No.

7, February 18, 2009

OPENINGS
what’s hot and what’s not?
XIIIIIIIIY
Kasparov’s 13.¤d4 9r+-+kvl-tr0
9+lwqn+pzpp0
9p+-+psn-+0
has lost its venom 9+p+P+-+-0
9-+p+P+-+0
9+-sN-+N+-0
By IM Merijn van Delft & IM Robert Ris 9PzPL+-zPPzP0
9tR-vLQ+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
It was clearly the week of the talented young GM Frequency
Arik Braun, who won the German Championship
with marvellous play. He combines clever opening
preparation with inventive attacking chess.

what’s hot?
Those who expect a lot of 1.e4 after reading these first lines may Score
be surprised, since the young German star prefers 1.d4, 1.¤f3 or
1.c4, all handled in an equally dynamic way. For example in round
three, the highly experienced GM Daniel Fridman was busted in just
twenty moves! In round five a theoretically relevant, razor-sharp
game with another quickly rising star, GM Georg Meier, was drawn.
In round eight it took 33 moves to checkmate GM Rainer Buhmann.

With Black against 1.e4, Arik Braun played the Caro-Kann and
the French, both with aggressive intentions. Against 1.d4 he did
OK with the Nimzo-Indian, neutralising GM Igor Khenkin, but he
lost his game in the Queen’s Indian against tournament runner-up
GM Michael Prusikin. In the all-deciding last round against young
GM David Baramidze, Braun successfully switched to the Semi-
Slav which is analyzed below as our Game of the Week. Black’s
knight sacrifice is an improvement on the famous game Kasparov-
Kramnik, Dos Hermanas 1996.

One would almost forget that the Closed Games can also be played
in a positional manner, but Buhmann did so when he beat Meier in Source: Megabase + TWIC, 2500+ only
a Catalan.

In the whole German Championship the 1.e4 main lines where completely ignored. The exchange French was played more often than
the Najdorf, Dragon and Sveshnikov combined. As pointed out above, the Closed Games also demand creativity and dedication though.
Simply playing 1.¤f3 followed by building a house for the ¢, as strong IM Daniel Hausrath
tends to do, was effectively neutralised by Buhmann (see diagram 4 in the section on page
3, where we give this week’s harvest).
what’s Not?
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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not? No. 7, February 18, 2009
Improving upon Kasparov-Kramnik
The novelty in this game was already known, but the dramatic last round circumstances still
qualify it as the game of the week. Black seems to be absolutely fine in the 8...¥b7 Semi-
Slav if White goes for 13.¤d4, like Kasparov did against Kramnik, Dos Hermanas 1996.
game of the week
Baramidze, D (2548) - Braun, A (2558)
80th German Championship, 14 Feb. 2009
D48 Semi-Slav, Meran, 8...¥b7
1.c4 c6 2.d4
The day before Braun had also hunted down
the enemy king : 2.e4 d5 3.exd5 ¤f6 4.d4 cxd5
5.¤c3 e6 6.¤f3 ¥b4 7.cxd5 ¤xd5 8.¥d2 ¤d7
(this move is very uncommon; against Ghaem
Maghami in their recent match, Karpov sticked
to 8...¤c6) 9.¥d3 ¤7f6 10.0–0 ¥e7 11.¤e5 0–0
12.¥g5 ¥d7 13.£f3 ¥c6 14.£h3 g6 15.¦ad1 ¦c8
16.¦fe1 ¤h5 17.¥h6 ¤df4 18.£g4 ¤xd3 19.¦xd3
¤g7 20.£f4 ¥d5 21.¦h3 g5 22.£d2 f6 23.£d3
fxe5 24.¥xg7 e4 25.¤xe4 ¢xg7 Now White
has a pretty finish: 26.¦xh7+! ¢xh7 27.¤xg5+
¢h6 28.£h7+ ¢xg5 29.£g7+ ¢h5 30.g4+ ¢h4
31.£h6+ ¢xg4 32.h3+ ¢f5 33.¦e5# 1–0 Braun-
Buhmann, Saarbruecken (8) 2009.
2...d5 3.¤c3 ¤f6 4.¤f3 e6 5.e3
The Meran Variation. 5.¥g5 leads to sharp stuff
like the Moscow or the Botvinnik.
5...¤bd7 6.¥d3 dxc4 7.¥xc4 b5 8.¥d3 ¥b7
8...a6!? 9.e4 c5 10.e5 (10.d5 transposes back
to the game) 10...cxd4 11.¤xb5 axb5 12.exf6
gxf6 13.0–0 £b6 14.£e2 and now 14...¥b7!?
was Anand’s extremely succesful concept
against Kramnik, but not everybody seems to
trust Black’s position.
9.0–0
The Wade Variation 9.e4 b4 10.¤a4 c5 11.e5
¤d5 seems to be doing fine for Black. The latest
fashion is the positional 9.a3!?.
9...a6 10.e4 c5 11.d5 c4 12.¥c2 £c7 13.¤d4
The main line is 13.dxe6 fxe6 with the following
options:
A) 14.£e2 ¥d6 15.¤d4 ¤c5 16.f4 e5 and here
17.¤dxb5!? demands some accurate play
by Black: 17...axb5 18.¤xb5 £b6 19.¤xd6+
£xd6 20.fxe5 £xe5 21.¦f5 £e7 22.£xc4 ¦c8
23.£b5+ ¤cd7 24.£xb7 ¦xc2 25.¥g5 £d6
26.£a8+ £b8! 27.£xb8+ ¤xb8 28.¥xf6 gxf6
29.¦xf6 ¦xb2=.
B) 14.¤d4 ¤c5 15.¥e3 e5 16.¤f3 ¥e7 17.¤g5
0–0! 18.¥xc5 ¥xc5 19.¤e6 £b6 20.¤xf8 ¦xf8
is an elegant exchange sacrifice from the game
 defence.) 25...£xh2+ 26.¢f1 ¥c6! The bishop
Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov, Linares 2005.
C) 14.¤g5 ¤c5 15.¥e3 (15.e5 £xe5 16.¦e1
£d6 17.£xd6 ¥xd6=) 15...¥d6! (Gustafsson
improves on his own game; 15...h6 16.¤xe6!
was a very tricky Armenian invention: 16...¤xe6
17.e5 £xe5 18.¥g6+ ¢e7 19.¦e1 £d6 20.¥d4
¦d8 21.£e2 £c6 22.¥xf6+ ¢xf6 23.¥e4 ¤d4
24.£g4 1–0 Sargissian-Gustafsson, Bundesliga
2008) 16.£f3 h6 17.£h3 0–0–0 18.¤f3 ¢b8 19.e5
¥xe5 20.¤xe5 £xe5 21.¦fe1 ¢a8 22.a4 b4
23.¤b5 axb5 24.axb5+ ¢b8 25.£h4 g5 26.£xc4
£d5 27.£f1 ¤g4 28.¥xc5 £xc5 29.£e2 ¦hf8 0–1
Istratescu-Gustafsson, Dresden 2008.
13...¤c5 14.b4
Following in Kasparov’s footsteps, but in this
case an unfortunate decision. 14.¥g5 0–0–0
15.b4 may be a trickier version.
14...cxb3 15.axb3 b4 16.¤a4 ¤cxe4 17.¥xe4
¤xe4 18.dxe6 ¥d6 19.exf7+ £xf7
The black king is still in the centre, but his
menacing pair of bishops give him great
attacking chances.
20.f3 £h5 21.g3
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-+k+-tr0
9+l+-+-zpp0
9p+-vl-+-+0
9+-+-+-+q0
9Nzp-sNn+-+0
9+P+-+PzP-0
9-+-+-+-zP0
9tR-vLQ+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
21...¤xg3!N
Kramnik already pointed out this improvement
in his old analysis for Chess Informant while
David Vigorito mentions it in his excellent book
Play the Semi-Slav and it’s also included in the
Rybka 3 book. 21...0–0? 22.fxe4 £h3 23.¤f3?
(23.£e2 ¥xg3 24.¤f5!) 23...¥xg3 24.¤c5
(24.£e2) 24...¦xf3 25.¦xf3? (25.¦a2! was the
baramidze- braun
last chance to put up a stubborn second rank
switches diagonals with deadly effect: 27.¥g5
¥b5+ 28.¤d3 ¦e8 29.¦a2 £h1+ 30.¢e2 ¦xe4+
31.¢d2 £g2+ 32.¢c1 £xa2 33.¦xg3 £a1+
34.¢c2 £c3+ 35.¢b1 ¦d4 0–1 Kasparov-
Kramnik, Dos Hermanas 1996.
22.¦e1+?
White should have kept this check in reserve.The
right defence is 22.hxg3 0–0 (22...¥xg3? 23.£e2+
is the point) 23.¦a2 ¥xg3 24.¦g2 ¥e5 25.¤c5
¦ad8 26.¥e3 but of course Black is comfortable.
22...¢f7 23.hxg3 ¥xg3 24.¦a2 ¦ad8 25.¦e3
¦he8
25...¥e5! 26.¦d3 ¦d6! is a strong suggestion by
the computer.
26.¦xe8 ¦xe8 27.¦e2 £h4 28.¤c5 ¥h2+
29.¢f1 ¥e5 30.¥e3
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+-+r+-+0
9+l+-+kzpp0
9p+-+-+-+0
9+-sN-vl-+-0
9-zp-sN-+-wq0
9+P+-vLP+-0
9-+-+R+-+0
9+-+Q+K+-0
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30...¥c8!
A killing bishop switch like in the stem game.
31.¦g2 ¥h3 32.¤e2 ¥xg2+ 33.¢xg2 £h2+
34.¢f1 £h3+ 35.¢f2 £h2+ 36.¢f1 £h3+
37.¢f2 ¢g8 38.¤e4 £h4+ 39.¢g2 ¦d8
40.£c2 ¢h8 41.¤g5 £h2+ 42.¢f1 £h5 43.f4?
The immediate 43.¢g2 would have been a better
chance. In the remainder of the game the black
¦ and pawns prove superior in this open position.
43...¥f6 44.¢g2 ¥xg5 45.fxg5 £g4+ 46.¤g3
£d1 47.£c7 £d5+ 48.¢h2 ¦e8 49.¥g1
£xb3 50.¥d4 £a2+ 51.¢h3 £e6+ 52.¢h4
£e7 53.£c6 ¦d8 54.¤f5 £e1+ 55.¢h3 £f1+
56.¢g4 £d1+ 57.¢g3 £d3+ 58.£f3 £xf3+
59.¢xf3 b3 60.¥xg7+ ¢g8 61.¢e3 ¦f8!
An effective finish. 0–1
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ChessVibes OPENINGS what’s hot and what’s not? No. 7, February 18, 2009

this week’s harvest

Nimzo-Indian, 4.£c2
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+l+r+k+0
9zp-+-zP-zpp0
9-+p+-+-+0
9wq-+p+p+-0
9-+-+n+-+0
9zP-+L+P+-0
9-+Q+K+PzP0
9tR-vL-+-+R0
xiiiiiiiiy
1.d4 e6 2.c4 ¤f6 3.¤c3 ¥b4 4.£c2 0–0
5.e4 d5 6.e5 ¤e4 7.a3 ¥xc3+ 8.bxc3 c5
9.¥d3 £a5 10.¤e2 cxd4 11.cxd5 exd5
12.f3 ¤xc3 13.¤xd4 ¤e4+ 14.¢e2 f5
15.e6 ¤c6 16.¤xc6 bxc6 17.e7 ¦e8
4.£c2 0–0 5.e4 is fashionable at
the moment. In Khenkin-Braun,
the solid 5...d6 was preferred but
a more direct attempt is 5...d5.
The first 17 moves of Braun-Meier
were already played in Dobrov-
Belov, Freestyle 2005 (in which
a draw was agreed at that point).
What followed is a nerve-racking
chain of mutual only moves that
suggests that both players still
knew what they were doing.
Open Catalan
XIIIIIIIIY
9-+rwq-trk+0
9zpp+l+pzpp0
9-+-+psn-+0
9+-vl-+-+-0
9-+-+-+-wQ0
9+-sN-+-zP-0
9PzP-+PzPLzP0
9tR-vL-+RmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
1.¤f3 ¤f6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.d4
dxc4 5.¥g2 c5 6.0–0 ¤c6 7.£a4 ¥d7
8.£xc4 cxd4 9.¤xd4 ¦c8 10.¤c3
¤xd4 11.£xd4 ¥c5 12.£h4 0–0
The Catalan system with 5...c5 has
always been a bit under pressure,
but during the last Olympiad, both
Wojtaszek and Nielsen tried a new
idea (12...0–0) which indicates that
they prepared this for Anand's
match with Kramnik. Buhmann tried
to improve with 17.a4 and soon
Meier collapsed. After 20...¥xb2
21.£xb2 ¦xb2 22.¥xb2 a human
look at the position says that White
has the better prospects, thanks to
his passed pawn and two bishops.
Semi-Slav
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-+k+-tr0
9zpp+l+pzpp0
9-+n+p+-+0
9wq-+-zP-+-0
9P+-zP-+-+0
9+-tR-+N+-0
9-+Q+LzPPzP0
9+R+-+-mK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.¤f3 ¤f6 4.¤c3 dxc4
5.a4 e6 6.e4 ¥b4 7.e5 ¤e4 8.£c2
£d5 9.¥e2 c5 10.0–0 ¤xc3 11.bxc3
cxd4 12.cxd4 c3 13.¥d2 £a5 14.¥xc3
¥xc3 15.¦a3 ¥d7 16.¦xc3 ¤c6 17.¦b1
5...e6 is an attempt to steer the game
towards the QGA, but 6.e4 refuses
that. With 7...¤e4 Fridman made
a fingerfehler, whereas 7...¤d5
should be preferred. For the next
ten moves they suprisingly enough
followed the 16th matchgame of the
WCh between Alekhine and Euwe
in 1935. Only 17...¤b4 deviates,
but then the position is already lost.
Braun finished the game with a
petite combinaison.
English, 1...c6
XIIIIIIIIY
9r+-+kvl-tr0
9+p+-zppzpp0
9-snp+-sn-+0
9zp-+q+l+-0
9P+p+-+-+0
9sN-+-+-zP-0
9-zPQzPPzPLzP0
9tR-vL-sNRmK-0
xiiiiiiiiy
1.¤f3 d5 2.g3 ¤f6 3.¥g2 c6
4.c4 dxc4 5.0–0 ¤bd7 6.£c2 ¤b6
7.a4 a5 8.¤a3 £d5 9.¤e1 ¥f5
‘Building a house for the king’ with
¤f3, g3 and ¥g2, as Seirawan
calls it, is of course a solid idea.
But it is also a bit one-sided, as
Black may equalize right away. In
the recent encounter Radjabov-
Smeets, Wijk aan Zee 2009, Black
played 8...¥e6 which may also be
fine, but in Hausrath-Buhmann
the direct 8...£d5 9.¤e1 ¥f5! was
played, which solves all problems
as far as we can see. White needs
a bit more creativity to try for an
advantage in this opening.

opening expert
Who: Pentala Harikrishna Expertise: 1.e4 e5
Born: May 10, 1986 Why: Combining sidelines with main
Nationality: India lines, he takes risks or goes for
Rating: 2673 solid play, if necessary.

The young Indian, who became GM at the age of 14 already, is an renowned expert in the Open Games. Against
weaker opponents he is not afraid to side-step the main paths, while playing against top players he sticks to more
solid openings like the Petroff and the Breyer Defence. Harikrishna is a typical all-round player, prefering quiet
positions with manoeuvring play, but very alert when he gets a chance to exploit his opponent’s mistakes.

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