd6 1/2 - 1/2

tate - fishbein 1996 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qe2 Qc7 9.0-0-0 Be7 10.Bb3 Na5 11.g4 b5 12.g5 Nxb3+ DIAGRAM 13.Nxb3?! A novelty not likely to be repeated soon. It turns out that White's knights become targets for Black's racing queenside pawns. After 13 axb3 Nd7, Velimirovic's line 14 Nf5 exf5 (check out the wild 14 ... b4 15 Nxg7+ Kf8 16 Qh5 as in Wahls - Rechlis, Bern 1990) 15 Nd5 Qd8 16 exf5 is usually given as equal after 16 ... Bb7!!; therefore, it has been supplanted by 14 h4 b4 15 Na4 (against Hellers at Reykjavik 1990, Defirmian experimented with 15 Na2 a5 16 Nb5). Nd7 14.f4 b4 In this position the knight has no good retreat square, as the queen is using e2, and 15 Na4?? Qc6 cannot be done. 15.Nb1 a5 16.N1d2 Ba6 17.Qg2 Rc8 18.Nf1 a4 19.Nd4 Nc5 Every Black move gains time and hammers away at the sensitive light squares. 20.Ng3 b3 21.Kb1 bxc2+ 22.Nxc2 Nd3 23.Bc1 0-0 24.f5 Nxc1 25.Rxc1 Bxg5 26.Rcd1 Rb8 27.a3 Rxb2+ 28.Kxb2 Rb8+ 29.Nb4 Bf6+ 30.Kb1 Qc3 31.Qa2 Bc4 A very efficient performance by Fishbein. 0 - 1

SIC. 4 KNIGHTS Twice Igor Khmelnitsky ventured the Sicilian Four Knights, and to good effect, as both deFirmian and Shabalov avoided the main line, and achieved nothing. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Ndb5 In rd. 8, Shabalov tried 6. a3!? stopping the prototypical ... Bb4 and figuring that the move would not be wasted in a Scheveningen-type formation after, e.g., 6 ... d6 7 Be3. But Black easily obtained equality after 6 ... d5 7. Bb5 Bd7 8. exd5Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. 0-0 Be7 11. Nb3 a6 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Be3 0-0 14. Bc5 Re8; after 15. Bxe7 Qxe7 16. Qd4 Qg5 17. Qc3 Re4 18. Nd2 Bh3! Khmelnitsky took over the initiative, converting it in 37 moves. Bb4 7. a3 Bxc3+ 8.Nxc3 d5 9. Bd3 The well-known line is 9 exd5, giving Black an isolated queen's pawn, and opening up the game for White's two bishops, although Black gets easy development with 9 ... exd5 10 Bd3 d4. Ne5 10. Bb5+ Bd7 11. Bxd7+ An equal endgame arose from 11 Qd4, tried in rd. 10 in Christiansen - Alburt, after 11 ... Nc6 12. Bxc6 Bxc6 13. exd5 Bxd5 14.Nxd5 Qxd5 15. Qxd5 Nxd5 16. c4 Ne7 17. Be3 Nf5, 1/2-1/2 in 49. Qxd7 12. exd5 Nxd5 13. Nxd5 exd5 14.Bf4 Qf5 15. Qd4 Nc6 16. Qe3+ Qe6 17. O-O-O O-O With equality. 1/2-1/2 in 31. SICILIAN FIANCHETTO SYSTEMS 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. g3 Essayed by Kaidanov in his critical rd. 7 game against Yermolinsky. Nxd4 7. Qxd4 g6 8.e5 Taking advantage of the move order (Black played the Classical Sicilian 5 ... Nc6, not the Dragon 5 ... g6) to get this in. Nevertheless, theory is not excited by the move. Standard is 8 Bg2 Bg7 9 O-O O-O and then 10 Qb4 is popular, as in Popovic - Sax, Sarajevo 1982, which continued 10 ... Rb8 11 a4 Ng4 12 Nd5 Ne5. dxe5 9. Qxe5 Bg7 10. Bg2 O-O 11. O-O Bf5 12. Qe2 e6 Yermo lets the b-pawn go, for active play. Also to be considered was 12 ... Qc8 arranging for ... Bf5-h3 with a fine position. 13. Bxb7 Rb8 14. Bf3 h515. Rb1 Ng4 16. Ne4 Ne5 17. Bg2 Bg4 18. f3 Bf5 19. Rd1 Qa5 20. a3 Slowly but surely Kaidanov secures and mobilizes his extra queenside pawn. 1-0 in 47. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. g3 Played in Shabalov - Christiansen from rd. 2. Christiansen tried an inverse form of this system as White against Kaidanov in rd. 6: 1. c4 e5 2. Nf3 e4 3. Nd4 (Larry is "a tempo up" as compared to the Shabalov game) Nc6 4. Nxc6 (This is a provocative move allowing Black quick development, but banking on the ong-term weakness of Black's e-pawn.) dxc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Qc2 Qd7 8.b3 O-O-O 9. h3 Qe6 10. Bb2 Nd7 11. Ne2 with a double-edged position. 1-0 in 41. Thus, we have some inkling of the system Christiansen might have used had Shabalov played the main line 4 Nc3, although the main line in that position would be 4 ... e6, not 4 ... Nxc3. Nc6 5. Bg2 d6 6. exd6 Qxd6 7. 0-0 Bg4 8. h3Bh5 9. Nc3 Nxc3 I think this move caused most of Black's troubles. Possible was 9 ... e6. 10. bxc3 e6 11. Rb1 Qc7 12. d4 Rd8 13. Qe2! cxd4 14. g4 The weakness of the Black queenside is serious. 1-0 in 44. NAJDORF In the game Shabalov - deFirmian, cutting-edge Poisoned Pawn theory was explored, which ended peacefully only because neither side could avoid the repetition: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Nb3Be7 9. Qf3 Nbd7 10. O-O-O Qc7 11. Qg3 A strong idea which I think was introduced by Kamsky against Ilya Gurevich, but deFirmian shows that Black can play into the main line of the sacrifice that White is preparing. b5 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. e5 dxe5 14. fxe5 Nd715. Bxb5 axb5 16. Nxb5 Qb6 17. Qxg7 Rf8 18. Nd6+ Bxd6 19. exd6 Rxa2 20. Kb1 Ra721. Rhe1 Nb8 22. Qxh7 Nc6 23. Qg7 Bd7 24. h4 Na5 25. Nd4 Nc6 26. Nb3 Na5 27.Nd4 Nc6 1/2-1/2 RICHTER - RAUZER Alex Ivanov played the White side of the Richter-Rauzer three times. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 (a) Be7 Played by Gurevich, rd. 7 8.O-O-O Nxd4 A sharp line. More common is 8 ... O-O after which White chooses between 9 f4 and 9 Nb3. 9. Qxd4 a6 10. Bc4 Ivanov plays to develop pressure against the f7/e6 chain. In round 13, A. Ivanov - Gulko reached this position by the roundabout route 7 ... a6 8 O-O-O Nxd4 9. Qxd4 Be7; in that game, Ivanov chose to economize with 10. f4 b5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 12. Kb1, with the same strategic motifs, except that White's light-squared bishop does not hassled. After 12 ... Qc7 13. Qe3 Qc5 the players agreed to split the point. b5 11. Bb3 Qc7 12. Bxf6 Probably it is not a good idea to combine this with White's 10th move, as White is unable to generate any quick threats. Better was 12 f4 which keeps the concept of e4-e5 alive. gxf6 13. f4 Qc5 14. Qd3Bd7 15. f5 a5 16. a4 bxa4 17. Bxa4 Bxa4 18. Nxa4 Qb4 Black has the initiative; 0-1 in 29. (b) a6 8.O-O-O h6 9. Bf4 Bd7 10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. f3 The old main line of this variation, played in the Battle of the Ivanovs, rd. 11. Recognizing that Alex (White) is a great expert in this variation, Igor chose a relatively untested line: e5 12. Be3 b5 13. Kb1 Be7 14. h4 b415. Nd5 Bxd5 16. exd5 Qb8 17. Bc4 Bd8 18. Rde1 White has the more realistic attacking chances, as the lever g2-g4-g5 will always be very strong. 1/2-1/2 in 41. TAIMANOV Burnett (IM) - Benjamin (GM) NYS Championship, 1996 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 The Taimanov Variation. 5.Nc3 [This shows White's preference for the main lines of the Open Sicilian. 5.c4 is not considered the most accurate here because of 5 ... Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4; the Major alternative is Karpov's favorite 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4 Nf6 7.N1c3 a6 8 Na3, as in this manner White does achieve the Maroczy Bind formation, without exchanging any pieces, although White does lose a little time with his knights.] 5...Qc7 [Benjamin uses my preferred move order. 5...a6 is the move order most typical of the Taimanov, but this allows White to play the fairly strong line 6.Nxc6 (a move that makes ... a7-a6 pointless) bxc6 7.Bd3 and White will castle and get quick kingside pressure; 5...Nf6 commits Black, after 6.Ndb5, to the Four Knights Sicilian after 6 ... Bb4, or the Sveshnikov Sicilian after 6...d6 7.Bf4 e5 8.Bg5] 6.g3 [6.Be3 is popular here; then after 6 ... a6 (which has to be played sometime), White has an important choice - 7.Bd3, 7.f4 or 7 Be2] 6...a6 [6...Nf6? 7.Ndb5 is a mess that Tal once fell into against Fischer! The problem for Black is that after 7 ... Qb8 (to keep an eye on the sensitive d6 square), White has the immediate 8 Bf4.] 7.Bg2 Nf6 8.0-0 Bc5 [An unusual move. The main line is 8...d6, and then after 9.Re1, 9 ... Rb8! is a new move by Portisch, and an improvement on 9...Be7 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.e5 dxe5 12.Rxe5 with the better game for White, or the cramped 9...Bd7 10.a4; the idea is, after 9 ... Rb8, 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.e5 dxe5 12.Rxe5, Black plays 12 ... Bd6. A move I have toyed around with is 8...h6?! - a kind of waiting move - 9.Re1 (another line is 9.Nb3 d6 10.f4 and White looks to play g3-g4-g5) 9...Nxd4 10.Qxd4 (but 10.e5! is strong, and Black must defend with 10 ... Nb5!) 10...Bc5 11.Bf4 d6, and the point is that Black can afford to play a later ... e6-e5 because White will not have Bf4-g5 to soften up the d5 square.] 9.Nb3 [This appears to be better than 9.Be3 d6 and the opposition on the diagonal only paralyzes White's pieces.]] 9...Ba7 10.Qe2 Ne5 [Burnett takes brilliant advantage of this move. Black should just have played 10 ... d6.] 11.Kh1 d6 12.f4 Nc4 13.e5!! [Sacrificing a center pawn as well as the Exchange, figuring that Black's off-side bishop will not be able to help defend the dark squares which will come under siege.] dxe5 14.fxe5 Nxe5 15.Rxf6! gxf6 16.Ne4 Qe7 [I think this is a better defence than 16 ... Nd7 17 Bf4 e5 18 Rd1! with a very strong attack. The remainder of the game, I am leaving unannotated for now. Send in comments or questions.] 17.Bh6 Rg8 18.Rd1 Ng4 19.Nd6+ Qxd6 20.Rxd6 Nxh6 21.Qd2 Ke7 22.Qb4 Kf8 23.Rd8+ Kg7 24.Rxg8+ Kxg8 25.Na5 e5 26.Qe7 Be6 27.Bxb7 Rb8 28.c4 Kg7 29.Nc6 Bc5 30.Qc7 Re8 31.b3 Ng4 32.Nd8 Rxd8 33.Qxd8 Nf2+ 34.Kg1 Bh3 35.b4 Be3 36.Bg2 Be6 37.Bd5 Bh3 38.Bg2 Be6 39.Qc7 Ne4+ 40.Kf1 Bxc4+ 41.Ke1 Bd3 42.Bxe4 Bxe4 43.a4 Bd3 44.Qd7 e4 45.b5 axb5 46.axb5 Bb6 47.Qd6 Bg1 48.b6 Ba6 49.Qa3 Bc8 50.Qa8 1 - 0 Nick deFirmian found himself playing both sides of the Taimanov during the event - as Black against Yermolinsky, rd. 1, play proceeded: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 A Maroczy Bind treatment popularized by Karpov. Players of the Black pieces also have to be prepared for 6 Bf4 e5 7 Be3, and now Kengis - Rohde, Tilburg 1992 continued 7 ... Nf6 8 Bg5 Be6 9 Nd2!? Nf6 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3Be7 9. Be2 0-0 10. 0-0 b6 11. Be3 Bb7 12. Qb3 Nd7 13. Rfd1 Well-known stuff. Rb8 14. f3 Kh8 15.Rd2 g5! 16. Qd1 Rg8 Black has gained a little elbow room on the kingside; the chances are equal. 1-0 in 66. In the rd. 13 game deFirmian - Christiansen, after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 a6 6. Be2 Qc7 7. O-O Nf6 8.Be3 Bb4 the quiet line 9. f3 (the "theoretical" move is 9 Na4) O-O 10. Kh1 was played, leading to a draw after 10 ... d5 11. exd5 exd5 12. Qd2 Re8 13. Rfe1 h6 14. Bf1 Be7 15. Rad1. 2 c3 SICILIAN Many games opened 1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3. Then - (a) 5 ... g6 Unusual. Now Shaked - Yermolinsky (rd. 9), a nice theoretical nugget, continued: 6. Na3 The alternative here is 6 Be3 forcing 6 ... cxd4 7 cxd4 and White has cleared c3 for his knight; Black's hopes would be based on his play against the isolated queen's pawn. Bg7 7. Nb5 Na6 8. Be2 Very quiet. I would prefer 8 Be3 envisioning 8 ... cxd4 9 Qxd4 Qxd4 10 Bxd4 with well-posted pieces. cxd4 9. Qxd4 Qxd4 10. Nfxd4 0-0 11. 0-0 Bd7 12. Nb3 Rfc8 13. Rd1 Nc5 Black has liberated his a6 knight and stands well, as White lacks a central foothold. 0-1 in 43. (b) 5 ... Bg4 (b)(1) 6 Nbd2 A new attempt to generate complications. The standard plan is 6 Be2 with potential for h2-h3 and g2-g4. Now Shabalov - Dzindzihashvili (rd. 1) saw: 6 ... cxd4 In Shaked - deFirmian (rd. 5) the more accurate 6 ... Nc6! was played, leading to a pawn sacrifice. Black was better after 7. Bc4 Bxf3 8.gxf3 Qf5 9. Qb3 O-O-O 10. Bxf7 Nd5 11. Bxd5 Rxd5 12. Rg1 e6 13. Rg3 cxd4, 1/2-1/2 in 47. 7. Bc4 Qd7 Of course not 7 ... Bxf3? 8 Bxd5 Bxd1 9 Bxb7. 8.Qb3 e6 9. Ne5 Qc7 10. Bb5+ Nc6 11. Ndc4 White has the makings of a very dangerous initiative. However, the Dzin escaped with 11 ... Bc5 12. Bf4 0-0 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. h3 Bf515. Ng6 e5 16. Bxe5 Rfe8 17. 0-0 Qd7 18. cxd4 Bxd4 19. Rad1 c5 1/2-1/2, but don't try this at home! (b)(2) 6. dxc5 A specialty of Khmelnitsky's which he tried against Christiansen in rd. 5. A fascinating and unclear endgame ensued after 6 ... Qxd1+ 7. Kxd1 e5 8.b4 Nc6 9. Kc2 Nd5 10. Bb5 f6 11. Kb2 Be7 12. Be3 Bxf3 13. gxf3 a5 14. a3 0-0-0, 1/2-1/2 in 54. (c) 5 ... e6 A solid move, essayed by Yermolinsky against Benjamin, rd. 2. 6. Be2 Chandler champions the maneuver 6 Na3 Qd8 [rendering an excursion to b5 with the knight pointless] 7 Nc2 shoring up the center and planning Bf1-d3 and Qd1-e2, but Kudrin has shown that 7 ... Qc7! (stopping Bc1-f4) 8 Bd3 Nd7 9 O-O b6 with a hedgehog setup is very comfortable. Nc6 7. 0-0 Be7 8. Be3 cxd4 9. cxd4 0-0 10. Nc3 Qd6 11. Rc1 Rd8 12. Qd2 Nd5 13. Ne4 Qb4 14. Qc2 Nxe3 15. fxe3 Qa5 The chances are balanced: Black's two bishops make up for White's greater freedom of movement; 0-1 in 41 in another sterling performance by the Yerminator. Interesting move-order questions arose in two Khmelnitsky games - 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 d5 4. exd5 exd5 5. d4 In this roundabout move order, Khmelnitsky - I. Ivanov (rd. 11) has transposed to the solid 2 ... e6 variation of the 2 c3 Sicilian. By exchanging on d5, the position becomes very similar to a Tarrasch French. Nf6 Most common is the development scheme from the Tarrasch: Nb8-c6, Bf8-d6 and Ng8-e7 so as not to get hit with the following pin which softens the defence of d5. 6. Bg5 c4 7. b3 cxb3 8. axb3Nc6 9. Bb5 Be7 10. Ne5 Bd7 11. Nxd7 Qxd7 12. O-O O-O 13. Re1 Advantage for White; Black's minors are too passively placed for this pawn structure. 1/2-1/2 in 61. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3 Nf6 In rd. 7, Benjamin engineered this transposition to the 2 ... Nf6 variation of the 2 c3 Sicilian against Khmelnitsky. 4. e5 Nd5 5. d4 cxd4 6. cxd4 d6 7. a3 Reaching a position once thought to be quite favorable for White because of the easy attack with Bf1-d3 and Qd1-e2, but Black's following maneuver generates light-square counterplay. Bd7 8. Bd3 Bc6 9. O-O Nd7 10. Re1 dxe5 11. dxe5 g6 12. b4 Ne7 13. Nbd2 Bg7 The pressure on e5 gives Black the better game. I am not quite sure where White's improvement is. 1/2-1/2 in 34. The game I. Ivanov - Gurevich (rd 1) illustrates the old main line of the 2 c3 Nf6 variation, an appropriate subject of discussion when the tournament is just warming up. 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. cxd4 d6 7. Bc4 Nb6 8. Bb5dxe5 9. Nxe5 Bd7 10. Bxc6 Bxc6 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. 0-0 e6 13. Be3 Be7 14. Nd2 0-015. Nf3 Nd5 The position is equal. 1/2-1/2 in 35. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 g6 Our final permutation is Benjamin - Kaidanov (rd. 4). Technically, this is not a 2 c3 Sicilian at all, because White cannot force the move d2-d4. Note that had White played 4 Bd3, we would be in the Kopec System. After 4 Be2, I think Black's most accurate is 4 ... Nbd7!! as White then has to stop and defend the e-pawn (of course not 4 ... Nxe4?? 5 Qa4+). On the other hand, not very good is 4 ... Nc6, as White has good tactical possibilities after 5 d4! cxd4 6 cxd4 Nxe4 7 d5 Qa5+ (otherwise White plays 8 Qa4+) 8 Nc3. 5. O-O Bg7 6. Bb5+ Nc6 7. d4 O-O 8. d5 Na5 In many King's Indian positions, this is a satisfactory posting, but here, White's c-pawn is on c3, and the knight is just out of the game. 9. Re1 e6 10. dxe6 Bxe6 11. Ba4 d5 12. e5 Ne4 13. Nbd2 Bf5 14. Nxe4 dxe4 15.Qxd8 Raxd8 16. Ng5 Rd5 17. e6 fxe6 18. Nxe4 Benjamin has a significant advantage which he converted; 1-0 in 42. Overall, the 2 c3 Sicilian performed miserably in this event, and is no longer the automatic bailout that it used to be. Bb5 SYSTEMS Let us now check out the Championship games which employed that other popular open-Sicilian-dodge, the Bb5 family. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. c4 e5 6. Nc3 g6 This is Shaked - Kaidanov (rd. 11). In this position, White has the better remaining bishop; Black has chances for a kingside expansion because his f-pawn is unblocked. Kaidanov employs the most agressive system. 7. O-O Bg7 8.Rb1 Nc6 9. d3 Nge7 10. Bd2 O-O 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. cxd5 Nd4 13. b4 f5 14. bxc5dxc5 15. Nxd4 exd4 16. Qb3 b6 17. f4 Shaked has played thematically, and has a large advantage based on his more mobile and more threatening pawn majority. However, he blundered; 0-1 in 29. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. Bxc6 As played in Khmelnitsky - Gurevich. Theory concerns itself most with 5 c3 Nf6 6 Re1 or 6 e5, and 5 Re1, as in a 1992 Fischer- Spassky match game which saw the introduction of 5 ... e5 6 Bxc6 bxc6 7 b4! dxc6 6. h3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. d3 b6 9. Be3 e5 10. Qd2 Qd6 11. Bh6 Be6 12. b3 Nh5 13. Ne2 f6 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Qc3 g5 Black's space-grabbing policy has blunted White's initiative. 1/2-1/2 in 49. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. b3 A move with unique application against 2 ... e6, because on, for example, 3 ... Nf6 4 e5 Nd5 5 Bb2, Black may have some dark-square problems after a later ... d7-d6 is met by e5xd6. Nc6 4. Bb2 d5 We are following A. Ivanov - Khmelnitsky from rd. 4. More circumspect was 4 ... d6 5 Bb5 Bd7. 5. Bb5 dxe4 6. Ne5 Qg5 Conceptualizing 7 Nxc6 a6, but White is not forced into this, and the queen is badly needed on the queenside. 7. O-O Bd7 8. Nxd7 Kxd7 9. d3 With a winning position. 1-0 in 19. The Najdorf is very much like the Scheveningen if Black plays ... e7-e6 instead of ... e7-e5. White has a tremendous number of 6th move alternatives in the Najdorf. But if Black plays the straight Scheveningen 5 ... e6 instead of 5 ... a6, then White can play the Keres Attack 6 g4. In the Najdorf: 6 Be2 e6 [Kasparov's favored transposition into the Scheveningen from the Najdorf] or 6 Be2 e5 [Considered to be a Najdorf] 6 Bc4 virtually forces ... e7-e6 now or later to block the diagonal; however, this is not considered a transposition to the Scheven. 6 Bg5 e6 (6 ... Nc6 is a Richter-Rauzer) 7 f4 [main line] and now 7 ... Qb6 (poisoned pawn), 7 ... b5 (Polugaevsky), 7 ... Qc7 (nameless and very sharp), 7 ... Be7 (main line), 7 ... Nbd7 (will probably transpose to main line). 6 a4 e6 - Schev. Here 6 ... e5 is not very good because White's bishops are still ready to go to both c4 and g5, controlling the d5 square. 6 f4 e6 - Schev. Also played is 6 ... e5 7 Nf3 Qc7, or 6 ... Qc7. 6 Be3 e5 [ok here] 7 Nf3 or 7 Nb3; 6 ... e6 is like a Schev but White can try 7 g4 e5 8 Nf5 g6 9 g5. Also after 6 ... e6 is the English Attack 7 f3 with g4 in mind later.

Of my 8 games against GM-strength opposition in the US Open, 4 were French Defenses and 4 were Bogo-Indians! This bizarre circumstance allows me to conveniently annotate these games in the form of theoreticals on these openings. This month's theoretical covers the French, with a small digression into the c3 Sicilian. The murkier side of my play at the summer chess festival is featured, including my match against Wolff from the Championship, and my games against Zapata, Lputian, Akopian and Dzindzi from the Open. Next month's theoretical discusses the Bogo as expressed in my games from the Open against I. Ivanov, Ftacnik, Alburt and Yermolinsky Rohde - Lputian, US Open 1991, Rd 7 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 [I don't play the Tarrasch that often, but I was prepared for Lputian's specialty here, 3 ... Be7, because I played that myself against Wolff in the first round of the concurrent US Championship! I had also played it against Patrick in January '91 in the Liberty Bell Open. The point of 3 ... Be7 is that on 4 Ngf3 Nf6 5 e5 Nd7, White's knights are stuck on f3 and d2, whereas he would prefer, after playing Bd3, to put his knights on e2 and f3. If in this line 5 Bd3 then 5 ... c5 6 dc de with equality. And on 4 Bd3 Black has 4 ... c5 5 dc Nd7, effectively regaining the pawn with no time loss. In the January game Wolff tried 4 c3 c5 5 dc Bc5 6 Nb3 (if he wanted to give me an isolated pawn, why not 6 ed, as 6 ... Qb6 is refuted by 7 Ne4, and 6 ... Qd5 7 Ngf3 and 8 Bc4 is nice for White) Bb6 7 ed Nf6! and Black equalizes as he avoids the isolated pawn: 8 Bb5+ Bd7 9 Bd7+ Qd7 10 Nf3 (better than 10 de Bf2+ 11 Ke2 Qd1+ 12 Kd1 fe) Qd5. I had not prepared any new defenses by the time the US Championship rolled around, and this time Wolff was ready, after 3 ... Be7, with 4 Bd3 c5 5 dc Nd7 6 b4! a5 7 Bb2 Bf6 8 Bf6 Qf6 9 Ngf3 ab 10 ed ed 11 0-0 with advantage after 11 ... Ne7 12 Nb3, or the game continuation, 11 ... Nc5 12 Bb5+ Kf8 (1/2 - 1/2 in 39). But Lputian smelled a rat. Or maybe he read the bulletins.] c5 4 Nf3 Nf6 [An unsual line. After 4 ... Nc6 White can transpose back to normality with 5 ed or experiment with 5 Bb5 a6! 6 Bc6+ bc 7 c3!? as in Rohde - Gulko, US Champ. 1989.] 5 ed Nd5 6 Nb3 Nd7 7 Be2 Be7 [Black's position is passive but resilient. He refuses to take on d4 which would activate the Nb3.] 8 c4 N5f6 9 dc [Not 9 d5? Nb6!] 0-0 10 0-0 Qc7 [10 ... Nc5 11 Qd8 Rd8 12 Be3 is comfortable for White.] 11 Nfd4 Nc5 [11 ... a6? 12 c6 bc 13 Nc6 wins.] 12 Nb5 Qb6 [Better was the active 12 ... Qe5! Then 13 f4 Qe4 or 13 Be3 Rd8 are OK. With the text Black hopes for 13 Be3 a6 14 Nc3 Qc7 with a fine position.] 13 Bf4 Bd7 14 Bc7 Qa6 15 Bd6 [15 Be5 Bb5 16 Nc5 Bc5 17 cb Qb6 18 Bf6 gf or 16 cb Qa4 are not convincing.] Bd6 16 Nd6 Nb3 17 ab Qb6 [A new phase has arrived. White would like to shore up the Nd6 and combine that with a kingside attack or a queenside pawn roller. But if 18 Qd2, which sets the trap 18 ... Qb3 19 Ra3 with Rg3 or b4 to follow, Black plays 18 ... a5! fixing the queenside pawns.] 18 Rc1 a5 19 Rc3 Rfd8? [19 ... a4 was necessary to maintain an active queen. I was planning 20 Rg3 with great complications.] 20 c5 Qc7 21 Qd4 Bc6 22 Rg3 Qe7 [Black still hopes to undermine the Nd6 with ... b6.] 23 Qe5 [Threatening 24 Nf5 or 24 Rg7+] Rd7 24 f4! g6 [24 ... b6 fails to 25 f5 bc 26 Nf7! Kf7 27 fe+ Kf8 28 Qf5 followed by 29 Qh7.] 25 Bc4! [25 f5 ef is now nothing.] b5 26 f5 ef [Not 26 ... bc 27 fg fg 28 Rf6, with the crushing at of 29 Rg6+.] 27 Bf7+ Kf8 28 Qc3 [Stronger than 28 Be6 Bd5. Now Black must deal with the threat of 29 Re3.] b4 29 Qc1 Rd6 30 cd Qa7+ 31 Kh1 Bg2+ 32 Rg2 Qf7 33 Qh6+ Qg7 34 Qg7+ Kg7 35 Rf5 and 1 - 0 in 73. [The next round Akopian also played the French against me. I switched gears totally and played 2 d3 - the King's Indian Attack! Akopian played the modern antidote 2 ... d5 3 Nd2 Nf6 4 Ngf3 de 5 de Bc5 6 Bd3 e5. Black's last move was necessary to prevent White from playing 7 e5 with an eventual Ne4. But after 7 Nc4! Nc6 8 c3 I was strongly threatening 9 b4. Akopian's reaction - 8 ... Ng4 9 0-0 b5 was too violent. After 10 Ne3 Be3 11 Be3 Ne3 12 fe I had a great position, later losing inexplicably. 0 - 1 in 64.] Rohde - Zapata, US Open 1991, Rd 5 The day before I flew out to the US Championship/Open, the talented young master Boaz Weinstein advised me to try the c3 Sicilian. Inasmuch as I had done virtually no preparation and I was sick of playing d4 and losing to things like the Semi-Slav, I took his advice. 1 e4 c5 2 c3 e6 [The second game of my match against Wolff followed Weinstein's preparation exactly: 2 ... Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 4 d4 cd 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 Bc4 Nb6 6 Bb3 d6 7 ed Qd6 8 0-0 Be6 9 Na3 (the old line is 9 Be6) Bb3 10 ab!? a6 11 cd Rd8 12 Nc4! Smagin successfully bluffed Abramovic with this move in ___________. Their game continued 12 ... Nc4 13 bc e6 14 Be3 with a White edge. But Wolff snatched the pawn: 12 ... Nc4 13 bc Nd4 14 Nd4 Qd4 and after 15 Qf3 Rd7 16 Bf4 Qd3 the position was equal.] 3 d4 d5 4 e5 Qb6 5 Nf3 Bd7 [In round 11 of the Open, Dzindzi played 5 ... Nc6 against me. Suddenly I realized that I was not looking forward to the protracted positional battle against Roman that would ensue after 6 a3 c4, so I tried 6 Be2. After 6 ... cd 7 cd Nh6 Dzindzi offered a draw, which I accepted since I had no idea what I was doing!] 6 a3 [Edelman - Gulko, World Open 1991 featured 6 Be2 Bb5 7 c4 Bc4 8 Bc4 Qb4+ 9 Nbd2 dc and White had attacking chances for the pawn.] Bb5 7 c4 Bc4 8 Bc4 dc 9 d5 Ne7! [Instead of accepting a disadvantage after 9 ... ed 10 Qd5 Black dares White to keep pressing and tries to prove that White's pawns are weak.] 10 d6 Nec6 11 0-0 Nd7 12 Re1 g6 13 a4?! [I wasn't impressed with 13 Nbd2 Bg7 14 Nc4 Qa6.] Bg7 14 Na3 Qb3! 15 Bf4 Nb4? [Much better was 15 ... Nb6!] 16 Re4! and White has recovered, 1-0 in 70. One of Akiba Rubinstein's greatest legacies is the family of super-stodgy defenses descending from the French 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4. And while, after 4 Nxe4, 4 ... Nd7, 4 ... Be7 and 4 ... Nf6 are equally annoying, the crown prince of this system is 4 ... Bd7, which envisions multiple exchanges to dampen White's initiative. But in ____________, ______ Golubev borrowed an idea that has proved dangerous in the Caro-Kann, and used it to brilliant effect, hammering 2 peacefully-inclined opponents, and deterring others from believing that a fortress can be created right out of the opening. Golubev - Epishin, Geneva Open 1993, rd. 6 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Bd7 [Among American players, IMs Jay Bonin and Walter Shipman are known to trot this out on occasion.] 5 Nf3 Bc6 6 Bd3 Nd7 [Necessary to cover the e5 square.] 7 O-O [Interesting is 7 c4 to plan a knight retreat to c3. Then 7 ... Ngf6 8 Nc3 Be7 9 O-O Bxf3! (else 9 d5!) 10 Qxf3 c6 was reasonably solid for Black in Klovan - Noguieras, Jurmala 1978.] Ngf6 DIAGRAM 8 Neg5! [Reminiscent of the Caro variation 1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7 5 Bd3 Ngf6 6 Ng5 which has caused Black so many headaches recently. Sacs on e6 crop up because of the absence of the white-squared bishop. Previously 8 Ng3 was considered the main move to "preserve" chances, as 8 Qe2 is too tame after 8 ... Nxe4 9 Bxe4 Bxe4 10 Qxe4 c6. A good example of 8 Ng3 is Cholmov - Dymerski, Poland 1992, which continued 8 ... Be7 9 c4 O-O (Some players would snap 9 ... Bxf3 at the first sign of trouble.) 10 Ne5 Nxe5 11 dxe5 Nd7 12 Qh5!? g6 13 Qe2 and Black should have joined the battle with 13 ... Nxe5! (14 Qxe5 Qxd3 15 Bh6 f6 16 Qxe6+ Rf7) instead of accepting permanent passivity after 13 ... Nc5 14 Bc2.] Bd6 [The previous round, Epishin had watched his compatriot Scher go down in a blaze of glory: Scher, obviously on "show-me" mode, played 8 ... h6, and after 9 Nxe6 fxe6 10 Bg6+ Ke7 11 c4 was facing destruction by 12 d5, and 11 ... Be4 12 Nh4 does not help. So Black tried 11 ... Bxf3 12 Qxf3 Nb6 13 Re1 (DIAGRAM) Now 13 ... Qxd4 is unappetizing due to 14 Qxb7 Rd8 15 Be3 and the solid-looking 13 ... c6 14 Bf5 Qd7 can be met simply by 15 Qh3. Scher played 13 ... Nxc4, trying to clear the d5 square for his queen, but he was rudely awakened by 14 Rxe6+! Kxe6 15 Qe2+. In the face of paralyzing bishop checks coming on f5 and f4, Black essayed the confusing 15 ... Ne3, but Golubev finished him off artfully: 16 Qe3+ Kd6 17 Qg3+ Kc6 18 Qc3+ Kb6 19 Qb3+ Kc6 20 Bf4 b5 21 Rc1+ Kb6 22 a4 Qd5 23 Bxc7+ Kb7 (DIAGRAM) 24 Be4! 1 - 0 Instead of Epishin's move, 8 ... Be7 would not be good because 9 Qe2 renews the possibility of 9 ... h6 10 Nxe6, and after 9 ... O-O 10 Ne5 Black just has a bad position.] 9 Re1 h6 10 Nh3 [It looks like Black is doing well because of the awkward position of White's knights, but White still has the nucleus of a strong kingside attack - he will play Nf3-e5, and if the Black knight is driven off f6 WHite will have Qd1-g4. To prevent this Epishin burrows a hole for his queen bishop, but it may have been better to ditch it with 10 ... Bxf3! 11 Qxf3 c6, and Black, after castling on either side, can play for the equalizing break ... e6-e5. Note that 10 ... g5? works out badly after 11 Ne5 Bxe5 12 dxe5 Nd5 13 Qh5.] b6?! 11 Ne5 Bb7 12 Bb5! [Although the bishop does not want to leave its juicy post on d3, this move snuffs out the long diagonal and creates play against the resulting weak white squares. Black cannot afford 12 ... Bxe5 13 dxe5 Nd5 14 Qg4.] O-O 13 Bc6 Rb8 [Taking on e5 loses material.] 14 Bxb7 Rxb7 15 Qf3 Qc8 16 Qg3 [Abandoning positional play, the Queen sidles over to the kingside to start a direct attack.] Kh7 17 Qh4 c5 DIAGRAM 18 Bxh6!! [Time to cash in, before Black successfully unravels.] gxh6 19 Ng5+ Kg7 20 Re3 DIAGRAM cxd4? [Also weak was 20 ... hxg5?? 21 Qxg5+ Kh8 22 Rh3+ Nh7 23 Qh6 and it's over. A better defense was 20 ... Bxe5! 21 dxe5 (There is no point to 21 Rh3 Ng8.) Ng8. After 22 Rg3? Kh8, both 23 Re1 and 23 Qf4 can be met by 23 ... Nxe5! followed by 24 ... f6. Or 23 Ne4 Nxe5 24 Rxg8+ Kxg8 25 Nf6+ Kg7 26 Nh5+ Kh7 27 Qf6 Rg8 28 Qxe5 Rg5. And on 23 f4 Black has 23 ... Qc6, stopping 24 Ne4 and preparing 24 ... f6. After 23 ... Qc6 24 Qh5 Nb8 hangs tough. But White has better on his 22nd. The direction-switching 22 Ne4! menaces 23 Rg3+ Kh8 24 Qg4, and 22 ... Nxe5 is bested by 23 Nd6 Ng6 24 Qe4. Therefore, 22 ... Kh8 is forced. Then after 23 Nd6 Qc6 24 Qh5 White is doing well. Extremely tricky is 20 ... Ng8!! which could transpose into a previous line after 21 Rg3 Bxe5! 22 dxe5 Kh8. After 20 ... Ng8 21 Nxe6+? fxe6 22 Rg3+ Kh8! (not 22 ... Kh7? 23 Qe4+) holds. And on 21 Ngxf7 Bxe5! is again sufficient! White's best would be 21 Ne4! Then 21 ... Bxe5 22 dxe5 is good for White, as noted above. But Black has 21 ... Nxe5!! 22 Nxd6 Ng6, with continuing complications and an unclear position after 23 Qe4 Qc7 24 Nxb7 Rb8.] 21 Rg3! [Now there is no time to set up a coherent defence.] Bxe5 22 Nxe6+ Kh8 [Of course not 22 ... Kh7 23 Rg7+.] 23 Qxh6+ Nh7 24 Rh3 [Black's pieces interfere with each other uniquely. 24 ... Nf6 allows 25 Qg7 mate.] Qxc2 25 Nxf8 Kg8 26 Nxh7 [Black has no compensation for the lost material.] 1-0 Benjamin - Psakhis, rd 5, NY INt 1992 C11 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 dxe4 [Benjamin has been playing the Alekhine-Chatard (4 ... Be7 5 e5 Nfd7 6 h4) lately. Unfortunately, Psakhis opts for a boring continuation.] 5 Nxe4 Nbd7 6 Nxf6+ [If White delays this exchange by playing 6 Nf3, then after 6 ... Be7 7 Nxf6+ Black would have 7 ... Bxf6 offering more exchanges. Note that if Black had played 5 ... Be7 instead of 5 ... Nbd7, White's most agressive continuation would be 6 Bxf6.] Nxf6 7 Nf3 h6 8 Bh4 c5 9 Bb5+ [To make room for the queen on e2.] Bd7 10 Bxd7+ Qxd7 11 Qe2 Be7 12 O-O-O O-O 13 dxc5 Qa4 14 Kb1 Rfd8 15 a3 Bxc5 DIAGRAM 16 Bxf6 [The threat of a kingside attack is not too serious because of Black's active pieces. Benjamin is playing for an endgame with the more mobile pawn majority.] gxf6 17 Nd2 Be7 18 Nb3 f5 19 f3 Rxd1+ 20 Rxd1 Rd8 21 Rxd8+ Bxd8 22 Qd2 Bg5 23 Qd4 Qxd4 24 Nxd4 Bf4 25 h3 Be3 26 Nb5 Kg7 27 nd6 b6 28 c3 Kf6 29 Kc2 Bf4 30 Nb5 a6 31 Nd4 Bd6 32 Kd3 e5 33 Ne2 Ke6 34 c4 [Even though there are pawns on both sides of the board, the Black bishop is unable to accomplish anything, and WHite's pawns are finally starting to move.] f4 35 Nc3 Bc5 36 b4 Bg1 37 Nd5 a5 38 Ke4 f5+ 39 Kd3 axb4 40 axb4 Kd6 41 Kc3 Bf2 42 Kb3 b5? [Facilitating White' plan. Better was 42 ... Be3! and if 43 Ka4 e4 44 Kb5 Bd2.] 43 Nc3 Bxc4+ 44 Kxc4 Bh4 45 b5 Bd8 46 Nd5 Bg5 47 b6 Kc6 48 Nb4+ [Now the WHite king will chew up the remaining Black pawns.] Kxb6 49 Kd5 e4 50 fxe4 fxe4 51 Kxe4 Kc7 52 Kf5 Kd7 53 Nd3 Ke8 54 Kg6 Ke7 55 Ne5 Ke6 56 Nf7 Be7 57 Nxh6 f3 58 gxf3 Ke5 59 Nf5 Bf8 60 h4 Kf4 61 h5 Kxf3 62 Ng7 1 - 0

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ngf3 Played in the rd. 6 encounter between Benjamin and Shaked, a little-understood sideline of the Tarrasch. Usually White plays his d2 knight to f3 and the g1 knight to e2, to ensure adequate defence of d4. With this move, Benjamin in effect announces his willingness to sacrifice the d4 pawn. g6 As this does not generate any pressure against d4, it will leave Black with no choice but to attack the head of the pawn chain on e5. On the other hand, extra protection will be given to the Black kingside. The critical line is 7 ... Qb6 8 O-O and then Black can try 8 ... cxd4 9 cxd4 Nxd4 10 Nxd4 Qxd4 11 Nf3 Qb6, or he can try the devilish 8 ... Be7, which prepares 9 Re1 g5!? 8. O-O Bg7 9. Re1 O-O 10. Nf1 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qb6 12. Bc2 f6 13. exf6 Nxf6 14. Ba4 Ne4 White has the sounder position; 1/2-1/2 in 40. I have discovered a near-universal fear among strong amateur players of the King's Indian Attack. In the following rd. 10 game against Kaidanov, Gulko discloses an effective neutralizing treatment: 1. e4 e6 2. d3 c5 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. O-O Nge7 7. c3 d5 8. Qe2 b69. Na3 Ba6 10. exd5 exd5 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Rfe1 h6 13. h4 Qd7 14. Ne5 1/2-1/2 in 32.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 Ne7 5.Qg4 c5 6.a3 This seems to be the weak move, because Black's response deals with White's threat and sets up another of his own. Better was 6 Bb5+ Nc6 7 Nf3, looking for quick development. 6...Qa5 7.Bb5+ Bd7 As suggested, 7 ... Kf8 was also strong, leaving the b5 bishop hanging and protecting the g-pawn. Then White sould be in serious trouble, as 8 Ne2 fails to 8 ... a6! A possible line then is 9 axb4 Qxa1 10 Ba4 cxb4 11 O-O bxc3 12 Bh6 Qxf1+ and Black is doing very well. But 7 ... Bd7 is very good also, as it brings the Black queen knight powerfully into play. 8.Bxd7+ Nxd7 9.Nge2 White has very serious difficulties here. The problem with 9 Bd2 is 9 ... cxd4 10 Qxd4 Nc6 11 Qf4 d4! [9.Bd2 cxd4 10.Qxd4 Nc6 11.Qf4; 9.Rb1] 9...cxd4 10.axb4 Reasonable under the circumstances. 10...Qxa1 11.Nb5 0-0 12.0-0 White should have tried holding the center with 12 f4. 12...Nxe5 13.Qxd4 N7c6 14.Qh4 Qa4 15.Nbd4 Qxb4 16.c3 Qe7 It should be over here. 17.Qg3 Nxd4 18.Nxd4 Ng6 19.Re1 Rac8 20.Bg5 Qc7 21.Qg4 Qc4 22.Qh5 b5 23.Re3 Qa2 24.g4 Give credit to White for not giving up and creating the idea Re3-h3 24...Qb1+ 25.Kg2 b4 As suggested, 25 ... Re8 26 Rh3 Nf8 was safe, solid and winning. 26.Rh3 Ne5 As suggested, 26 ... h6 was possible, because after 27 Bxh6 gxh6 28 Qxh6 Rfe8, White cannot create additional threats. 27.Be7 On 27.Nf5, 27...Qe4+ 28.Kf1 28...Qc4+ 29.Ke1 Nd3+ wins. 27...Nd7 Correct was 27 ... Rfe8 and if 28 Nf5, then 28 ... Qe4+ 29 Kf1 Qc4+ 30 Ke1 Nd3+ still wins. 28.Nf5 Qe4+ 29.Kg1 Qb1+ 30 Kg2 Qe4+ 31 Kg1 Qb1+ Now it is correct to take the draw.

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 I have never played this before. However, I know that the solid Todd Lunna is partial to such stodgy variations as 3 Nc3 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nd7, and I figured that this was an offbeat way to throw him off. 3 ... exd5 4 c4 Kind of a nothing variation, but one that Ashley and Waitzkin swear by. 4 ... Bb4+ 5 Nc3 Qe7+ Played quickly by Lunna, but I was not impressed. Later, Todd told me that Steve Stoyko had recommended this as an easy antidote to the Ashley/Waitzkin recipe. 6 Be2! A pawn sacrifice, but quick development is key. On 6 Be3 Nf6, Black's potential to get in ... Nf6-g4 or ... Nf6-e4 is very distracting. 6 ... dxc4 7 Nf3 Nf6 8 O-O Nbd7? After this Black is practically lost! Also unappetizing were 8 ... Be6 9 d5! or 8 ... O-O 9 Bxc4. And 8 ... Bxc3 9 bxc3 Be6 holds the pawn for now, but leads to a lot of trouble. I think the whole line with 5 ... Qe7+ is not very good. 9 Bxc4 O-O 10 Re1 Qd8 11 Qb3 The same move would have answered 10 ... Qd6. Black has insoluble problems.

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ngf3 Played in the rd. 6 encounter between Benjamin and Shaked, a little-understood sideline of the Tarrasch. Usually White plays his d2 knight to f3 and the g1 knight to e2, to ensure adequate defence of d4. With this move, Benjamin in effect announces his willingness to sacrifice the d4 pawn. g6 As this does not generate any pressure against d4, it will leave Black with no choice but to attack the head of the pawn chain on e5. On the other hand, extra protection will be given to the Black kingside. The critical line is 7 ... Qb6 8 O-O and then Black can try 8 ... cxd4 9 cxd4 Nxd4 10 Nxd4 Qxd4 11 Nf3 Qb6, or he can try the devilish 8 ... Be7, which prepares 9 Re1 g5!? 8. O-O Bg7 9. Re1 O-O 10. Nf1 cxd4 11. cxd4 Qb6 12. Bc2 f6 13. exf6 Nxf6 14. Ba4 Ne4 White has the sounder position; 1/2-1/2 in 40. I have discovered a near-universal fear among strong amateur players of the King's Indian Attack. In the following rd. 10 game against Kaidanov, Gulko discloses an effective neutralizing treatment: 1. e4 e6 2. d3 c5 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. Nf3 Bg7 6. O-O Nge7 7. c3 d5 8. Qe2 b69. Na3 Ba6 10. exd5 exd5 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Rfe1 h6 13. h4 Qd7 14. Ne5 1/2-1/2 in 32.

Kudrin - Kaidanov Chicago, 1996 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 [Kudrin has been a great exponent of the White side of the Tarrasch French for many years.] Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 [The other main line, 5 f4, is a radically different treatment in which White delays development to hold the big pawn center intact.] c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ne2 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nb6 [A line once favored by Nigel Short. Kaidanov simply completes his queenside development, allowing White to retain the kingside space advantage conferred by the e5 pawn. A much more popular idea is ... f7-f6, forcing White to exchange on f6, after which Black hopes that his normal development plus play on the half-open f-file will fully compensate for the weakness of the backward e-pawn. Most usual is 8 ... f6 9 exf6 Nxf6, but if Black is afraid of 9 Nf4 fxe5 10 Qh5+, then he can employ the line 8 ... Qb6 9 Nf3 f6, eliminating that possibility.] 9.Nf3 h6 10.Nf4 Bd7 DIAGRAM 11.a3 [Kudrin wants to avoid the possibility 11 ... Nb4 12 Bb1 (or 12 Be2 Rc8) Bb5, especially because his heart is set on lifting his king's rook into the attack with h2-h4 and Rh1-h3, so his king will have to survive in the center. Most cleancut was to avoid trying to repair the queenside, and sticking to piece development with 11 O-O! - even without the rook coming to the third rank, it will be dangerous for Black to castle kingside.] a5 [Now Black wants to secure squares with ... a5-a4 and ... Nc6-a5.] 12.b3 a4 13.b4 Rc8 14.Nh5 Nc4 15.h4 Qb6 16.Bc2 Qa6 17.Rh3 DIAGRAM [White has dutifully defended himself, and now it is his turn, as 18 Rg3 is coming.] Ne7!! [A brilliant two-pawn sacrifice which diverts the White bishops from their defensive posts.] 18.Rg3 Nf5 19.Bxf5 exf5 20.Nxg7+ [Else Black is just better after 20 ... Rh7.] Bxg7 21.Rxg7 Kf8! 22.Rg3 f4! 23.Bxf4 Nb2 [The point of 17 ... Ne7!!] 24.Qd2 Nd3+ 25.Kd1 Qc4 DIAGRAM [Menacing both 26 ... Qb3+ and 26 ... Nxf4 followed by 27 ... Qc2+. 26.Bxh6+ Ke8 27.Ne1 [On 27 Rb1, I think 27 ... Bf5 is most effective.] Qxd4 28.Nxd3 Qxa1+ 29.Nc1 Bb5 30.Qf4 Qb2 31.Qe3 0 - 1

Slip-sliding away At the traditional CCA Thanksgiving tournament in Philadelphia, [**TITLE?] Orest Popovych built up a dream attacking position against the tough defender [**TITLE?] Gennadi [** CHECK SPELLING] Sagalchik. In preparation for the feast, Popovych had sacrificed two pawns but had plenty of open lines. Amazingly, Sagalchik allowed multiple dsicovered and double checks, and dicovered attacks on his queen, but was able to dance away to safety. When Sagalchik further perfomed a Houdini act in untangling his pinned and overloaded knights, the game was decided. In the tournament, Carlomagno Oblitas of Peru obliterated the field, defeating myself, Fishbein and Shabalov. Popovych - Sagalchik Philadelphia 1993 1 e4 e5 2 f4 ef 3 Nf3 h6 DIAGRAM [A little-known move with a subtle point. The so-called "Fischer Defence", which Bobby pronounced to be a "bust" to the King's Gambit, arises after 3 ... d6 4 Bc4 h6 5 d4 g5. White can and should avoid this line after 3 ... d6 by playing 4 d4 g5 5 h4. By getting in 3 ... h6 first, Black ensures that he can meet 4 d4 g5 5 h4 with 5 ... Bg7.] 4 b3! [A completely different way of inhibiting ... g7-g5. Since White's plan is now to castle queenside and control the center rather than to attack on the f-file, ... h7-h6 is rendered meaningless.] Ne7 [Also possible was the straightforward 4 ... Nf6, and if 5 e5 Nh5 6 Bb2 d5, but instead White would maintain the tension with 5 Nc3.] 5 Bb2 Ng6 6 Nc3 d6 7 Qe2 c6 [Sagalchik was dissatisfied with plain vanilla development with 7 ... Be7 8 O-O-O (less convincing is 8 Nd5 O-O 9 O-O-O c6) O-O 9 h4 and Black has to face the music, e.g. 9 ... Nxh4 10 Nd5 or 9 ... Bg4 10 h5 Ne5 11 d4.] 8 O-O-O Bg4 9 d4 Nd7?! [More circumspect was 9 ... Be7 to prepare to castle in response to the eventual e4-e5.] 10 h3 Bh5? [Optimistically hoping to avoid ceding to White permanent compensation based on the g-file and the light squares after 10 ... Bf3 11 gf.] DIAGRAM 11 e5! de 12 de Bf3 [Necessary to avoid the possibility of White playing g2-g4, which would undermine the arrival of the other bishop on e3.] 13 gf Bc5 14 e6! [Popovych sacrifices a second pawn to soften up the knight on g6. It seems that 14 Ne4 is a mere transposition after 14 ... Be3+ 15 Kb1 O-O 16 e6.] Be3+ 15 Kb1 [Of course 15 Qxe3? fxe3 16 Rxd7 Qg5 would be absurd.] fe 16 Ne4 O-O [He must castle into it to avoid the check on d6.] 17 Qg2 [White's pieces are so beautifully placed that the optimum course is to keep piling up the pressure. A frustrating alternative was 17 Nc5, attempting to cash in. Then 17 ... Bc5? 18 Qe6+ Rf7 19 Qg6 is hopeless. Not so clear is 17 ... Rf7 18 Ne6 Qe7 19 Qg2 and Black may be holding on after 19 ... Qe6 20 Bc4 Qf5 21 Rd7 Qd7 22 Qg6 Kf8 23 Qh7 Re8 or 19 ... Kh7 (better than 19 ... Nh4 20 Qg4) 20 Bc4 b5. Popovych also had to consider that Black might try to wrest the initiative with 17 ... Nc5!? 18 Rd8 Rad8, as White's remaining forces cannot resume the attack very quickly.] Kh7 18 Bd3 DIAGRAM [The dream position has arrived, and the spectators await the final flurry involving discoveries, double checks, etc.] Nde5!! [Calmly inviting White to do his worst. 18 ... Rf5 would have been methodically beaten back by 19 h4 Qe7 20 Nd6.] 19 Rhg1? [On 19 Be5 Ne5 there is no mate. White can then win the exchange with 20 Ng5+ Kh8 21 Ne6, but the position is not completely clear after 21 ... Qe7 22 Nf8 Rf8 thanks to the strong Black bishop. Similarly insufficient is 19 Nf6+ Qf6 20 Be5 Qe5 21 Qg6+ Kg8. More dangerous is the thematic 19 h4 to exploit the overloaded knights. Then Black must reply 19 ... Nxd3! 20 h5 Nge5! with the idea 21 Be5 Ne5 22 Rd8 Rad8, and Black would have even material for the queen and securely posted pieces. And Black holds on 21 Rd3 Qc7. But what Popovych overlooked was that after 19 h4 Nd3, 20 Rd3 is very strong. For example, 20 ... Qc7 21 Ng5+ hg 22 hg+ Kg8 23 Qh3 Kf7 (23 ... e5 24 Rd7) 24 Bg7 Rh8 25 Bh8 Rh8 26 Qh8 Nh8 Rh7+, or 20 ... Qe7 21 h5 Nh8 22 Rhd1 Rf7 23 Rd7!! Qd7 24 Rd7 Rd7 25 Qg7+! Rg7 Nf6 mate DIAGRAM] Bg1 20 Rg1 Qe7 21 Nf2!! [Recovering to make the best move in a completely new situation. After 21 Be5 Ne5 the discoveries do not accomplish anything. More interestingly, on 21 Nf6+, intending to capture on e5 after Black takes the intruder, Sagalchik has 21 ... Kh8! with the variations 22 Be5 Ne5, 22 Bg6 Qf6, or 22 Nh5 Qg5! 23 Qg5 hg 24 Rg5 Nd3 25 cd Kh7 with advantage to Black. If White had instead tried 21 Nd6, then 21 ... Rf6 defends. The point of the text was to meet 21 ... Rf6 with 22 Ng4. Finally, 21 h4 is now comfortably met by 21 ... Rf5.] Rf5 22 Bf5 ef 23 Nd3 Re8 [Black is still trying to disengage his knights, but it seems things are beginning to click together for him.] 24 Re1! [If 24 Bc3 to prepare this, then Black unhooks with 24 ... Qf7. If 24 h4, Black can reorganize with 24 ... Nh4 25 Qh3 Neg6, meeting 26 Nf4 (idea: 26 ... Nf4 27 Qh4!) with 26 ... Qe3. Now White looks forward to 24 ... Qd6 25 h4 with a revived attack.] Qh4! DIAGRAM [Now if White takes a few times on e5, Black will have a check on e1. 25 Qf1 loses to 25 ... Nf3! and 25 Qe2 loses to 25 ... Nd3. The only way to immediately renew the threat to take on e5 is the problem-like 25 Qh1!!, leading to a very unclear situation, although Black may be able to untangle with 25 ... Qf6 26 Qf1 Qd6.] 25 Bc3? Re7 [Now it's over.] 26 Rg1 Qg3 27 Qg3 fg 28 Ne5 Ne5 29 Rg3 f4 30 Rg2 Nf3 0 - 1

POUNDING THE PETROFF By any account, Russia's Artur Jusupov is one of the strongest players in the world. Lately, one of his favorite defenses, Petroff's Defense, has absorbed some heavy hits. In his Candidates Semi-Final Match against Timman, the Petroff scored 1/2 - 3 1/2. Additionally, Kamsky handed Jusupov's Petroff two defeats, in Tilburg 1992 (see Game of the Month, ___ 1992) and Moscow 1992. In Munich, Jusupov wheeled out the unlucky Defense against England's Michael Adams, who is having a great year. Adams set Jusupov some annoying problems right out of the opening, and delivered a brilliantly calculated attack. Adams - Jusupov, Munich 1993 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Nc6 7 O-O Be7 [A tricky line once employed by Karpov against Kasparov in a World Championship game is 7 ... Bg4 with the following ideas: (1) if 8 Re1 Be7, and Black has transposed into the 7 ... Be7 8 Re1 Bg4 line, avoiding 7 ... Be7 8 c4, and (2) if 8 c4 Nf6 (not 8 ... Nxd4? 9 Bxe4 dxe4 10 Qxd4) and Black has accelerated his pressure against the d-pawn; here Kasparov gambited the pawn with 9 Nc3 Bxf3 (9 ... Nxd4 10 Qe1+ Ne6 11 Ne5 is too dangerous) 10 Qxf3 Nxd4 11 Qe3+ Ne6 12 cxd5 with great complications.] 8 c4 Nb4 DIAGRAM 9 Be2 [The modern move. In the line 9 cxd5 Nxd3 10 Qxd3 Qxd5 11 Re1 Bf5 12 Nc3 Nxc3 13 Qxc3 c6 14 Re5 Qd7 15 Bh6!! (discovered by Walter Browne), a major improvement, which led to the resuscitation of 8 ... Nb4, is 13 ... Be6! 14 Qxc7 Bd6 with equality. However, in Wahls - Jusupov, Germany 1992, White tried, instead of 12 Nc3, 12 Ne5! Jusupov played 12 ... O-O-O! (better than 12 ... f6 13 Qf3 g6 14 g4) and the game continued 13 Qf3 g6 14 g4 Bh4 15 Nc3 Nxc3 16 bxc3 Be6 17 g5! and Jusupov had to fight to secure a draw in 33 moves.] Be6 [In Moscow 1992, Jusupov selected the more conservative 9 ... O-O 10 Nc3 Bf5 against Kamsky, but White was able to develop a central initiative after 11 a3 Nxc3 12 bxc3 Nc6 13 cxd5 Qxd5 14 Bf4 Bd6 15 c4.] 10 Nc3 O-O 11 Be3 f5 [A sharp variation introduced by Seirawan against Karpov. A popular alternative is 11 ... Bf5, now that the White bishop is on e3, and an eventual ... Nc2 will have bite. In Short - Timman, Hilversum 1989, Nigel tried 12 Rc1! (other moves are 12 a3 and 12 Qb3), with slightly better chances after 12 ... Nxc3 13 bxc3 Nxa2 14 Rc2.] 12 a3 [Relatively harmless is 12 cxd5 Nxd5 13 Nxd5 Bxd5 14 Bf4 c6 15 Be5, although White made something out of this in Dvoiris - Sorokin, Chelyabinsk 1990] Nxc3 13 bxc3 Nc6 DIAGRAM [The critical position in this line. In the stem game Karpov - Seirawan, ____ , Karpov played 14 Qa4 f4 15 Bd2 (in his book on the Petroff, Karpov recommends 15 Bc1, so that after 15 ... Kh8 16 Rb1 Rb8 17 Re1 dxc4 18 Bc4 Bg4, 19 d5 would win as the bishop does not hang on d2, but Black is under no particular obligation to play this way) Kh8 16 Rab1 Rb8 17 Rfe1 dc 18 Bc4 Bg4 19 Be2. Then after 19 ... Bd6 20 h3 Bh5 21 Rb5 Karpov went on to win a nice game. Thus, in the 1986 U.S. Championship, I decided to imitate Karpov's 14 Qa4, even though I felt suspicious. Sure enough, Yasser improved with 19 ... a6! denying White's rook the use of the b5 square, and after 20 h3 Bh5 21 Ng5? Bxe2!, Black won convincingly. Later in the tournament, Fedorowicz was prepared to play 14 c5 against Seirawan, with the idea of shutting off Black's counterplay, and using the e-file and the e5 square, but Seirawan played a different defense against Fed. (In a recent, cursory analysis session with NM Larry Tamarkin, I was unable to prove a serious White advantage after 14 c5.) Meanwhile, the direct approach with 14 cxd5 Bxd5 15 c4 (Makarichev suggests 15 Rb1, and Belyavsky played 15 Qc2 against Jusupov in Barcelona 1989) Bf3 16 Bf3 f4 17 Bd5+ Kh8 18 Bc1 Nxd4! led nowhere in Hubner - Jusupov Rotterdam 1988. Adams decides to avoid these subtleties, and develops his pieces.] 14 Rb1 f4 15 Bc1 Rb8 16 cxd5 [Zapata played the less forceful 16 Re1 dxc4 17 Qa4 against Garcia Gonzales in Santa Clara 1990, obtaining little.] Bxd5 17 Re1 Kh8 18 Bd3 Qd7 [Black's setup is designed to prevent White's expansion with c3-c4, but the bishop on e7 is in a fragile position on the e-file, and Black's major pieces have been relegated to the defense of small units. Jusupov's choice is logical, but more radical measures were needed. A better defense was the Nimzovichian 18 ... Bg8!! getting out of the way of White's coming central advance and securing the kingside. Then on 19 c4 Bf6 20 d5 Nd4 is satisfactory - if 21 Bxf4? Nxf3+ 22 Qxf3 Bc3! threatens 23 ... g5. 19 c4! [Adams sacs the d-pawn to combine pressure against h7 with attacks against Black's minor pieces.] Bxf3 20 Qxf3 Nxd4 21 Qe4 Nf5 [The only way to simultaneously defend h7 and e7, but Black is preparing to strike back with ... Rbe8.] DIAGRAM 22 Rb5!! [Though this move seems to displace the White rook in the face of the coming counterplay, by forcing Black to play 22 ... c5, White gains critical time. The immediate 22 Bxf4 Rbe8 would have left open many questions. c5 23 Bxf4 Rbd8 [There is no time for 23 ... Rbe8 24 Rxb7.] 24 Bc2 b6 25 g4! [Since Adams has earned the tempo to get his king's bishop off the d-file, he can afford this.] Rde8 26 Rd1 [White removes himself from the e-file battery and sets up his own threats on the d-file.] Bd6 27 Qd3 g5! [A nice resource which defends h7 and counterattacks the White bishop.] DIAGRAM 28 Qc3+! [A nasty surprise would follow 28 Bxd6? Nxd6 29 Qxd6 Re1+ 30 Kg2 Qxg4+ 31 Qg3 Rxf2+! 32 Kxf2 Qe2 mate! And 28 gxf5? gxf4 29 Qxd6 allows 29 ... Rg8+ 30 Kf1 (or 30 Kh1 Re1+) Qg7.] Nd4 29 Rxd4 Qxg4+ [Of course, 29 ... cxd4 30 Qxd4+ Kg8 31 Rxg5+ is hopeless.] 30 Kh1 Re1+ [Better than 30 ... Kg8 31 Bxd6! cxd4 32 Qg3.] 31 Qxe1 Qf3+ 32 Kg1 gxf4 33 Re4 [White preserves his extra rook.] Rg8+ 34 Kf1 Qh1+ 35 Ke2 Rg1 36 Qc3+ Kg8 37 Re8+ Kf7 38 Be4 Qxh2 39 Ra8 Rg3 40 Rxa7+ Ke6 41 Bd5+ Colding - Mengarini, Eastern Masters, May 1992, C41 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 c6 [The newly fashionable Prible Defence.] 4 Bg5 Nbd7 5 Nf3 [More aggressive is 5 f4 a la the Byrne variation against the Pirc. As Colding plays it, the opening develops into a Philidor's Defence, where White's bishop on g5 is subject to an early exchange.] e5 6 Qd2 Be7 7 h3 [To be considered was 7 Be2 h6 8 Bh4, as 8 ... Nh5 fails to 9 Bxe7 Qxe7 10 Nxe5.] O-O 8 Be2 Re8 9 O-O h6 10 Be3 [Probably White should retain the pressure with 10 Bh4. Then 10 ... Nxe4? 11 Nxe4 Bxh4 12 Nxd6 is good, or 10 ... Nh7 11 Bg3! Bf6 12 Rad1. Most logical after 10 Bh4 would be 10 ... Qc7 with the idea Nd7-f8-g6. If then 11 Bg3 b5 12 a3 Bb7 13 Nh4 leads to wild complications.] Bf8 11 Bd3 b5 [Black assumes the initiative.] 12 a3 Qc7 13 dxe5 Nxe5 [Active-looking, but better was 13 ... dxe5, because Black's Nd7 had a rosy future ahead on c5, whereas White's Nf3 was prospectless. Moreover, the text move frees White's f-pawn. But Mengarini never shies away from complications.] 14 Nxe5 dxe5 15 f4 Bb7 16 fxe5 Rxe5 [Unable to resist the temptation of a rooklift. 16 ... Qxe5 was more rational. DIAGRAM [A good "What's the Best Move?" position. The choices are a) 17 Bxh6, b) 17 Rxf6, and c) 17 Bf4.] 17 Rxf6!? [Wrecking Black's kingside pawn structure, but it is not that easy for White to get his pieces into the attack. Best was 17 Bxh6! Black would have no compensation after 17 ... Bc5+ 18 Be3, or 17 ... Rh5 18 Bf4. Black could get the pawn back, at the cost of a precarious position, with 17 ... Nxe4 18 Nxe4 gxh6 19 Nf6+, etc. Perhaps Black's best chance would be the positional 17 ... gxh6 18 Rxf6 Bg7. The alternative 17 Bf4 wins nothing, but also costs nothing, and leads to a strong position after 17 ... Qb6+ 18 Kh1 Re6 19 e5.] gxf6 18 Rf1 Rh5! [Completing the rooklift. The rook is surprisingly hard to budge. White could try 19 Ne2.] 19 Be2 Rxh3! DIAGRAM [The combination is good enough for a draw after 20 gxh3 Qg3+, etc. But White tries for more.] 20 Rf4? Qxf4! [Because 21 Bxf4 Bc5+ wins.] 21 gxh3 Qg3+ 22 Kf1 Qxh3+ 23 Ke1 Qh4+ 24 Bf2 Qh1+ 25 Bf1 Bc8 26 Qf4 Be6 27 Ne2 Qh5 and Black soon won

FOUR KNIGHTS REVIVAL CLOSES IN LINARES Emerging from over 60 years of virtual hibernation, the Four Knights Game returned to top-flight international chess in 1991 with a vengeance. Nigel Short and John Nunn led the brigade, fashioning this ancient opening into a modern juggernaut. But in Linares, Spain, in a category ___ tournament held from [date], Short's adversaries were less than receptive, as he lost as White against Al Beliavsky, and against fellow Candidate Jan Timman. In the 1920s, the Four Knights was put out of commission by the Rubinstein Defence, in which Black sacrifices a pawn after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bb5 Nd4 5 Ba4 Bc5 6 Nxe5. The driving engine behind the return of the Four Knights was the discovery of a bizarre defensive maneuver by White. The game between Short and Timman illustrates this critical line. C48 Short - Timman, Linares 1992 (11) C48 Four Knights Game 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bb5 Nd4 [3 games from the 1991 English Champ. featured the exciting variation 4 ... Bc5 5 O-O O-O 6 Nxe5 Nxe5 7 d4 Bd6 8 f4! Nc6 9 e5 [DIAGRAM A] in which White re-establishes the fork or double attack in many different permutations. Nunn - Hodgson continued dramatically 9 ... Be7 10 d5 Nb4 11 exf6 Bxf6 12 a3 Bxc3 13 bxc3 Nxd5! 14 Qxd5 c6 15 Qd3 cxb5 16 f5 f6 (A possible improvement on 16 ... "Re8! 17 f6 d5!" as given in ECO. Now Nunn should play quietly with 17 Be3 or 17 Qd6, but he tried for a kingside attack and got blown away.) 17 a4 bxa4 18 Rxa4 d5 19 Rh4 Re8 20 Qd1 Re5 21 Qh5 Qb6+ 22 Kh1 Bxf5 23 Bf4 [DIAGRAM B] Qf2! 24 Qd1 Qh4 25 Bxe5 fxe5 26 Rxf5 Qe4. From DIAGRAM A two Short - Adams playoff games for the championship continued 9 ... a6 10 Be2. In both cases Adams had a difficult position, first with 10 ... Bb4 11 d5 Bc5+ 11 Kh1 Nd5 12 Nd5 d6 13 Bd3 de 14 fe Ne5 15 Bh7+ Kh7 16 Qh5+, and then with 10 ... Be7 11 d5 Nd5 12 Nd5 d6 13 Ne7+ Qe7 14 ed cd 15 f5 f6 16 Bc4+] 5 Ba4 Bc5 [Short - Beliavsky from Linares proceeded calmly 5 ... Nf3+ 6 Qf3 (ECO recommends the surprising 6 gxf3! planning f4. After the text White's pieces are actually not well placed to grab the initiative.) Bc5 7 d3 c6 8 Bb3 d6 9 O-O h6 10 Be3 Bb6 11 h3 O-O 12 Rfd1 Be3 13 Qe3 b5 and Black stood well, 0 - 1 in 58.] 6 Nxe5 O-O 7 Nd3 Bb6 8 e5 Ne8 [A well-known position. White is a pawn up but his knight on d3, which went there to gain time by attacking the Black bishop, is miserably placed.] 9 Nd5!? d6 [DIAGRAM C] 10 Ne3!! [The critical move. 9 Nd5 had historically been considered a mistake because of 10 c3 Qh4! which is good for Black after 11 Ne3 Qe4 12 Nb4 dxe5 13 cxd4 exd4. But with 10 Ne3!! White completes a strategy which posts the knights on very unusual squares. White hopes to hold the extra pawn, have his knight on d3 reposition itself through e5, and use his knight on e3 as a defensive bulwark. In the important game Nunn - Christiansen, Bundesliga 1991 Christiansen selected 10 ... Qh4 11 O-O Be6 but Nunn forced favorable exchanges with 12 c3 Ne2+ 13 Kh1 Bxe3 14 dxe3 Nxc1 15 Rxc1 Rd8 16 Bb3! dxe5 17 Bxe6 fxe6 18 Qc2, giving back the pawn for a positional superiority which he managed to convert later into a win. Two Short-Speelman games from their Candidates Match featured 10 ... c6, which attempts to put enough pressure, through ... Bc7, to force White to make the exchange exd6. The downside to this plan is that Black voluntarily withdraws his Bb6 from its important diagonal and that White will play f2-f4 to shore up e5, hoping to retake there with his Nd3, getting the steed off that horrible square. First Short tried 11 O-O Bc7 12 c3 Ne6! 13 f4 dxe5 14 Nxe5 Nxf4 with equality, but then he improved with 11 c3! Nf5 - if 11 ... Ne6 12 Bc2! Bc7 13 exd6 Qxd6 14 Nf5! and White unravels - 12 O-O Bc7 13 f4 dxe5 14 Nxe5 Nxe3 15 dxe3 and White stands better.] 10 ... Qg5 11 f4?! [This move attempts to improve on Nunn - Hubner, Munich 1991 which saw 11 exd6 Nxd6 12 O-O and now Hubner recommends 12 ... N4f5 13 Ne1 Nxe3 14 fxe3 Bg4 15 Nf3 Qh5 16 Qe1 c6 followed by 17 ... Rae8 with compensation. Clearly, this line will be investigated. The text move looks logical, but Short must have underestimated Timman's 12th move.] 11 ... Qg6 12 O-O f6! [This clumsy-looking move is actually quite annoying, as it tempts White to liquidate the e5-point and denies that square to the knight on d3.] [DIAGRAM D] 13 exd6? [Slavishly trying to ensure that he remains a pawn up, Short uncharacteristically misjudges his opponent's chances. It was imperative that White maintain the tension on e5 so as to avoid helping Black develop his knight on e8, and in the hope of someday recapturing on e5 with his own knight. Best was 13 Kh1! leaving the dangerous diagonal. Then the position is quite unclear after, for example, 13 ... Kh8 14 b4 (to develop with Bc1-b2) a5.] Nxd6 14 Nf2 [Probably necessary under the new circumstances. 14 Kh1 N4f5 was hardly appealing.] 14 ... N4f5 15 Nd5? [This was too optimistic. White had to retain the defensive bulwark at e3. Peter Irwin and the guys at the Morristown, NJ Chess Club suggest 15 c3, attempting to reactivate the bishop via c2. Then 15 ... Nxe3 16 de Bf5 would lead to an exciting struggle.] Kh8! 16 Nb6 [Black's last move prepared the threat 16 ... Nh4 17 g3 Qe4! 18 gxh4 Bh3 and wins. On 16 Qf3 Nd4 is strong. And 16 d3 loses to 16 ... Nh4 17 g3 Bg4. The desperate 16 d4 can be met by 16 ... Bxd4 17 Qd3 b5! 18 Bb3 c5, or even 16 ... Nh4 17 g3 Bxd4 18 Be3 Ndf5! 19 Bxd4 Nxg3!] 16 ... axb6 17 c3 [Or 17 Bb3 Nh4 18 g3 Ndf5, and White has big probems. But now Black eliminates the possibility of Ba4-c2.] [DIAGRAM D] 17 ... Ra4! 18 Qa4 Nh4 19 g3 Nf3+ 20 Kg2 [Not 20 Kh1 Qh5 21 h4 Nf5 22 Kg2 N5xh4+, etc. With 20 Kg2 White hopes for a respite after 20 ... Qh5 21 h3, but of course no such luck is forthcoming.] 20 ... Nh4+ 21 Kg1 [After 21 Kh1 Be6 is deadly.] 21 ... Nf3+ 22 Kg2 [DIAGRAM E] 22 ... Be6! [The bishop's arrival on d5 will be decisive. If 23 Kxf3 Bd5+ 24 Ke2 Re8+, 25 Kd1 Bf3 is mate, and 25 Qxe8+ also loses.] 23 Nh1 Bd5 24 Rf3 Nf5! 25 Nf2 [White's position is a tragi-comedy after 25 Kf2 Qh5.] 25 ... Nh4+ 26 Kf1 Nf3 27 d3 Nh2+ 28 Ke2 Bc6 [29 Qd4 Qh5+ 30 g4 Nxg4 31 Nxg4 Qg4+ was too grisly. 0 - 1

RUY LOPEZ deFirmian found himself in two closed Lopezes against the Ivanov tag-team. In rd. 2 Igor played an old Keres strongpointing line: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c30-0 9. h3 Nd7 10. d4 Nb6 11. Nbd2 Bf6 12. Nf1 Re8 13. Ng3 g6 The knight cannot be allowed to go to f5 or h5, so Black must cede a decent post to White's dark-squared bishop. 14. Bh6 Na5 Probably the only good way to play this position is 14 ... a5!, preparing to use the b6 knight for a venture to c4. Ivanov's move leads to serious knight entanglement, far from the kingside where help will be needed. 15. Bc2c5 16. d5 c4 17. Qd2 Nb7 18. Rf1 Nc5 19. Ng5 With a strong attack; 1-0 in 43. In rd. 8 Alex Ivanov resumed his longstanding debate with deFirmian over the Zaitsev Variation. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c30-0 9. h3 Bb7 10. d4 Re8 11. a4 h6 12. Nbd2 Bf8 13. Bc2 exd4 14. cxd4 Nb4 15.Bb1 c5 Kamsky tried 15 ... g6 against Anand in the first game of their PCA match, Las Palmas 1995, but Anand got a strong position with 16 Ra3 Bg7 17 e5! (previously 17 Re3 had been played) dxe5 18 dxe5 Nh5 19 axb5 axb5 20 Qb3 c5 21 Ne4. In game 9 Kamsky played 15 ... Qd7; Anand again reacted strongly with 16 b3 g6 17 Bb2 Bg7 18 Qc1. 16. d5 Nd7 17. Ra3 c4 18. axb5 axb5 19. Nd4 Ne5 Following game 7 of the Anand-Kamsky Las Palmas match. In World Championship encounters, Karpov had tried both 19 ... Qb6 and 19 ... Ra3 here. 20. Rxa8 Qxa8 21. Nxb5 Rc8! The novelty. Game 7 had continued 21 ... Qa5 22 Na3 Ba6 23 Re3. 22. Na3 Ba6 23. Re3 Nbd3 24. Bxd3 cxd3 25. b3 Be7 26. Ndc4 Bg5 With a very unclear position; 1/2-1/2 in 44. In rd. 11, Christiansen employed an unusual permutation of the Closed Defence against A. Ivanov: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 d6 7. c3 Bg4 Christiansen's vast experience with slightly off-beat defences makes him unpredictable. The text is generally shied away from because, although it stops d2-d4, White can gain time for his standard knight maneuvers by kicking the bishop around. 8. d3 Nd7 An original idea. ECO gives only lines involving ... Nc6-a5. 9. Nb