Oct '99 Update
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Here you will find 13 of the most important recent developments in the French, as at the 22nd October 1999. |
The Fort Knox-under fire!
Not even Goldfinger could crack that bank, but Sermek makes it look easy in NM44. Nevertheless if Black had found the one key move he would have been OK.
The Rubinstein
Meanwhile John Emms uses a surprisingly dangerous sideline to crush Black in NM45.
The Classical
4 Bg5
Lots of activity here, especially 4 Bg5 dxe4 ideas, after which:
6...gxf6! still looks deadly in Morozevich's hands, but the analysis
to NM47
suggests that things aren't as great as they first appear for Black. In NM46
it really does all go wrong for Black, but check out the analysis here for the
whole story.
5...Nbd7 was once described as the refutation of the mainline
French. We see White trying to inject life into the position in NM41
4 e5
The idea of delaying ...Nc6 in the Classical in favour of ...Qb6 is now under attack thanks to the simple 8 a3! as seen in NM42. Korchnoi is lucky to escape with a draw. I used to be scared of White's h4-h5 advance in the Classical 4 e5, but Morozevich does the business with Black in NM43. Is Black's position really so good, or was it just an offday for Topalov? Have a look at the analysis.
The Advance
more tricky stuff in the shape of 4 Qg4!? in NM51. Black is rated 2570 and he gets destroyed, so this line is well worth investigating! NM50 shows that I was unduly pessimistic about Black's chances in the ...Nh6; Bxh6 variation. He uses the open lines to completely wipe out White. I may yet be persuaded to add this to my repertoire as Black.
The Tarrasch
Of course, as soon as I started praising 9...Qxf6 in the Tarrasch someone had to come along with a dangerous way of attacking it! Still, I'm not convinced as Black has a way to preempt the attack. Have a look at NM48. Meanwhile a very important development has taken place in the 3...Nf6 mainline. Have a look at NM49 which spells trouble for Black.
The Winawer
Various
The game NM55 from the recent World Championship Knockout tests Kasparov's pawn sacrifice in the 7 Nf3 Qa5 variation. White scores a crushing win, but analysis shows that things are by no means as simple as they appear. The a nalysis here is well worth investigating.
Poisoned Pawn
We also continue to deepen the analysis of the Poisoned Pawn Variation by looking at 13 Be3, which has received a lot of attention recently. White may be in trouble according to the notes in NM54.