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Here is the June update, which demonstrates the importance of opening knowledge in modern chess. In most of the games the players who either came up with a novelty or took their opponents by surprise, either scored a full point or solved their opening problems rather easily...

Download PGN of June '09 1 d4 d5 games


Main Slav [D17-19]

Caruana - Ni Hua: Black came up with a rather unfortunate novelty, 17...Bxb4?!:

and was eventually punished for that.

Sokolov - Middelburg: It seems that Black was not familiar with the line - his approach did nothing to prevent White's dangerous plan, which worked at full power.

Riazantsev - Lovkov: Alexander Riazantsev scored an easy win here, taking his opponent by surprise with a brilliant piece sacrifice of Max Euwe's, followed by some analysis of Garry Kasparov's.

Actual theory does not say that it is winning for White, but Black's life is certainly very difficult in all cases. It seems that Black has to think about more reliable variations ...



Moscow Variation [D43]

Shulman - Shabalov: True to his style Alex Shabalov tried to make things messy from the very beginning, but he couldn't cope with Yuri Shulman's clever strategy. White was ready to play a comfortable ending with a small advantage and severely punished his opponent for his desire to play a complicated position at any cost.

Shulman - Van Wely: Yuri Shulman came up with a small innovation in a topical line, 17 f3!?:

Nevertheless, Loek van Wely, who employs this variation with both colours, found a way to get a worse but acceptable ending, but eventually blundered.

Grischuk - Leko: Peter Leko introduced an interesting novelty in a line in which Black recently faced problems (in the game Shulman - Van Wely/Ledyard 2009). His approach looked risky, but White had no clear way to give Black difficulties. Alexander Grischuk played rather logically, but after a clever liquidation into an ending Black comfortably solved all the problems.

Kasimdzhanov - Gelfand: Boris Gelfand came up with a surprising novelty on move 9 and won the game rather easily. The idea is really interesting but Black's life should not be so comfortable - White should certainly improve his play.



Botvinnik Variation [D44]


Topalov - Shirov: Alexey Shirov defended a line which had been considered suspicious for Black some years ago:



Ruslan

 

If you have any questions, then please post a message at the 1 d4 d5 Forum, or subscribers can email me at ruslan@chesspublishing.com.