"Mainstream" Daring Defences

Mainline Exchange with 8 Be3

Things had been looking a bit gloomy for Black here ever since Kramnik beat Kasparov with this variation in their World Championship match. He then repeated the trick against Van Wely at Wijk aan Zee. You can see these games by clicking on Kramnik-Kasparov. and Kramnik-Van Wely. Now the tide seems to be turning. Van Wely is a very serious theoretician and was unlikely to stay down for long. Here he beats Piket in good style after playing an improvement on the 21st move. Have a look at Black's convincing victory in Piket-Van Wely, APR01/05.

You might think this is all way too theoretical. So here's another very interesting idea for Black that is much less well known. At move 14 usual is 14...Na5, Leko has played 14...Ne5 without much success but how about 14...Nb4!?

I guess what might deter potential players of Black is the fact that after 15 Bd2 Nxa2?? 16 Rc2 drops a piece while 15...a5?! 16 a3 Na6 17 Bxa5 also doesn't look too healthy. So Black more or less has to play 15...Na6 when White can smash his pawns with 16 Bxa6 bxa6. However, is this so bad for him? He has the two bishops and can always counterattack against White's centre with ...f7-f5. In the analysis to the illustative game you will see that a 2575 player had to grovel for a draw with White against a 2304! Have a look at Lagowski-Shishkin, APR01/03.

Exchange Variation 7 Bb5+

A line that has been tested in recent years is 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bb5+ c6 8 Ba4

What is Black's best response? One idea is 8...b5 using the bishop as a direct target to gain time to undermine White's centre with b5-b4 attacking c3. However, a more subtle approach is to try to prove that the bishop is misplaced on a4. This involves first playing ...c6-c5 to put pressure on d4. Then after White has bolstered his centre with Be3, continuing ...Nc6 and ...Na5 and, if allowed, ...Nc4 to attack the bishop on e3. Thus Black hopes to exploit the hole on c4 and so make White regret having his bishop on a4 rather than the normal d3. Of course it isn't as straightforward as it sounds!

I have selected two games here. In the first White decides to prevent ...Nc6 with an immediate d4-d5 so that the plan of occupying c4 becomes impossible. On the other hand, White is loosening his centre and this gives Black attacking options. As we have seen in previous updates, Dvoirys is adept at exploiting weak pawn structures so it is no surprise that he scores a crushing win here. Take a look at Ulibin-Dvoirys, APR01/01.

In the second game White tries to cross Black's plan by grabbing a pawn with dxc5. Unfortunately for him he meets Ivan Sokolov at his best and is outplayed in fine positional style. Although this game is a couple of years old it is too instructive not to give here- it is a classic demonstration of how to play against doubled pawns and force the win without giving the opponent any counterplay whatsoever. Click on Avrukh-Sokolov, APR01/02.

Whereas among the world elite it is usual, even necessary, for players to have improvements ready in sharp mainlines, even at a slightly lower level of play you often find that White ducks the theoretical challenge. That is one of the great things about playing the Grunfeld. Nor is it easy for White to kill off the tension even if he only wants a draw. Take the following example. You would think that if White plays 5 Bf4 and responds to Black's counter thrust ...c7-c5 by clearing the centre of pawns a draw would soon result. But as it turns out White soon gets into deep trouble: the white bishop pair is outshone by Black's knights. Or rather the black bishop on g7 shows that whether its comrade in arms is a bishop or a knight, it is always the star of the show in the Grunfeld! Have a look at Mikhalevski-Huzman, APR01/04.

Grünfeld

Dutch

This month I've concentrated on the Leningrad. No, it's not part of Korchnoi's 70th Birthday celebrations, it just happens to be that the most interesting developments are taking place in this variation.

Leningrad Mainline 7...Qe8

In the first game given here White's passive play is exploited by GM Mainka to achieve a very smooth win. This game is one long positional lesson but it is particularly instructive how one advantage- an excellently placed knight- is converted into some more tangible- a far advanced passed pawn. Have a look at Oud-Mainka, APR01/07 and just watch your strategical understanding zoom upwards.

We can admire the beautiful technique shown in such games, but it is also nice to see some fighting chess between strong players of more or less equal strength. This brings us onto the second game.

The Vietnamese WGM Hoang Thanh Trang is one of the leading exponents of the Dutch Defence. And no wonder: she lives in Budapest and plays a seemingly endless number of Dutch Defences against Hungarian GMs at the First Saturday Tournaments. That's what you call hot house training! I like her game against Lukacs from one of these recent events. Black adopts a refreshingly new counter to 8 Nd5. It's not all a bed of roses and some question marks remain over it's validity, but have a look at APR01/10.

Leningrad Mainline 7...c6

Mikhail Gurevich has recently adopted a line which seems so natural that I'm trying to work out why I didn't mention it in my book on the Leningrad! The key position is reached after 1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.c4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.0-0 d6 7.Nc3 c6 8.d5 e5 9.dxe6 Bxe6 10.Qd3 and now rather than 10...Na6, the Russian Maestro has played 10...Nbd7!?

The knight has extra options on d7 compared to a6- in particular, there is ...Nb6 in some lines putting pressure on c4, or even ...Ne5. I checked up 10...Nbd7 and although it is a rare move there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. Still, rather than give Gurevich's quick draw versus Krasenkow I have chosen a more interesting illustrative game which White won. You can find this game along with the Gurevich game in the notes and more analysis in Shipov-Rey, APR01/09.

The Leningrad with Nh3 and c2-c3

Although I had a lousy time at my last tournament, I did at least manage to win a good game in the Dutch Leningrad. White played c2-c3 combined with Nh3 and I countered with the unusual ...Na6 and ...c7-c5. If White had gone Qb3 then ...Rb8 and ...b5-b4 was the idea, trying to prove the white queen is vulnerable on b3. As it turned out Black managed to get more active play than he normally achieves in variations based on ...d7-d5. Have a look at Tyomkin-McDonald, APR01/08.

The final game chosen here is nothing special but every time I play this set up or something similar for Black I'm always afraid of a quick h4-h5 wipe out. I always say to myself something like 'Listen, I know White would be crazy to play like that, it doesn't work, but what if it did work just this once- that means you lose in about ten moves!'

So here to reassure myself is Cuesta Bustos-Peralta, APR01/06. Don't waste your time clicking on it if you have no self doubt!

So that's the end of Mainstream Daring- I hope you picked up one or two useful ideas or at least enjoyed the collection of games.

Bye for now!

Neil