Dec '99 Update
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Maybe it's the holiday mood, but there's no denying that I found this month's instalment of games to be more entertaining and stimulating than usual. There is something for everyone, which suits the festive season, and most of the daring defences are looking unusually robust, positively rosy-cheeked with winter health.
I have taken a slightly different tack this time, digging a bit deeper in the archives to flesh out the background behind some of the lines, and to point to alleyways that I suspect may be more reliable than the paths in vogue at this particular moment. My usual practice is to rant on more about the underlying themes, but somehow this month's submission looks more like a theoretical survey. I thought I would give the traditional approach a try, in case a lot of people out there think that is actually what my job is supposed to be…
There are a few combinational moments lurking to test your alertness, and I have done a new spin on one of the stem database games in response to a subscriber request.
Benko Gambit (JT)
Next up is the Benko Gambit, and the long awaited backlash to the line long touted here as White's most dangerous has suffered poor results this month. I started hedging my bets last time by offering other White tries to watch out for, and there is more of that this time. But the threat is still not over, as Black has not yet produced a line that is theoretically convincing. The two key games are Piket,J - Baklan,V, Bundesliga 1999-2000 and Avrukh,B - Ponomariov,R, European Team Ch. Batumi
In the first, Piket got unnecessarily bold in a tremendous position and lost his way in the mess he made, though one should recognise that the mess he made should have brought him a full point. One thing to note this month is that the game scores from the European Team championship were scandalously inaccurate, and there may be errors in the latter stages of these games, but for the time being I can only work with what I have.
Ponomariov made an interesting attempt to cast doubt on the line by trying to repeat the position. While this is a good, professional way to put the theoretical ball back in White's court, it might not appeal to ambitious gambiteers. His lower rated opponent lost after avoiding the implicit draw offer, and the way White's weakened position eventually caved in was rather instructive. However, even here there are some references that show more testing ways for White to play, so I am not convinced that Black can rest easy yet.
Finally, Slipak,S - Hoffman,A, ch-ARG showed black surviving an awful lot of pressure and eventually an ending two pawns down, thanks to active pieces and a proud stallion on e5. Most intriguing about this game is a theoretical reference I managed to dig up, where an almost completely untested idea gave white problems. This is definitely worth a closer look, though I have a feeling that if it was the answer, more people would have found it.
Two other variations get a look, declining the gambit with Nf3, which produced a pair of newsworthy games. Conquest,S - Stanojoski,Z, European Team Ch. Batumi GEO and Bosboom,M - Kristjansson,S, 5th Gudmundur Arason. The former was a solid win for white in a line that has a reputation for being good for him, and the latter was an amazing loss for the Dutch axeman from the kind of position he normally wins in his sleep. Benko folk should perhaps try other lines than 4…bxc4, which does not have the greatest track record.
Last but not least is the line with the white king wandering over to h2 by hand. There are logical reasons to respect this line. In the similar variation where white wanders to g2 after playing g3, he often plays h3 later anyway to prevent the knight on f6 relocating via g4, and one could argue that leaving out g3 leaves a more solid white kingside. White does well here this month (see DD212 and DD214), and much of the body of theory shows white notching up good results by executing a clear plan of mobilising for the thematic breakthrough with e4-e5. Still, the new games do not feature the lines with the best reputation for black, but they do give a good picture of the plans and dangers.
English Defence (JT)
The English Defence looks to be steadily gaining in popularity, and the energetic brawl between big boys Jeroen Piket and Nigel Short is one of the high points of this month's collection, see DD224, though I have my doubts that the score of this game is typo-free. Short continues to fly the flag inventively in this defence, and his performance in this game reminds me of what Black often achieved in the early days of the Modern Defence (1…g6), and his provocative move order blends these two fianchetto openings.
Bischoff was less successful in his rendition of the Modern English (Gurevich,M - Bischoff,K, Bundesliga 1999-2000), but this was also a four-fisted punch-up with heroics from both sides.
In DD207 White tried a tricky move order - by delaying the development of the knight on g1 white avoids lines with an early ...Ne4 and keeps open the option of another route for the horse.
Otherwise this section features a wide-ranging debate about the merits of the white plan of a3 and an early d5. White scores well, but without landing any noticeable innovations of merit. Many of Black's most entertaining lines were not tried, yet even so, the problems that English Defenders eventually faced here were not really related to the opening. Many of the key games here had elements of the Dutch about them:
Blumenfeld (JT)
The Blumenfeld appears again, with a nice thematic performance by an outrated gambiteer putting lasting pressure on white, see DD210. White did not play one of the best lines, but that is one of the advantages of daring defences, you usually have Mr. Surprise on your side.
Budapest (JT)
Things were also quiet on the Budapest front, but the compensation is a heavyweight battle in one of the main lines. Daring defender Ian Rogers produces a novelty against super-GM Evgeny Bareev and gradually defuses white's initiative, see DD202. Another example of how solid the Budapest can be, though I would imagine at lesser heights most adherents of the defence would prefer livelier alternatives.
Old Indian (JT)
The Old Indian was hardly a fashionable battlefield, but German connoisseur Jörg Hickl was at it again, with a typically gritty grind down of a lower-rated opponent (Hölzl,F - Hickl,J/ch-Austrian team). To be honest, I don't really understand why he played the opening the way he did, but he eventually built a foundation for a patient day at the office.