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Classical - Makagonov 6.h3 e5 7.d5 Nh5 8.g3 [E90]

In the heavyweight rapid game Aronian - Radjabov, we look at 6.h3 e5 7.d5 Nh5 8.g3 a5 9.Nh2 Na6 10.Be2 Nf6 11.Ng4 Nd7 12.Nh6+ Kh8 13.h4 Ndc5 14.g4!?:

Following 14...f5 15.h5 Black finds 15...fxe4! 16.hxg6 Qf6! hitting f2.The fast time control leads to several errors but it is clear that Black was the one with the chances.

Let's look at 6.h3 e5 7.d5 Nh5 8.g3 Na6 9.Be2 f5 10.exf5 gxf5 11.Ng5:

White has pretty much lost every game with this move, and Black also prevails in Otero Acosta - Bruzon Batista. However, that does not mean that it is all objectively bad for White. Hard to handle, perhaps.

Petrosian 7.d5 a5 8.Bg5 h6 9.Be3!? [E92]

The big news this month is the game Kramnik - Nakamura where the former World Champion uncorks what looks like a harmless sideline with 6.Nf3 e5 7.d5 a5 8.Bg5 h6 9.Be3!?:

I do not think this will constitute a long-term threat to 7...a5, but for one game it worked very well as Kramnik had looked at it very deeply.

7...exd4, 12.Bf4 h5 13.Nf5! [E94]

One could say that one of my 'pet peeves' was Black going into the suicidal-looking 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 exd4 8.Nxd4 Re8 9.f3 c6 10.Kh1 Nh5 11.g4 Nf6 12.Bf4 h5 13.Nf5! line:

I even 'threatened' to keep annotating Black's losses until everyone wised up. However, in Zontakh - Kovalev Black went into this line and survived. Can Black's play be revived? Maybe, but I do not think players will be lining up to defend Black's position.

Mar del Plata - 9.a4 [E97]

In Nikcevic - Djukic we see the system with 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.a4:

While this line does not look like it should be dangerous theoretically, it is rather tricky. 9...a5 10.Ne1 Nd7 11.Nd3 f5 12.f3 Kh8 is a reasonable response, but White should still be able to pose some small concerns, despite the result of this game.

9.Ne1 Main line [E99]

After 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Be3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bf2 g5 13.Rc1 I have stated before than in general I do not believe in 13...Rf6 intending ...Rh6,...Qe8-h5 unless there are highly favourable circumstances:

The normal move is 13...Ng6 angling for ...g4. The game Kjartansson - Becerra Rivero illustrates why rather well. Essentially, I think Black's plan is just too narrow and thus easy to deal with.

In the rather modern line with 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Be3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bf2 g5 13.g4 our main game sees a novelty after 13...h5 14.h3 Ng6 15.Nd3 with 15...Rf6?:

I do not mean to be too harsh, but I think that this move is much worse than Radjabov's 15...Rf7 for several reasons. Black gets into a huge mess in Reinderman - Van Foreest.

After an unusual move order, 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.c4 d6 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.a4 a5 10.Ne1 Nd7 11.Nd3 b6 12.Be3 f5 13.f3 f4 14.Bf2 g5 15.b4 axb4 16.Nxb4 is a rather well-known main line:

Vocaturo - Azaladze is the first time I saw Black play 16...Ra5!? Black physically blocks the advance of the White a-pawn. White's knight cannot chase it away, and bringing the bishop to e1 and clearing the e1-a5 diagonal of both knights takes time. I remain slightly suspicious, however. The game is interesting as Black goes into an endgame down an exchange and a pawn and yet seem to hold rather easily!

Until next month, David

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Don't hesitate to share your thoughts and suggestions with me. Any queries or comments to the KID Forum, or to me directly at david@ChessPublishing.com (subscribers only) would be most welcome.