New Wave

Few people doubt that a new wave of superstars has arrived in

international chess. Two of the most intense, Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, and

Alexander Morozevich of Russia, fought out an epic battle in the recent

tournament in Madrid. Morozevich is known for his penchant for slightly unusual,

Nimzovichian-type defenses. In this game, he castled right into the fire of his

opponent's unopposed fianchettoed bishop, relying on hard-to-fathom tactical

tricks to reject the attack. Topalov is not afraid of hand-to-hand combat with

anybody, but gingerly stepped over his opponent's enticements, emerging the

exchange up for a pawn in a wild endgame, featuring a race between rolling

connectors.

Topalov - Morozevich

Spain, 1996

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3

[A popular alternative here is 3 Nc3, which prevents the Hedgehog /

Queen's Indian 3 ... b6? because of 4 e4, and instead forces Black into the

following repertoire: 3 ... c5 4 e4 leads to the pawn sac after 4 ... Nc6 5 e5

Ng8 6 d4 cxd4 7 Nxd4 Nxe5, 3 ... d5 is a Queen's Gambit Declined after 4 d4, and

3 ... Bb4 allows the hybrid 4 Qc2 or 4 g3, not allowing Black to get into a

regular Nimzo-Indian.]

d5

[I have had good success here with 3 ... a6, after which White's best is

the quiet 4 Bg2 b5 5 b3! Not as good is 4 Nc3 because after 4 ... d5 5 cxd5 (5

Bg2 dxc4 is an unclear pawn sacrifice) exd5 is a strategical boon for Black -

the fianchettoed bishop will "bite on granite" while its counterpart will soon

develop comfortably to f5.]

4.d4 dxc4 5.Bg2 c5

[An active move seeking to force equality. The main line is to sit back

with 5 ... Be7 6 O-O O-O 7 Qc2 a6 8 Qxc4 (8 a4 has gained many adherents

recently) b5 followed by 9 ... Bb7. Less favored is 5 ... a6, postponing

development and seeking to hold the c4 pawn, for example after 6 O-O b5 7 Ne5

Nd5.]

6.0-0

[Also played is 6 Qa4+, but it allows the maneuver 6 ... Bd7 7 Qxc4

Bc6.]

Nc6 7.Ne5

DIAGRAM

[A modern approach. Many players of the White pieces do not like 7 Qa4

because of the unclear queen sacrifice 7 ... cxd4 8 Nxd4 Qxd4 9 Bxc6+ Bd7 10 Rd1

Qxd1+ 11 Qxd1 Bxc6.]

Bd7

[Permanently out of favor is 7 ... Nxe5 8 dxe5 Nd5 (or Black can trade

Queens first) 9 Na3 with a budding White initiative. Of course, Black cannot

play 7 ... Nxd4?? 8 e3.]

8.Na3

[The new deal, introduced in the training match Kasparov - Andersson,

Belgrade 1985. 2 games by Razuvaev illustrate other approaches. Against Smagin

at Moscow 1988 he bailed out with 8 Nxc6 Bxc6 9 Bxc6+ bxc6 10 Qa4 cxd4 11 Qxc6+

Nd7 12 Qxc4 with an early draw. Against Unzicker at Biel 1991 he played the old

main line 8 Nxc4 cxd4 (better than 8 ... b5 9 Ne5 Rc8 10 Nxd7 and the power of

the two bishops can be felt) 9 Bf4 Nd5! 10 Nd6+ Bxd6 11 Bxd6 Nde7, with an

interesting position where White is about as likely to recover the pawn with the

initiative intact as Black is to give back the pawn while obtaining complete

equality.]

cxd4 9.Naxc4

DIAGRAM

Nxe5

[This appears to be a new move. Andersson's early defences against

Kasparov did not fare very well. First he tried 9 ... Rc8 10 Qb3 Nxe5 11 Nxe5

Bc6 12 Nxc6 bxc6, getting a lousy position after 13 Rd1. In the next case he

ventured 9 ... Nd5 10 Nxc6 Bxc6 11 Qd4 Nb4 12 Bxc6+ Nxc6 13 Qc3, again with a

strong White initiative. The accepted move is the logical 9 ... Bc5 holding the

d4 pawn. This gave rise to a spectacular combination in Tal - A. Sokolov,

Brussels 1988, after 10.Qb3 0-0!? (usual is 10 ... Qc8, but Tal spurns the offer

of the b-pawn) 11.Bf4 Qc8 12.Rfd1 Rd8 13.Rac1 Nd5 14.Nxf7!! Kxf7 15.Ne5+ Nxe5

16.Bxe5 b6 17.Qf3+ Kg8 18.Qg4 g6 19.Be4 Be8 20.b4 Nxb4 21.Bxa8 Qxa8 22.Qxe6+ and

the attack raged on. In Sulava - Dizdarevic, Cattolica 1993, White munched with

11.Qxb7, and emerged satisfactorily after 11 ... Nxe5 12.Nxe5 Rb8 13.Qf3 Nd5

(better is 13 ... Bd6 14 Nxd7 Qxd7 15 Bg5 Be5 with good central control for

Black in Vaganian - Serper, Lucerne 1993) 14.Bg5 f6 15.Qg4 h5 16.Qh3 fxg5

17.Bxd5 g4 18.Qg2 Rxb2 19.Qe4 Rb6 20.Bc4 with clear compensation for his one

pawn minus. A more staid example of this line was Tukmakov - Sokolov, Biel 1992,

where the normative Qc8 was played, although Black had no prospects for anything

other than equalization, and in fact lost a pawn and the game after 11.Bf4 0-0

12.Rac1 Nd5 13.Nxd7 Qxd7 14.Ne5 Nxe5 15.Bxe5 Bb6 16.Rfd1 Rac8 17.Rxc8 Rxc8

18.Bxd5 Qxd5 19.Qxd5 exd5 20.Bxd4 Bxd4 21.Rxd4 Rd8 22.e4, although, incredibly,

Sokolov decided to repeat all of this against Kharlov at St. Petersburg 1993,

where, after 22 ... Kf8 23 exd5 Ke7 24 Kg2 Kd6 25 Kf3 Rc8 26 Rd2, he essayed the

improvement 26 ... Re8! (instead of 26 ... Rc5 in the Tukmakov game) 27 Kf4 Re5,

later achieving a draw. Personally, I do not see the point of learning a lot of

theory just to get a draw in a pawn-down rook ending.]

10.Nxe5 Qb6

[The exchange of knights made this development possible, although the

power of the bishop on the unchecked long diagonal is absolutely frightening.]

11.Nxd7 Nxd7 12.Qa4 0-0-0

DIAGRAM

[Evidently the critical position for Morozevich's line.]

13. Rd1

[Very perplexing is 13 Bd2 where it seems 13 ... Kb8 is best - if 13 ...

Nc5 14 Qc2 Kb8 15 b4 and the advance of the queenside pawns spells trouble - and

then 14 Ba5 Qa6 15 b4 Nb6 is very unclear. On second consideration, maybe White

can improve all of this with 13 Bf4!! e5 14 Bd2 - the difference is that Black

is weak now on the b3-f7 and h3-c8 diagonals.]

Be7

[A subtle skip-step with the bishop. Not 13 ... Kb8? because then 14

Rxd4 would attack the knight. And 13 ... Nc5 is dangerous because of 14 Qc2 Kb8

15 Bf4+ with ideas about the shot b2-b4. 13 ... Bc5 runs straight into 14 b4

Qxb4 15 Qxb4 Bxb4 16 Rb1. And 13 ... e5? 14 Bh3 is miserable. With the text,

Morozevich prepares to play either 14 ... Kb8 or 14 ... Bf6.]

14.Rxd4 Bc5

[The point. White's pieces become at least momentarily disorganized.

Black would just have a very bad position on the routine 14 ... Nc5? 15 Rxd8+

Rxd8 16 Qc2.]

15.Rc4 Kb8

DIAGRAM

16.Kf1!

[Topalov is very confident of himself in such tricky positions. But if I

were White here, I would be hard-pressed to resist 16 Be3!? with these points:

16 ... Bxe3! 17 Rb4 Bxf2+ 18 Kf1, although now Black can play 18 ... Nf6!!

taking the e4 square from White's queen, getting some counterplay after 19 Rxb6

Bxb6 thanks to the ideas of ... Rd8-d4 and ... Nf6-g4; other 16th moves for

Black turn out poorly - 16 ... Qxb2 17 Rcc1 (on other moves Black has 17 ...

Nb6) leaves Black with major problems because 17 ... Qa3 is hammered by 18 Qe4,

while 17 ... Qb4 18 Qxb4 Bxb4 Rab1 is grisly, and the defensive try 16 ... a5 is

routinely met by 17 Bxc5 Nxc5 18 Qc2 with a very strong position.]

e5! 17.Bg5!!

[Now it looks like 17 Be3 can be met by 17 ... Bxe3! 18 Rb4 Qf6! 19

Rxb7+ Kc8 with a position way too messy to evaluate. Chess is rough!]

Qxb2

[Morozevich is skating on very thin ice here. But 17 ... f6 18 Be3!

would have been good for White.]

18.Rcc1 Nb6 19.Qe4 Rd7 20.Rab1

DIAGRAM

Black has finally engineered a defense of b7. Now the only problem is to

extricate all of his loose pieces.]

Qd4

[Better than 20 ... Qa3 21 Qxe5+.]

21.Qxd4 Bxd4 22.e3 h6!!

[He did not like 22 ... f6 23 exd4 fxg5 24 dxe5 with advantage for

White.]

23.Bh3!!

[A vicious retort. Now on 23 ... Rc7 24 Rxc7 Kxc7 25 Be7! the Black

bishop cannot escape its troubles; one nice line is 25 ... Nd5 26 Rc1+ Kb6 27

Ba3 Bc3 28 Bg2 Bb4 29 Bb2 with an overwhelming position.. Therefore, Morozevich

gives up the exchange for a pawn and a solid pawn formation.]

hxg5 24.Bxd7 Bxe3 25.fxe3 Nxd7 26.Kg2 b6 27.Rb5 f6 28.Rc6

[Topalov decides routine play is not enough, and muscles his rooks into

Black's position, even though Black has potential counterplay on both wings.]

Re8 29.Rd5 Nc5 30.Kf3 Kb7 31.Rcd6 Kc7 32.Kg4 Rh8 33.h3 a5

DIAGRAM

[Until now, the queenside majority has been dormant, but it awakens,

either in its own right, or as a diversion, prelude to a kingside attack!]

34.Rd1 a4 35.a3 Ne4 36.Rd7+ Kc6 37.Kf3 f5 38.Kg2 Rc8

[Deserting the defence of his kingside pawns, Morozevich is intent on

landing the knight on c3 to shepherd the b-pawn forward.]

39.Rf7 Nc3 40.Rc1 Kd5 41.Rxf5 Kc4 42.Rxg5 Kb3 43.Rxg7 Kxa3

[Not the kind of race that I would like to make any prognosis about.]

44.h4 Kb2 45.Rf1 Rh8 46.Kh3 a3 47.Ra7 b5 48.g4 b4 49.g5 Rg8

[Note that the rook observes White's most advanced pawn, this way

stopping both of them until a White piece comes to their aid.]

50.Rg1!

[More effective than 50 Kg4 after which 50 ... Ne4! halts White's pawns

temporarily, and stops the uncomfortable rook check along the second rank.]

a2 51.Rg2+ Kb1 52.g6 b3 53.h5 b2

DIAGRAM

[The moment of truth.]

54.Ra3!! Rd8

[If Black queens 54 ... a1Q, then White's rook plus advanced pawns will

defeat Black's rook plus knight in the variation 55 Rg1+ Kc2 56 Raxa1 bxa1Q 57

Rxa1. And on the deft 54...Nd1, White's task will be to eliminate everything,

and he can do this with 55.Rd3!! Kc1 56.Rg1 b1Q 57.Rdxd1+ Kc2 58.Rxb1 axb1Q

59.Rxb1 Kxb1, winning with 60.Kg4 Kc2 61.Kg5 Kd3 62.h6.]

55.Rxc3!! a1Q 56.Rb3

[Topalov's plan becomes clear. He still wants to trade off both his

rooks, this time for Black's b-pawn and the new queen. Failing that, he will

fashion a mating net which will force the exchanges leaving him with the two

passed pawns against Morozevich's remaining rook.]

Qa6 57.Rbxb2+ Kc1 58.Ra2

DIAGRAM

[Black is busy with the threats, while White's king will be safe from

checks.]

Qe6+ 59.Kh2 Kb1 60.Rab2+ Kc1 61.Ra2 Kb1 62.Raf2 Kc1 63.g7! Qg8 64.Rf1+ Rd1

65.Rxd1+ Kxd1 66.h6 Ke1 67.Kg1 Qb3 68.g8Q Qxe3+ 69.Kh1 Qxh6+ 70.Rh2

1 - 0