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King’s Indian Attack 6 a4 [A07]
Firstly, I have got used to seeing 6 Bf4 for White, but was surprised to see the World Number One play 6 a4::
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In fact, on further examination it seems that he has played it rather a lot these last few years, as has Andreikin. To see the ideas behind it have a look at Carlsen, M - Le, Q.
Réti Opening, Reversed Benoni 2...d4 3 e3 Nc6 4 b4 [A09]
3 e3 is a good alternative to 3 b4, but after 3...Nc6 Black is prepared to capture on d4 with a piece, and this doesn't give White very much at all. Instead, Erigaisi has been having lots of fun with 4 b4!? sacrificing a pawn to gain a strong centre:
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In Erigaisi, A - Van_Roon, S he quickly gained a decisive advantage and won with a series of accurate blows.
Anti-Grünfeld, 1 c4 g6 2 e4 e5 3 Nf3 Bg7 4 d4 [A10]
After 4...exd4 5 Nxd4 Nf6 6 Nc3 0-0 7 Be3 David considered 7...c6 'a refinement' on 7...Re8, when White can easily defend the e4 pawn with 8 Bd3.
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However, in Caruana, F - Vachier Lagrave, M White came well prepared for this and played the sharp novelty 8 e5!? and after 8...Ne8 9 h4! when, despite playing obvious moves, Black was soon in big trouble. Surprisingly, Caruana was not in his best form and missed several clearly advantageous lines so MVL managed to hang-on, and draw.
Neo-Catalan, 3...dxc4 4 Bg2 a6 5 0-0 Nf6 6 Qc2 b5 [A13]
Previously, we had only considered 7 Ne5 in the following position:
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However, I think that this is a slight inaccuracy myself and the best move is, in fact, 7 Ne1!. Then 7...Nd5 8 d3 cxd3 Nxd3 would transpose to the game Kuzubov,Y-Neverov,V that GM Alexandr Fier examined a while ago.
Instead, in Yuffa, D - Lupulescu, C Black tried the interesting 7...Ra7!? but White immediately found a strong novelty and gained an opening advantage. That wasn't the end of the story, by any means, as they eventually reached a very tricky endgame where White's 'good' knight was dominated by Black's 'bad' bishop. White missed a fair number of draws, and Black a fair number of wins, before Black's final error left him lacking sufficient pawns to win.
Pseudo-Grünfeld, 5 h4 Bg7 6 h5 Nc6 7 d4 [A16]
Following 7...Bf5, Alexandr Fier examined 8 Qb3 in Vallejo Pons,F-Safarli,E, back in 2013, but the mainline nowadays is the odd-looking 8 Rh4:
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White defends d4 and threatens to play e2-e4. In Sargsyan, S - Woodward, A White played a new idea, and in reply Black played a sharp double-piece sacrifice to open-up the white king's position. In the exciting continuation both players can force a perpetual check, in two totally different ways.
King’s English, 4 g3 Bb4 mainline, 9 f3 exf3 [A29]
Continuing 10 Nxf3 Qe7 Black puts pressure on e2 and so White normally plays 11 e3 to protect it, but this impedes his dark-squared bishop, sat on c1. Instead, in Salem, A - Madaminov, M, White played 11 d4!? sacrificing the e pawn:
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And when Black refused to capture it on e2, White then played 12 e4, forcing him to take it on e4, instead! White finished the game with some brilliant attacking play, but, if you look carefully you will see that Black could have sacrificed his queen at one point to get an unlikely draw involving a known fortress.
King’s English, Reversed Dragon 6...Nf6 7 0-0 h6 [A29]
Last month I looked at 7 b4!? and suggested that it would be better to castle first, and, in Gukesh, D - Fedoseev, V, the World Champion did just that, but after 7...h6 played 8 b4!? anyway:
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I remember that David Cummings wasn't too enamoured of this, although I saw, to my surprise, that he played it himself only a short while ago! Maybe White has something good, somewhere, but with best play I couldn't find any more than a draw myself.
Symmetrical English, Double Fianchetto mainline with b3 and Bb2 [A30]
I really like Adrien Demuth's excellent book The Modernized Reti and still use it to prepare from time-to-time. Some of his recommendations nave caught-on, and some not so much, like 11 Qd2 Rc8 12 Ne1!? in the Double Fianchetto:
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The idea is quite common, but not in this exact position. However, that may change as the World Number One played it himself in Carlsen, M - Aravindh, C. Black played well, and equalised, but things went a bit haywire towards the end (severe time trouble, no doubt) and Magnus finally came out on top, as he often does!
Until next month, Tony.
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