Chess to Enjoy / Entertainment
Going Out With A Whimper
Sometimes opening analysis takes you where you don’t want to go By GM ANDY SOLTIS
MANY MOONS AGO A SMART MAN WITH the foolish dream of making a lot of money from chess books asked me to go on a fool’s errand. I was supposed to write long chapters on
every variation of the Four Knights Game (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5)— including the one that runs 4. ... Nd4 5. Nxd4 exd4 6. e5. That was more than foolish. “It’s a draw-
ing variation,” I said. Virtually every master game on record ended in a handshake soon after 6. ... dxc3 7. exf6 Qxf6 8. dxc3 Qe5+ 9. Qe2 Qxe2+. That was then and now is ... well, a time
when even grandmasters play to win after 5. Nxd4. Nigel Short-Vladimir Kramnik, London 2011 went 8. ... Bc5!? (instead of 8. ... Qe5+) and then 9. Qe2+ Qe6 10. 0-0 0-0 and then 11. Qf3 d6 12. Bg5 Qf5! 13. Be7?.
example, is respectable today for the first time since Paul Morphy’s time because the alternatives, 3. e5, 3. Nc3 and 3. Nd2, etc., have been analyzed past move 30. The irony here is that the true drawing
variations of today are the ones that are so tactical that they can be analyzed out to the end—and the end is a repetition of moves. A generation ago, no one would dare
call the Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Najdorf Sicilian drawish. After 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 the main line of 10. f5 Nc6 11. fxe6 fxe6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 and then 13. e5 dxe5 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Ne4 Qxa2 16. Rd1 yielded dozens of quick wins and a forest’s worth of published analysis. But after Black found a defense, 16. ...
Be7 17. Be2 0-0 18. 0-0 Ra7!, the tactical energy started to evaporate. A key position, believe it or not, arises after 19. Rf3 Kh8 20. Rg3 Rd7 21. Qh6 Rf7.
Another ancient weapon, the Rice Gam-
bit (1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. Bc4 d5 7. exd5 Bd6 8. 0-0?! Bxe5 9. Re1) was found—in joint analysis by Jose Capablanca, Amos Burn and Edward Lasker no less—to draw by repe- tition at move 22. It took decades of experience to take the
sting out of a modern gambit, the Bel- grade (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nd5 Nxe4). First, masters had to find that best play is 6. Qe2 f5 7. Ng5 d3!. Then they explored 8. cxd3 Nd4 9. Qh5+! g6 10. Qh4 c6! 11 dxe4 cxd5 12. exd5. Now on 12. ... Qa5+White has the remark-
able 13. Kd1! Qxd5 14. Bc4! Qxc4 15. Re1+ Be7 16. Rxe7+! Kxe7 17. Ne4+:
But Black can defend with 17. ... Ke6! 18. It looks like White has trapped the rook
at f8. But he overlooked 13. ... Qxf3 14. gxf3 a6!. Then on 15. Bxf8 axb5! 16. Be7 f6, his bishop is trapped and he ends up behind in material. So, White tried 15. Ba4 but was lost soon
after 15. ... b5 16. b4 Re8 17. Rfe1 Bb6 18. Bb3 Bb7 19. Kg2 d5. “Drawing variation” is an epithet we use
to dismiss an opening line in which neither side takes risks. But some variations with the most placid reputations have been revived simply because they are relatively under-analyzed. The Exchange Variation of the French Defense (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5), for
12 August 2012 | Chess Life White’s only way to keep his attack
going is 22. Qh5. But Black found 22. ... Rxd1+ 23. Bxd1 Qa5! 24. Kf1 Qd8! in a 1992 postal game. It ended in perpetual check after 25. Qxf7 Qxd1+ 26. Kf2 Qxc2+ 27. Ke3 Bc5+ 28. Nxc5 Qxc5+. No one has improved on White’s play since and the poison of the Poisoned Pawn seems detoxified. Computers helped bury this line. But you
can’t blame machines for what happened to the Muzio Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. 0-0!? gxf3). A century ago this was worked out to a draw by rep- etition at move 14.
Qf6+ Kd5 19. Nc3+ Kc5 and 20. b4+! Kxb4 21. Qd6+ Ka5! 22. Qa3+ Kb6 23. Qd6+ Ka5, Draw. Nowadays if anyone tries to win with the Belgrade it is Black, with improvements like 12. ... Bg7. A second kind of modern drawing vari-
ation occurs when the players repeat a position out of fear. One case arises in the Richter-Rauzer Sicilian, 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 when Black tries 6. ... Qb6. After the surprising 7. Be3!?, White
threatens 8. Nxc6 Qxc6 9. Bb5. Theory says 7. ... Qxb2! is best and so is 8. Ndb5!, with a new threat (9. Rb1). Several games ended after 8. ... Qb4 9.
Bd2! Nxe4?? 10. a3! and wins. Instead, Black has 8. ... Qb4 9. Bd2 Qc5, after
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76