openings

Two wins with one queen sacrifice

By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris

162

| February 8

2012

whats hot and whats not?

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Frequency

In this issue of CVO we cover the final part of the strong Gibraltar tournament, which produced some real entertainment. We also take a look at the Moscow Open and the German Bundesliga.

what'shot?
Score
Hou Yifan was in great shape in Gibraltar and beat Le Quang Liem in a Classical Scheveningen. Inarkiev-Kovchan saw Black's Najdorf checkmated in the middle of the board. Kurnosov-Vorobiov and NegiLe Quang Liem provide study material on the 6.g5 bd7 Najdorf. Kulaots-Polgar was a very entertaining Grivas Sicilian game which eventually ended in a draw. Adams seemed to have an edge against Mamedyarov's Philidor. Ragger beat Seingrimsson from an interesting QGD/Catalan hybrid line (see below). Mamedyarov took 104 moves to prove the superiority of his pawn structure against Akobian's Tarrasch Defence. Lysyj successfully showed a new approach to the classical Petrosian Variation of the Queen's Indian and beat Iordachescu (see below). Negi had no problems holding Svidler to a draw on the black side of a Grnfeld. Interestingly, Aronian plays board 2 in the Bundesliga in the PGN file you'll find his encounters against Shirov (Semi-Slav) and Howell (Modern Defence!). So far we've hardly paid any attention to the Torre Attack (1.d4/2.f3/3.g5) in CVO, but our Game of the Week, Jussupow-Shirov, is going to make up for that. In the diagram position Black went for 5...d5.

Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only

As we show below, two strong grandmasters were beaten this week with the same queen sacrifice in the Improved Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Najdorf. Are the complications becoming too much to handle for Black in a practical game? Or can Black repair everything relatively easily? In any case, there's at least one more interesting way for Black to play in the 6.g5 Najdorf (see below).

whatsnot?
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whats hot and whats not?

162

| February 8

2012

The real Torre Attack

In the following game Jussupow made a real attack out of the Torre Attack, but in the midst of the complications Shirov showed himself to be in a class of his own, eventually taking over the initiative.

gameoftheweek
Jussupow,A (2569) - Shirov,A (2710) Tradewise Festival (Gibraltar), 31.01.2012 A48, Torre Attack
1.d4 f6 2.f3 g6 3.g5 The Torre Attack is rarely seen at the highest level these days. Play is often steered into quiet waters, although in the present game the opposite happens. 3...g7 4.bd2 00 5.c3 d5 Another option, of course, is 5...d6. 6.e3 bd7 7.d3 e8 8.00 e5 9.e4 9.dxe5 xe5 10.xe5 xe5 doesn't offer White any chance of an advantage. 9...exd4 9...dxe4 10.xe4 h6 is less accurate, in view of 11.xf6 xf6 (11...xf6 12.xf6+ xf6 13.e1 and the pin along the e-file is annoying for Black.) 12.xe5 xe4 13.xe4 favors White, since the endgame arising from 13...xe5 14.dxe5 xd1 15.fxd1 xe5 16.d8+ g7 17.f3 is pretty bad for Black. 10.cxd4 dxe4 11.xe4 h6 12.b3 12.h4? is simply bad, because of 12...xe4 13.xe4 g5 14.c2 gxh4 15.xh4 f8 and White didn't have sufficient compensation in Ipek-Popovic, Nea Makri 1990. Moreover, trading off pieces on f6 gives Black easy play against the isolated d-pawn. b6 15.c4 d5 16.fe1 f5 17.xd5 xd5 18.xf5 gxf5 19.b3 d8 with approximate equality in Malaniuk-Wieczorek, Marianske Lazne 2011.) 13...g5 14.xg5 (14.xf6+ xf6 15.g3 gives White a pleasant strategic edge and is the reason why Shirov refrained from playing 12...e6.) 14...hxg5 15.exg5 b6? (15...f8 has to be played. 15...e7? is met by 16.xf7 xf7 17.g5 f8 18.g6+) 16.g6! fxg6 17.xe6 xe6 18.xe6+ f8 19.e5 e8 20.b3 fd5 21.f4 and White went on to win, Bauer-Smirin, Porto Carras 2011. 13.e5 A recently played game went 13.fe1 hxg5 14.exg5 f8 15.xf7 xf7 16.c4 e6 17.xe6 b5 18.xb5 xe6 19.xe6 e8 20.b3 f8 21.xf7 xf7 22.b7 d5 23.xc7 and four pawns were sufficient compensation for the minor piece in Hansen,S-Zhao Jun, Queenstown 2012. 13...hxg5 Correctly eliminating the most dangerous attacker. Worse is 13...xe5? 14.xf6+ h8 (14...xf6 15.xf6 xd4 16.xe7 xd3 (16...xd3 17.xd3 xd3 18.ad1 and White wins.) 17.ad1 f5 18.xb7 seems pretty hopeless for Black.) 15.dxe5 hxg5 16.c3 c6 17.ae1 d7 18.c4 xe5 19.xd7 e4 20.b3 xc4 21.xc4 xd7 22.d1 and White easily converted his material advantage in Hug-Cvitan, Switzerland 2010. 14.xf7 c5! 14...xf7? is bad, because of 15.xg5 e5 16.dxe5 d5 17.xf7 xf7 18.ad1 and White keeps a nasty initiative. 15.xf6+ The critical test. After either 15.dxc5 xf7 16.xg5 d5 or 15.xc5 xf7 16.c4 f8 17.ae1 c6! Black is doing absolutely fine. 15...xf6 16.dxc5 xf7 17.xg6 f8 18.f4 g4 19.f5 d7 20.f4 Also worth considering is 20.xf7+ xf7 21.xb7 e8 and in this complex situation White's chances are by no means worse. 20...c6

21.h1 21.xg4? can be answered with 21...xc5+ 22.h1 d5 and Black is out of danger. White's most challenging continuation would have been 21.xf7+ xf7 22.xg4+ f8 23.h3 though after 23...e8! no immediate strike is apparent. Black is probably doing fine, although the position remains complicated. 21...d8 22.xg4 d5 23.h3 g7 24.h7+ f7 25.g6+ e7! 26.a3 d7 27.d1 27.xa7 can be met by 27...a8 when after 28.c6+ bxc6 Black's is pretty safe on d7. 27...c8 28.xa7 c6 29.a8+ In case of 29.b4 e5 Black's queenside is perfectly defended. 29...c7 30.a5+ b8 31.a4 e5 32.h3 c8 33.e1?

Jussupow - Shirov XIIIIIIIIY 9r+-+-wqk+0 9zppzp-+r+-0 9-+l+-vlL+0 9+-zP-+P+-0 9-+-+-tRp+0 9+Q+-+-+-0 9PzP-+-+PzP0 9tR-+-+-mK-0 xiiiiiiiiy

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12...e7 12...hxg5? 13.exg5 f8 14.xg6 e6 15.xf7+ xf7 16.xf7+ h8 17.ac1 with a powerful initiative for White. The alternative is 12...e6 13.h4 (13.xf6 xf6 14.c5

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Allowing Shirov to finish the game off in beautiful style. More tenacious was 33.g1 though it's clear that Black has the better of things. 33...xg2+! 34.xg2 After 34.g1 e4! 35.axe4 xf5 White's position also collapses. 34...xf5 35.g4 xg6 36.b4 d4 01

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whats hot and whats not?

162

| February 8

2012

thisweeksharvest
Improved Poisoned Pawn

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1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 a6 6.g5 e6 7.f4 h6 8.h4 b6 9.d3 xb2 10.b1 a3 11.f5 e7 12.fxe6 fxe6 13.e2 00 14.00 h8 15.h1 bd7 16.xe6 e5 17.xf8 xd3 18.g6+ h7 19.xd3

The rumour mill was busy this week: "Have you seen there's already a sacrifice against the new poisoned pawn variation with h6?" and "Could this be the refutation of the line?" reached us from different sources. The curious thing is that the diagram position was reached twice (!) this week, first in Berg-Vachier Lagrave in Gibraltar and then three days later in Bobras-Maksimenko in the German Bundesliga. Information travels quickly these days, but even most professionals seem to update their stuff weekly and not daily. On both occasions White won with a crushing attack. In a practical game it's almost impossible to defend against the army of white pieces. 15...e5 is a better try, but doesn't make a very trustworthy impression. The critical course still seems to be 12...xe6!, as played in Huschenbeth-Van Kampen, Haarlem 2011 and analysed in CVO 138. In another branch of the Poisoned Pawn variation Hou Yifan successfully took the black side to defeat Shirov.

1.e4 c5 2.f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 f6 5.c3 a6 6.g5 e6 7.f4 e7 8.f3 c7 9.000 bd7 10.g4 b5 11.xf6 xf6 12.g5 d7 13.f5 00

Najdorf, 6.g5

While the main attention is focussed on the (Improved) Poisoned Pawn Variation, there are other less known options within the 6.g5 realm that are quite interesting. One of them is the fascinating 13...0-0 in the traditional main line, castling right into it. In over-the-board play Huschenbeth was one of the very first to confront the variation (against Hamitevici in Chotowa 2010) and this week he decided to give it a go himself against none other than Shirov. The main line goes 14.g1 b4 15.ce2 e5! 16.f6 exd4 17.fxe7 e8 18.xd4 e5 and here Black seems to have enough counterplay, as we can see from a few games by Ju Wenjun and a couple of correspondence games. 14.fxe6 fxe6 15.xe6 leads to an exchange of queens and is also fine for Black. Another powerful point is 14.g3 b4 15.ce2 b7! 16.f6 fe8! 17.fxe7 e5 18.f3 xe4 19.c3 ab8! with a formidable attack. Shirov played the almost new 14.f6 but computer analysis seems to indicate that Black is doing well there. In the practical game Shirov's famous attacking skills proved decisive anyway.

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Catalan/QGD hybrid

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1.f3 d5 2.d4 f6 3.c4 e6 4.c3 e7 5.g3 00 6.g2 dxc4 7.00 c6 8.e4 a6 9.e2 xd4 10.xd4 xd4 11.d1 a7 12.e5 d7 13.f4 b5 14.a4 b4 15.e4 b8 16.h5 a5 17.h4 c5

The theory of the Queen's Gambit Declined advances weekly at a high tempo. Novelties are often invented around move 20 and easily neutralized afterwards. Why shouldn't you attempt to revive an old line as early on as possible? This is exactly what Austrian GM Ragger did with 5.g3, playing a hybrid system of the QGD and the Catalan which used to be popular in the seventies. The position after 9.e2 is reminiscent of a well-known variation in the 5... a6 Catalan, which we covered in CVO 25, with the difference that now Black has castled instead of playing ...b8. Therefore it would make more sense to play 9...b5 immediately, as Adams once did, since White doesn't seems to be able to exploit the unprotected on a8. With 9...xd4 Black grabs a second pawn, allowing White to develop a dangerous initiative on the kingside, which was finally crowned with the powerful blow 18.xd7! (see diagram). Black's final mistake is 22...d8, whereas after the sacrifice 22...xd1 White would still have had to display some technique while converting his material advantage.

1.d4 f6 2.c4 e6 3.f3 b6 4.a3 a6 5.c2 c5 6.d5 exd5 7.cxd5 d6 8.c3 g6 9.f4 g7 10.h4 b5 11.e3 00 12.h5

Queen's Indian, 4.a3

Petrosian's positional idea of 4.a3, preventing the from getting pinned and thus securing influence over the e4-square, is rarely seen against the Queen's Indian nowadays, but that doesn't mean that Queen's Indian players can permit themselves not to check the newest ideas in this almost forgotten variation. In the early eighties the line came into fashion due to the efforts of Kasparov, who defeated Gligoric in great style. After that several other games have shown that Black's task of defending a slightly inferior ending is quite unpleasant. Instead of 10...d7, 10...b5 has become a noteworthy alternative to deal with the f4/a4 setup. In the Moscow Open, GM Lysyj caught Iordachescu in his preparation with the astonishing 10.h4!? and five moves later the latter was practically lost. Generating counterplay on the queenside with the thematic 12...b4 turned out to be premature. Attention needs to be paid to 12...b6. Another option is 10...0-0 11.h5 e8 (not 11...xh5? because of 12.xh5!) 12.hxg6 hxg6 13.e3 though the opening of the h-file seems to favor White anyway.

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162

| February 8

2012

itsyourmove

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lastweekssolutions

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Robson-Grigoryan, Moscow Open D (Moscow), 2012

21.xh6! This piece sacrifice is in the spirit of the position and has to be played, no matter what its exact objective value. 21...gxh6 22.xh6 g7 23.ah1 f7 23...h8?? 24.xg6+. 24.e3! White calmly improves his position, with even the taking part. 24...b4 25.g5 f5 26.h7+ g8 27.7h5 a7 27...bxa3 28.g4! is also good for White. 28.g4 f4 29.f3 bxa3 30.h6 g7 31.xg6 xf3+ 32.xf3 xg6 33.h7! Whites domination continues even in the endgame. Robson went on to win: 33...g7 34.f6+ f7 35.f4 g6 36.a1 a7 37.xa3 a4 38.g5 d7 39.a1 a3 40.g4 c8 41.h1 g7 42.h5 b7 43.f4+ g7 44.a1 a7 45.g6 a2 46.g5 d7 47.h5+ g8 48.h6 e8 49.f6+ f8 50.xa2 xa2 51.g7+ 10

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Caruana-Giri, Tata Steel A (Wijk aan Zee), 2012

With his last move 16...f6 Black aims to clarify the situation in the centre. Evidently, Giri overlooked the following tactical operation. 17.xa5! xa5 18.xc6 a8 18...a6 19.b4 also favors White. 19.xb5 It seems like there isnt much going on yet, but as soon as Whites pawns start rolling Black ends up in serious trouble. This type of sacrifice is well-known in the Chebanenko Slav and gives White the free hand to operate on the queenside, whereas Blacks forces are helpless. 19...e6 20.a4 f5 21.d2 f6 22.d5 f7 23.ac1 f8 24.b4 c8 25.d6 exd6 26.cxd6 e8 27.e7 e6 28.c7 h7 29.d5 d8 30.b7 c8 31.a5 g7 32.a6 h6 33.a7 f8 34.e7 b6 35.f2 f7 36.xh4+ g7 37.g5 d5 38.xg6+ h8 39.h5+ g7 40.xf5+ g8 41.e7+ 10

openings
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