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White is totally dominating in this update. It seems that Black has begun to face real problems in the Vienna - even his only half point in this selection would not have come so easily if White had been more consistent. Black was also suffering in the Anti-Moscow, where it's always complicated, and in the Meran, where White has recently chosen a seemingly harmless approach and yet has scored well, Black often failing to produce any counterplay.

Download PGN of September '08 1 d4 d5 games


Vienna Variation [D39]

Nyback - Macieja: Tomi Nyback successfully employed a rare approach in the Vienna, where White did not mind swapping queens very early, claiming a slight edge in the ending:

Gustafsson - Naiditsch: Recently Black is facing problem in this fashionable line - here Jan Gustafsson simply smashed his opponent without even raising a sweat.

Sasikiran - Macieja: Here Bartlomiej Macieja successfully defended the Vienna, which does not seem to be such an easy task recently. However, White could still have maintained some pressure with more precise play.

Werle - Wells: Peter Wells tried the more risky approach to defend the Vienna but was quickly crushed. Nevertheless, more careful analysis shows that he could have defended, but, on the other hand, Jan Werle also had a better option at an early stage. The overall assessment of the line still does not seem to be encouraging for Black.



Moscow Variation [D43]

Grischuk - Karjakin: Sergey Karjakin improved upon Black's play in the game Avrukh - Sargissian/ GER-chT Kreuzberg 2007, but still failed to solve all the problems and, even though the position always remained quite complex, Black seemingly had no chances to escape against Alexander Grischuk's excellent play.

Radjabov - Cheparinov: In this game Teimour Radjabov energetically proved his superiority against Ivan Cheparinov's suspicious approach. However, in time pressure things went unpredictably - first White blundered his queen and then Black underestimated his opponent's remaining trumps.



Meran Variation [D47]

Jakovenko - Bologan: Dmitry Jakovenko took a good opportunity to treat an Anti-Meran type position without wasting time for its main move, Qd1-c2:

He actually found much better prospects for his queen on d2 then e3, and finished the game with excellent technique. Yet Black could have defended better although his set-up still seems a bit suspicious...

Aronian - Grischuk: Levon Aronian introduced a strong novelty in a seemingly harmless line of the Meran and slowly but confidently outplayed Alexander Grischuk.

Kramnik - Shirov: Vladimir Kramnik came up with a very rare but interesting approach. In order to get firm control over important dark squares he left a couple of his pawns to the mercy of fate:

In reply Alexey Shirov tried to be as active as possible, sacrificed his bishop for some pawns, but still failed to disturb his opponent's plans and eventually lost. However, he might have secured more resources at some point - the line certainly needs further investigation.



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.