openings 227 | May 8n 2013

what’s hot and what’s not?

XIIIIIIIIY
Topalov's comeback 9rsnlwqkvl-tr0
9zpp+p+pzpp0
9-+-+-sn-+0
9+-zpP+-+-0
9-+-+-+-+0
9+-+-+-zP-0
9PzP-+PzP-zP0
IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris
9tRNvLQmKLsNR0
xiiiiiiiiy
Amongst others, in this issue we cover the last two rounds Frequency
of the Alekhine Memorial (won by Aronian on tiebreak)
and the last round of the FIDE GP (convincingly won by
Topalov).

what’shot?
Score
Kramnik managed to beat Adams from the black side of the 4.d3 Anti-
Berlin. This and other games with 4.d3 are collected in the PGN file.
Remarkably, White's consistent choice against the Sicilian Taimanov
this week was 6.g3, but with three draws and a win Black did very well.
S.Zhigalko convincingly beat Miezis in his Paulsen pet line. Two weeks
ago Vachier Lagrave had won a pretty game with 4.h4 in the Advance
Variation of the Caro-Kann, but this time around he suffered a defeat at
the hands of Vitiugov, who played 4...h5 instead of 4...h6.

Nakamura tried until there were no pieces left, but couldn't beat
Caruana with the Exchange Slav. In Brunello-Eljanov Black even
won a quick model game with Black in this symmetrical opening (see
below). Gelfand-Anand continued their theoretical discussion from the
World Championship and drew in the Anti-Meran. Leitao-Fier was an
entertaining draw in the Anti-Moscow and Fressinet-Aronian a rather
technical draw in the Chebanenko Semi-Slav Hybrid.

Tomashevsky-Michiels was a nice attacking win for White in the Nimzo-

Indian. Shabalov-Onischuk saw Black steadily building up an impressive
pawn steamroller in the Catalan. In our Game of the Week Topalov- Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only
Karjakin Black was actually fine in the Fianchetto variation of the Benoni.
Below we examine the Sämisch King's Indian, Kramnik's play in the
Symmetrical English and the Réti Gambit.

Some recent trends were still visible this week. Aronian won the decisive last round encounter by beating Vachier-Lagrave in the
Grünfeld (compare CVO 223 and 224), Leko spoiled yet another great position from the opening in the 6.d3 Ruy Lopez against
Kasimdzhanov (compare CVO 225) and in Guseinov-Pantsulaia White scored another crushing win in
the traditional main line of the Caro-Kann (compare CVO 226). what’snot?
1 of 4
 openings what’s hot and what’s not? 227 | May 8n 2013

Winning without an opening edge

As Topalov stated after the tournament, opening preparation used to be his main strength,
but in Zug he basically never got something out of the opening. Also in the following last
round encounter, Black was comfortable after the opening.
gameoftheweek Topalov - Karjakin

Topalov,V (2771) - Karjakin,Sergey (2786)
FIDE Grand Prix (Zug), 30.04.2013
A64, Benoni
1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5
White could still avoid the Ben-Oni with 4.¤f3
even though after 4...cxd4 5.¤xd4 £c7 Black
is theoretically doing fine in this line, see e.g.
Dominguez-Short (CVO 77).
4...exd5 5.cxd5 d6
Another sharp branch is 5...b5 but in CVO
21 and 96 it has been shown that it contains
certain risks as well.
6.¤c3 g6 7.¥g2 ¥g7 8.¤f3 0–0 9.0–0 ¦e8
10.¤d2 ¤bd7 11.a4 a6 12.a5
A modest line and in view of the tournament
situation an understandable decision of the
Bulgarian. The main line goes 12.h3 ¦b8
13.¤c4 ¤e5 14.¤a3 ¤h5 15.e4 and now
15...¥d7!? seems to work out pretty well for
Black, as was confirmed in the games Berg-
Leon Hoyos and Sasikiran-Anand which we
covered in CVO 84 and 148.
12...b5 13.axb6 ¤xb6 14.¤b3 ¥f5!
In the mid–1970s several games quickly ended
after the following repetition 14...¤c4 15.¦a4
¤b6 16.¦a2 ¤c4 and only a couple of years
ago the main adherent of 12.a5 GM Nikolic
attempted to prove an advantage for White,
in vain: 17.£c2 ¦b8 18.¤d2 ¤xd2 19.¥xd2
¤d7 20.¦fa1 ¤b6 21.¥f4 h6 22.h4 ¤c4 23.b3
¤e5 and Black is perfectly fine in Nikolic-
Gharamian, Germany 2010.
15.¤a5
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-wqr+k+0
9+-+-+pvlp0
9psn-zp-snp+0
9sN-zpP+l+-0
9-+-+-+-+0
9+-sN-+-zP-0
9-zP-+PzPLzP0
9tR-vLQ+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
15.f3?! allows Black becoming active with
15...¤c4! 16.e4 ¥d7 with a pleasant position
for Black. In the following game White quickly
went wrong after 17.£e2?! ¥b5 18.¥h3? ¤a5!
19.£d1 (19.¤xb5 ¤xb3 20.¦a3 ¤xc1 21.¦xc1
axb5–+) 19...¤xb3 20.£xb3 ¥xf1 21.¥xf1 ¤d7
and Black is just a healthy exchange up in
Brunello-Naiditsch, Plovdiv 2012.
15...¤e4!
A logical improvement upon 15...£d7?! which
was seen in Nikolic-Cobb, Eupen 1997. The
d7 square is usually occupied by one of the
¤s.
16.¥d2
Also after 16.¤a4 ¥d7 Black is in good shape.
16...¤xd2 17.£xd2 h5 18.e3 h4 19.¦fe1 £g5
20.¤a4 ¦eb8
Probably Black's best option. In case of
20...¦ab8 21.¤xb6 ¦xb6 22.¤c4 ¦b4 23.¤xd6
¦xb2 24.£d1 ¦eb8 25.¤xf5 (25.¦xa6? loses
to 25...¦b1!) 25...£xf5 26.£f3 matters are less
clear. Topalov believed that after 20...¤xa4
21.¦xa4 hxg3 22.hxg3 ¦eb8 23.¤c4 ¥d7
24.¦a3 White is just holding the position
together, thanks to the control over the c4
square.
21.¤c3
21.¤xb6 ¦xb6 22.¤c4 ¦b4 23.¤xd6 ¦xb2
looks pretty grim for White.
21...£h5 22.f3 £h8?
The £ doesn't do much in the corner. More
consistent would have been to follow up with
22...hxg3 23.hxg3 ¥h3 when Black is still very
OK.
23.g4 ¥d7 24.h3 f5
In case of 24...¥b5 25.¥f1 ¤d7 26.f4! the black
pieces are deprived from any good squares
and thus White can claim an edge.
25.g5 f4?
Karjakin clearly loses thread in this phase of
the game. 25...¥b5 could still have been tried.
26.exf4 ¥d4+ 27.¢h1 £g7
(diagram)
XIIIIIIIIY
9rtr-+-+k+0
9+-+l+-wq-0
9psn-zp-+p+0
9sN-zpP+-zP-0
9-+-vl-zP-zp0
9+-sN-+P+P0
9-zP-wQ-+L+0
9tR-+-tR-+K0
xiiiiiiiiy
28.¥f1!
A very useful activation of the ¥. Inferior is
28.¤c6? ¤c4! 29.£e2 ¤e3 30.¤xb8 ¦xb8
and Black obtains excellent compensation for
the exchange.
28...¦e8 29.¤e4 ¢h8?
After this move Black's position quickly falls
apart. More stubborn is 29...£f8 even though
after 30.¤b7! his position remains very
problematic.
30.¤xd6 ¦xe1 31.¦xe1 ¦f8
31...¥xb2 can strongly be met by 32.¤f7+!
¢h7 (32...£xf7 33.£xb2+ drops the ¤.)
33.¤e5 and Black collapses. 31...¤xd5 can't
be recommended either, because of 32.¥c4
and soon the white pieces will infiltrate.
32.¦e4 ¤xd5
The point of White's last move is that any
moment Black has to reckon with the advance
of the f-pawn, e.g. 32...¥xb2 33.f5 and the §
on h4 will be taken.
33.¤b3
There isn't anything wrong with the text, but
again 33.f5! seems very promising.
33...¥c6
33...¤e7 doesn't stop White's intended 34.f5!.
34.f5! gxf5 35.¦xh4+ ¢g8 36.¤xd4 cxd4
37.¥c4 £e5 38.£xd4 £xd6
Also after 38...£xd4 39.¦xd4 Black can't avoid
the loss of material, while in case of 38...£e1+
39.¢g2 not much can be done against the
mating threat on h8.
39.¦h6 £e7 40.¥xd5+ ¥xd5 41.¦h8+ and
Black resigned 1–0

2 of 4
 openings what’s hot and what’s not? 227 | May 8n 2013

thisweek’sharvest
Slav, Exchange 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5 4.¥f4 ¤c6 5.e3 ¤f6 6.¤c3 ¥g4 7.£b3 ¤a5 8.£a4+ ¥d7 9.£c2 e6
XIIIIIIIIY 10.¤f3 ¥e7 11.¥d3 ¤c6 12.a3 ¤h5 13.¥e5 f6 14.¥g3 f5 15.¥e5 0–0 16.h3 ¤f6 17.g4 ¤e4 18.gxf5 ¦xf5
9r+-wq-+k+0 A well-known concept for Black against the Exchange Variation of the Slav is to attempt to create an imbalance
9zpp+lvl-zpp0 by trading off his ¤ for the ¥ with a well-timed ...¤h5. Last week Aronian opted for this typical procedure in his
9-+n+p+-+0 game with Vitiugov. Quite a sharp battle quickly arose which finally ended in a draw. In Brunello-Eljanov Black
9+-+pvLr+-0 tried to improve upon that game by putting the ¥ on e7 with the idea of preventing the white ¥ from going to
9-+-zPn+-+0 g5. After a logical sequence of moves Black transformed the pawn structure into a stonewall formation. White
responded by undermining the structure with 16.h3 and 17.g4, though that didn't prevent Black from installing
9zP-sNLzPN+P0
his ¤ on e4. In the diagram position White went astray by eliminating that piece with his own ¤. It would have
9-zPQ+-zP-+0 been better to play 19.¥xe4 dxe4 20.£xe4 but even then it seems Black obtains reasonable compensation after
9tR-+-mK-+R0 20...£b6 21.¦b1 ¥e8. In the game White quickly crumbled when the position was opened up, emphasising the
xiiiiiiiiy vulnerability of his position due to a neglect of king safety and early expansion on the kingside.

1.d4 ¤f6 2.c4 g6 3.¤c3 ¥g7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0–0 6.¥e3 c5 7.dxc5 dxc5 8.£xd8 ¦xd8 9.¥xc5 ¤c6 10.¤ge2 King's Indian, Sämisch
b6 11.¥a3 ¥b7 12.¤d5 e6 13.¤e7+ ¤xe7 14.¥xe7 ¦dc8 15.¦c1 ¤d7 16.b3 a6 17.¦d1 ¤e5 18.¤c1 XIIIIIIIIY
The importance of the Sämisch Variation of the King's Indian has increased in recent times, since 3.f3 has 9r+r+-+k+0
become popular as an Anti-Grünfeld weapon. Six weeks ago Grischuk introduced the spectacular novelty 9+l+-vLpvlp0
7.¤ge2 ¤c6 8.d5 ¤e5 9.¤g3 h5 10.¥e2 h4 11.¤f1 e6 12.f4 ¤xc4!!, which seems to have caused attention 9pzp-+p+p+0
to switch back to accepting the gambit with 7.dxc5. As we noted three years ago in CVO 77, Black doesn't
9+-+-sn-+-0
have automatic compensation for the pawn here and good preparation is needed. White also needs to
know what he's doing, however, as the key move 18.¤c1! that led to the diagram position shows. In fact,
9-+P+P+-+0
in Vitiugov-Ding Liren White got a winning endgame and only stubborn defence saved Black. The most
9+P+-+P+-0
accurate way of playing for Black seems to be 14...¦d7 15.¥b4 ¦c8 16.¤c3 ¤h5! 17.¦d1 ¦cd8 18.¦xd7 ¦xd7 9P+-+-+PzP0
followed by a well-timed opening of the position with the f5–break. Ding Liren instead played a novelty with 9+-sNRmKL+R0
14...¦dc8, but that may be inaccurate, as the queenside break he put his trust in didn't have the desired effect. xiiiiiiiiy

Symmetrical English 1.¤f3 c5 2.c4 ¤c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.¤xd4 ¤f6 5.¤c3 e6 6.g3 £b6 7.¤db5 ¤e5 8.¥g2 a6 9.¤a4
XIIIIIIIIY £a5+ 10.¤bc3 ¤xc4 11.b3 ¤b6 12.¤xb6 £xb6 13.0–0 ¥e7 14.¤a4 £d8 15.¥e3 d5 16.¥b6 £d6
9r+-+-+k+0 17.¦c1 ¥d7 18.¥c7 £a3 19.¤b6 0–0 20.¤xa8 ¦xa8 21.¦c2 ¥c6 22.£c1 £xc1 23.¦fxc1
9+pvL-vlpzpp0 The position in the diagram is the fruit of superb opening preparation by Kramnik. White is an exchange up
9p+l+psn-+0 and although Black has a § and well-placed pieces White can count on a clear advantage. Right now White is
9+-+p+-+-0 unable to pose any problems for his opponent, but once §s are traded off and files opened up the superiority of
9-+-+-+-+0 the ¦s becomes apparent. For theoreticians it's worth investigating the impact of Kramnik's new move 9.¤a4!?.
In the game White obtained excellent compensation for the § due to the weakened dark squares which forced
9+P+-+-zP-0
Black to give up the exchange. It seems Gelfand cooperated with Kramnik's strategy and after 11...¤b6 the
9P+R+PzPLzP0 white pieces infiltrate on the c-file and the b6–square. Instead, 11..¤e5 looks like a serious alternative, since
9+-tR-+-mK-0 by keeping the ¤s on the board the c-file remains closed and it in fact seems that the ¤s on a4 and c3 get in
xiiiiiiiiy each other's way.

1.c4 c6 2.¤f3 d5 3.g3 ¤f6 4.¥g2 dxc4 5.0–0 ¤bd7 6.¤a3 ¤b6 7.£c2 ¥e6 8.¤e5 £d4 9.¤xc6 Réti Gambit
bxc6 10.¥xc6+ ¢d8 11.¥xa8 ¤xa8 12.d3 cxd3 13.¦d1 dxc2 14.¦xd4+ ¥d7 15.¤xc2 e5 16.¦d1 ¤b6 XIIIIIIIIY
In CVO 119 we had a closer look at the Réti Gambit, with our main focus being the sharp 8.¤g5 line. The focus 9-+-mk-vl-tr0
in tournament praxis, meanwhile, has switched to 8.¤e5, which tends to lead to very unbalanced material 9zp-+l+pzpp0
situations. 10...¤fd7 11.¥xa8 ¤xa8 12.d3 ¥h3 is probably avoided by Black because of the yet to be tested 9-sn-+-sn-+0
13.dxc4! ¥xf1 14.¥e3! £e5 15.¦xf1 with very dangerous queenside pawns. In Kaidanov-Holt at the US 9+-+-zp-+-0
Championship the diagram position was reached and here the verdict seems to be that Black is fine. Actually
9-+-+-+-+0
the game ended up as a highly adventurous endgame with a constantly changing material balance. It's still a bit
of a mystery why White avoided 11.¤b5 £c5 12.¥xa8 £xb5 (12...¤xa8 13.a4! turns out to be good for White)
9+-+-+-zP-0
13.¥g2 h5 14.h4 which led to a nice victory for White in Timman-Smeets, Wijk aan Zee 2013. When analysing
9PzPN+PzP-zP0
this position over the board at the chess club 14...g5!? was suggested and this may actually give Black enough 9tR-vLR+-mK-0
counterplay. xiiiiiiiiy

3 of 4
 openings what’s hot and what’s not? 227 | May 8n 2013

it’syourmove
XIIIIIIIIY XIIIIIIIIY
O 9r+-+k+-tr0 o9r+-wqk+-tr0
9zpp+n+pzpp0 9+-+n+pvlp0
9-+pwqpsn-+0 9p+p+psnp+0
9vl-+-sN-+-0 9+pzPp+-+-0
9-+LzP-zPP+0 9-+-zP-zP-+0
9+-zP-+-+-0 9+PsNLzP-+-0
9PzP-+-+-zP0 9PvLQ+-zP-zP0
9tR-vLQ+RmK-0 9tR-+-mK-+R0
xiiiiiiiiy xiiiiiiiiy

lastweek’ssolutions
XIIIIIIIIY
Inarkiev-Harikrishna, Capablanca Memorial (Havana), 2013 9r+-wqkvl-tr0
White has sacrificed his central § but in return his lead in development should offer him good dynamic chances. 9+-zpn+pzpp0
11.¤g5 In earlier games White exclusively opted for the text move, but it seems even more promising to play 9pzp-+p+-+0
11.d5! when Black is in serious trouble: 11...e5 12.d6! ¥xd6 13.¥xf7+ ¢xf7 14.¤g5+ and White regains the 9+-+-+-+-0
piece while retaining a powerful initiative. 11...¥g6 12.£f3 12.¥xe6 ¥e7 shouldn't be too problematic for Black.
9P+LzPl+-+0
12...¥e7 13.£c6 0–0 14.¤xe6 fxe6 15.¥xe6+ ¢h8 16.¥xd7 ¥d6 17.¥e3 £e7 18.¥g4 ¥e4 18...£h4! 19.h3
¦ae8! offers Black reasonable compensation for the §. 19.£d7 £f6 20.£e6 ¦ae8 21.£xf6 gxf6 22.¥h5 ¥g6
9+-+-+N+-0
23.¥f3 ¥e4 24.¥h5 ¥g6 25.¥e2 a5 26.¥b5 ¦d8 27.¦fe1± and White is a healthy § up.
9-zP-+-zPPzP0
9tR-vLQ+RmK-0
XIIIIIIIIY xiiiiiiiiy
9r+lvlr+k+0 Anand-Aronian, Alekhine Memorial (Paris), 2013
9+-+-+pzp-0 18...¥a5! Aronian remains the king of 1.e4 e5 positions. With the uncommon text move he temporarily avoids
9p+-+-snnzp0 the exchange of rooks and comfortably equalizes. 18...¥b7 19.¤f5 ¥c7 20.¥e3 gives White a mild initiative.
9+p+-zp-+-0 19.axb5 19.¤f5 ¥e6! , followed by ¦eb8, is fine for Black. 19...axb5 20.¥e3 ¥b7 21.¦a2 21.¤f5 ¥c7 is equal as
well. 21...¥c7 22.¦ea1 ¦xa2 23.¦xa2 ¦a8 24.¦xa8+ ¥xa8 and with no heavy pieces on the board the position
9P+p+P+-+0
remained balanced: 25.¢f1 ¤e7 26.¤d2 ¢f8 27.¥c5 ¤d7 28.¥a3 g6 29.f3 ¢e8 30.b3 cxb3 31.¤xb3 ¤c8
9+-zP-+NsNP0 32.¥d3 ¥c6 33.c4 bxc4 34.¥xc4 ¥a4 35.¤c5 ¤xc5 36.¥xc5 ¤b6 37.¥xb6 ¥xb6 38.¤e2 ¥a5 39.¤c1 ¢e7
9-zPL+-zPP+0 40.¤d3 ¥c3 41.g4 ½–½
9tR-vL-tR-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy

openings
ChessVibes Openings is a weekly PDF magazine that covers the latest news on chess openings. Which openings are hot in
top level chess? Which are not? Editors IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris keep you updated once a week! Why not subscribe
for € 30 a year (that’s less than € 0.60 per issue!). More info can be found at ChessVibes.com/openings.

© 2009-2013 ChessVibes. Copyright exists on all original material published by ChessVibes. Any copying or distribution (reproduction, via print,
electronic format, or in any form whatsoever), as well as posting on the web, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission.

4 of 43