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This month we have a game from Magnus himself playing the black side of a KID, which is not something we see every day. They are many top level games because they were some strong rapid events, but as usual we prefer classical games. There are some games here in which we see not so popular lines which is useful to find some alternatives to the main lines.

Download PGN of July ’23 KID games

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Fianchetto Panno, Simagin Variation 7...Bg4 8.d5 Na5 9.b3 [E62]

Le, T - Paragua, M was in the Fianchetto System. And Black opted for a rare line with 7...Bg4:











Then the game followed the normal pattern and Black got a backward d pawn which White could capture. However, White decided not to take it with the new idea 16. Qd2. Black did not react well and was already in very passive position only a few moves later. Once White went for 21. f4 he got a big advantage, and later he opened the game with 24 e5 and soon won.



Karpov Variation 5.Be2 Na6 6.Be3 e5 [E73]

In Lupulescu, C - Carlsen, M. Black went for an early ...e5 before he castled. White took the chance to trade queens but then he played actively, exerting pressure with 10.c5 and then 12. Rd6:











Later White decided to give an exchange in order to keep the initiative. For a long time the game was roughly equal but then White missed a great chance to get a big edge and after that Black did not miss his one and Carlsen outplayed his opponent in his usual style.



Sämisch System 6.Be3 a6 7.Qd2 Nbd7 8.Nh3 c5 [E81]

Bruzon, L - Fedorowicz, J was in the Saemisch System. Our former Sicilian expert went for a rare line with 8...c5 and White decided not to go for Benoni setups but just develop. Later White went for a symmetrical pawn structure with 11 dxc5 and was a bit better.











Black managed to develop everything and the endgame was around equal. At some point Black decided to change the structure with 25....e4 to open his game. White was left with a passed d pawn but maybe he could not see how to improve much and the game was drawn.



Classical Makagonov 5.h3 0-0 6.Be3 c6 7.Nf3 e6 [E90]

Druska, J - Mazur, S was in a rare line in the Classical where Black delayed ...e7-e5 and White decided to go for 9 e5 and 10 e6 himself:











Black took the pawn but later could not find the best defence and after 14....Bf5 he was in trouble. White had a free attack and could finish the game but in the end missed one strong defensive move and had to settle for a draw.


Classical, Gligoric System 7.0-0 h6 8.Be3 Ng4 [E92]

Michalevsky, V - Nieman. H was a Gligoric System. Black found an interesting plan with 16...Nc6 and then 17...g5:











White, another of our former writers, did not react very well and a few moves later Black was already controlling all the squares in the centre. He took his time improving all his pieces and in the end started a strong attack and won the game easily.


Classical, Gligoric System 7...Ng4 8.Bg5 f6 9.Bh4 Nc6 [E92]

Rahul, S - Nieman, H featured another Gligoric System. Early on White went for a new idea, 12 Bxg4, thinking that the closed centre benefits the knights. However Black started to open the game and after 17...b5 it was not clear where White will put his king:











He stayed in the centre and it was only at move 26 that White castled, which was a big mistake. However, Black opted for a very wrong plan losing all his advantage. Soon he made another mistake, exposing his king and suddenly came under a mating attack and lost.


Classical Variation 7.0-0 Na6 8.Re1 Bg4 [E94]

Firouzja, A - Saric, I was in another rare line of the Classical, this time with 8...Bg4:











White got the bishop pair and was a bit better Then Black found good counterplay with 18....h4 and took over the initiative. Later White managed to trade many pieces and the game went into an equal game. In the end Black somehow managed to lose it and White won a bit fortunately.


Classical, Bayonet Attack 9...Nh5 10.Re1 f5 11.a4 a5 [E97]

Zhou, J - Schmakel, S was in the Classical Bayonet attack. White went for the 11.a4 line and everything was normal until Black introduced a new idea with 17...Qa8:











White replied with 18 Nd5 and Black immediately made a wrong decision which left him without material and without compensation. White was keeping an edge for a long time until he first chose a bad plan and then later blundered which gave Black an unlikely victory.



Till next month, Marian

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