The Very Latest Developments
The May 2002 UpdateMy Monaco team-mate, Arkadij Rotstein was in superb form for the last French Team Championship 'weekend', and if it wasn't for him making a 2648 performance on board 5, as opposed to my 2645, I would have won the board 5 medal myself. But if we are team-mates, how come we are both vying for the same board prize, you are asking yourself? Well, simply because the boards are not fixed in France and in a strong team it is possible to move around a lot, so the board prize is decided on the average of the boards. Anyway, as Arkadij plays a lot of the same Flank Openings as I do, and very effectively too, I have included a couple of these fine victories. TonyK |
All this month's new games are easily downloaded in PGN format using ChessPub.exe, open ChessPub.exe, put the date on, say, 25th May 2002, and then click on 'Flank Openings', over on the right. All these games should appear (and the ChessPub Guides, too!)
You can also enter the specific ECO code if you are only interested in a particular opening. To download the May '02 Flank Openings games directly in PGN form click here: 
English Opening
1...e5
A20: Two 'position-types' that recur again and again for English players are Maroczy positions and IQP positions. In Rotstein,A - Bacrot,E White gives an instructive demonstration of how to exploit the IQP in an ending against the young three-times French champion.
A22: Smirin managed to win his match against a selection of top programs reasonably comfortably, and here, in Smirin,I - DEEP SHREDDER, he shows excellent 'anti-computer' technique using a Botvinnik-style set-up to restrict tactical play to an absolute minimum.
A29: In Huebner,R - Ruck,R Black plays Romanishin's favourite plan in the Reversed Dragon - ...Re8, and ...Bf8 - and then plays a very original combination, which was unfortunately flawed.
1...c5
A34: We take another look at Nimzovitch's line, where White plays 6 Bb5+ and sacs a pawn for a dangerous initiative, in Gurevich,D - Sutovsky,E.
                    
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A36: I always take great interest in games where strong players play the Botvinnik System, although I cannot really recommend White's opening play in Graf,A - Othman,A, where Black plays unusually.
A37: Black can also play the Botvinnik system, of course, and can equalise quite quickly unless White plays the most accurate moves. In Isonzo,D - Manik,M White grabs his opponent's theoretical pawn sac and quickly loses his queen!
1...Nf6 & others
A10: Rotstein,A - Conquest,S features another fine victory from my Monaco team mate, against the English Defence, but Black's imaginative play deserved better, and he missed a very good chance at one point.
A16: After the 'anti-Grünfeld moves 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 Qa4+ Bd7 5 Qb3 dxc4 6 Qxc4 Bg7 7 e4 Bc6 White came up with the interesting novelty 8 Bd3!?
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and went on to win convincingly, see Vladimirov,E - Mamedyarov,S.
Réti
A09: After 1 Nf3 d5 2 c4 Black can capture the c-pawn and attempt to transpose into a QGA, but in Huzman,A - Maryasin,B, White resolutely refused to play ball, and avoided putting his d-pawn on d4, instead aiming for a pleasant 'Reversed Paulsen Sicilian', and wins nicely.
e-mails
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Please feel free to share any of your thoughts with me, whatever they are, suggestions, criticisms (just the polite ones, please), etc. Drop me a line at tonykosten@chesspublishing.com
Till next month, Tony K