Openings / Wijk aan Zee
A consequence of White’s eighth move;
Black was threatening to eliminate the light-squared bishop with ... Na5.
9. ... Na5 Earlier in the tournament GM Leinier
Dominguez had beaten GM Fabiano Caruana after 9. ... Be6 10. Be3 Qd7 11. Nd5, nursing a small advan tage through to a 108 (!) move victory. “I did some hard work on this line,” said Aronian, “and it was rewarded.”
10. Ba2 Be6 11. Bg5 c5 12. b4!? Nc6 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. exd5 Nd4 15. bxc5 Nxf3+ 16. Qxf3 dxc5
No better for White is 23. g3 Qg4!.
23. ... Bxe5 24. g3 Qg4 25. Qxg4 fxg4 26. c3 Bf6 27. Bb1 b4
... and Black won 15 moves later.
Know Your Classics: Giuoco Piano Not all Aronian’s games featured hyper-
subtle modern opening lines but of course the world number two came well prepared in popular club openings as well.
Giuoco Piano (C54)
GM Pentala Harikrishna (FIDE 2706, IND) GM Levon Aronian (FIDE 2812, ARM) Wijk aan Zee GMA (1), 01.11.2014
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Bd2
complications after either 13. Qa3 or 13. Qa4.
13. Qxf8 Rxf8 14. Nc3 A few weeks after this game, Andreas
Gikas tried 14. f3 against FM Ido Ben Artzi in Gibraltar and was so nervous after 14. ... c5!? 15. fxe4 dxe4 that he gave back the piece immedi ately with 16. dxc5? and lost.
14. ... c6 15. f3 Nd6 16. Kf2 Nf5 17. Rhe1 Kd6 In an endgame Aronian’s centralized
king is not a handicap at all and the game was drawn 13 moves later.
All that is well-forgotten is new: King's Indian Openings like the King’s Indian have
been so extensively analyzed that club players are scared to take them on. However top level games can show move order tweaks that can sidestep the need to be a walking opening encyclopedia.
17. Rfe1?! According to Aronian, White needed to
play 17. a4, preventing 17. ... Nd7 due to 18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. axb5 axb5 20. d6! when a8 is exposed.
17. ... Nd7! 18. Bd2 According to most computer programs,
White has around a half pawn advantage here, thanks to his bishop pair and passed d-pawn. In his preparation Aronian had realized that this assessment was com - pletely wrong.
18. ... Bd6! Now White must sit and wait while Black
plays ... f7-f5 and generates a kingside attack.
19. a4 f5 20. Bb3? Already close to the decisive mistake.
(see diagram top of next column) 20. ... e4! 21. dxe4 c4 22. Ba2 Qh4 23. e5
32 June 2014 | Chess Life
7. ... Nxe4! As played in the first recorded game in
this line—Gioachino Greco-NN, 1620! The main line 7. ... Bxd2+ does not force 8. Nbxd2 because 8. Qxd2!? Nxe4 9. Qe3 offers chances for the pawn for White, e.g. 9. ... Qe7 10. 0-0 0-0 11. Re1 Re8? 12. Qf4!! and White wins.
8. Bxb4 Nxb4 9. Bxf7+ Kxf7 10. Qb3+ d5 11. Ne5+
(see diagram top of next column)
11. ... Ke6! NN had been too conservative in 1620 and played 11. ... Kg8.
12. Qxb4 Qf8!? 12. ... c5 is sharper, but with the black
king in the center White doesn’t mind the
7. ... Ng4 One of the advantages of the 7. Be3 line
is that if Black plays by rote with 7. ... Nc6?! then 8. d5 Ne7 9. Nd2 leads to a very good version of the main line. (The white knight is better placed on d2 than
King’s Indian Defense, Classical Variation (E92) GM Loek Van Wely (FIDE 2672, NED) GM Richard Rapport (FIDE 2691, HUN) Wijk aan Zee GMA (6), 01.18.2014
1. d4 g6 2. Nf3 Bg7 3. e4 d6 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 0-0 6. Be2 e5 7. Be3!?
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