What's New- July '00
with Carsten Hansen
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With summer still raging in Europe and USA, there are traditionally a lot of tournaments taking place, and for your regular contributor, GM Volzhin it has been a welcome opportunity to test some of the openings he has been writing about. In his absence, I'm filling in for him and updating you on some of the recent developments in '1 e4 ...'. Carsten Hansen |
Caro-Kann
This time I have decided on a couple of games in the classical Caro-Kann with 4...Bf5. It's getting more and more popular to go 7...Nf6 rather than 7...Nd7 to prevent White from playing 8 Ne5. The reason is that in order to play for an edge, White more or less has to play 8 Ne5, which gives Black a target to play against. I have selected Smirin-Epishin from the European Ch and Leko-Bareev from Dortmund. Both games feature new ideas, and although the score in the games favours White, the bottom line is still that Black is okay.
The Smyslov Variation, 4...Nd7, is still very much in the picture for Black. In the game Macieja-Meduna, Black introduced a new defensive idea, which seems to prove that Black, despite what was previously thought, is doing quite well.
Pirc/Modern
Recently there has been a tendency for White to choose set-ups involving either Bg5 + Qd2 or Be3 + Qd2. Both systems are now being developed fast. In this update, I have chosen to focus my attention on the system involving 4 Bg5. It used to be considered quite harmless, but the games I present seems to indicate a different trend.
The first game is Afek-van der Wiel, where Black takes a bad beating, but matters don't appear to be that clear during the game. However, this is a line that I expect will be seen more frequently in the future, so it should be worth the time to take a closer look at this game.
The next game, Macieja-Azmaiparashvili resembles Afek-van der Wiel. Also here Black meets difficulties in the opening, but a nice tactical trick turned the tables later on. The line employed by Black seems to me to be a bit questionable.
In Dreev-Beim, Black tries out a new idea, but is punished severely. However, it appears that Black may be able to improve on his play, so it will be interesting to see whether other players are interested in using Beim's new move.
Alekhine
The first game is from the Norwegian Championship. In AV187 two of the pre-tournament favourites battle it out in a little played line in the four pawns attack. Although the game looks quite devastating, a closer inspection reveals that White might have been able to defend. Nonetheless, Black triumphed elegantly in this game.
In the last couple of months the exchange variation has been has been very popular. White has scored tremendously well, but there is a new idea for Black that I would like to draw your attention to. In the game Dvoiris-Zilberman, Black seemed to obtain a good game effortlessly. Although the game finished as a comedy of errors, the opening idea deserves close attention.
The last game AV189 is yet another encounter in the topical line with 4...dxe5 5 Nxe5 Nd7. White quickly obtains a winning advantage, but the early opening is quite interesting.
Centre Counter/Scandinavian
From being a very infrequent visitor in master games a few years back, this opening has developed incredibly. Particularly 2...Qxd5 is seen more and more. Recently Black has been giving attention to 3...Qd6, which normally is considered dubious. Check out Solak-Nadanian. Judging by recent games, it appears that Black actually has fairly good chances of obtaining a decent position with this line, but how much sense does it really make to put the Queen on this awkward square?
In the Portugese Variation 2...Nf6 3 d4 Bg4 there is a theoretical discussion between your regular columnist, Alex Volzhin, and Norwegian GM Gausel. It is White that comes out on top in AV191. and his play generally seems to indicate that Black is in trouble, but in the annotations I have included some games where it appears that Black may be able to defend, although the opening as such looks quite dubious.
Owen's Defense - 1...b6
This rare move has seen a surprising amount of action by strong players recently. Most surprising was the use of the opening by FIDE Wch runner-up, Akopian, who tried it against Deep Junior 6 in Dortmund- check out AV192. The result was a draw.
Also GM Pavel Blatny has included Owen's Defense in his defensive armour against 1 e4. His game against Nevednichy from the Budapest Zonal is a tense struggle, loaded with errors, but nonetheless very entertaining.
Nimzowitsch Defense - 1...Nc6
Also a number of interesting games were played in this line. I have picked the game Beliavsky-Miles from the 1st Individual Championship. Aside from featuring two strong players, it is also a struggle between two very creative characters who like to go their own way.