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ContentsEditorial ....................................................................................................................4Malcolm Pein on the latest developments in the game

60 Seconds with...Thomas Engqvist ...........................................................7The Swedish author and IM twice enjoyed playing David Bronstein

Battling with the Best .......................................................................................8Andrew Ledger reports from the European Club Cup in Greece

Mr & Mrs Monopolise the Manx Money .................................................12The Isle of Man attracted a stellar field, watched by John Saunders

Brilliancies in Batumi .......................................................................................20Ding Liren and Sarunas Sulskis both won in style at the Olympiad

The Welsh Ordeal ..............................................................................................24Carl Strugnell reports as much on the Kobuleti Olympiad as Batumi

The 300 Most Important Chess Positions ............................................30Thomas Engqvist presents three and you can win his new book

Christmas Stocking Fillers ............................................................................31Uncertain what you want for Christmas? Sean Marsh has some tips

Never Mind the Grandmasters... ................................................................34Carl features a game won and annotated by Jovanka Houska

Forthcoming Events.........................................................................................35

How Good is Your Chess?..............................................................................36Daniel King thought Poland were the hard luck story of the Olympiad

Opening Trends ..................................................................................................40Lines of the English remain popular, as shown by Aronian-Duda

Find the Winning Moves.................................................................................41Can you do as well as the players at the 4NCL International?

Still Going Strong..............................................................................................44Sarah and Alex Longson reflect on running the UK Chess Challenge

Overseas News ...................................................................................................50Mike Basman took on a fellow chess legend in Haarlem

Home News ..........................................................................................................52Matthew Turner and Simon Williams qualified for the British KO

Solutions ...............................................................................................................54

This Month’s New Releases ..........................................................................55Sean Marsh looks at new books on the Trompowsky and QGD

Saunders on Chess............................................................................................58John on what a chess player really shouldn’t say, but sometimes does

Photo credits: Joost Jansen (p.51), Batumi Olympiad (pp.21, 23), Niki Riga (pp.9-10), John Saunders (pp.1, 12-19).

ChessFounding Editor: B.H. Wood, OBE. M.Sc †Executive Editor: Malcolm PeinEditors: Richard Palliser, Matt ReadAssociate Editor: John SaundersSubscriptions Manager: Paul Harrington

Twitter: @CHESS_MagazineTwitter: @TelegraphChess - Malcolm PeinWebsite: www.chess.co.uk

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3

December 2018

The 5th Chess.com Isle of ManInternational Open, held at the Villa Marina,Douglas, over nine rounds from 20th to 28thOctober, once again attracted an amazinglystrong field to compete for its huge rewards– the first prize being £50,000 – andresulted in a feast of chess for players andspectators alike. Some commentators have billed this asthe strongest open of all time, and by somemetrics this is a perfectly valid claim, giventhe 75 GMs present, of whom no fewer than20 were rated above 2700. The only real rivalto this claim would be its immediatepredecessor in 2017, which gloried in thepresence of the world champion MagnusCarlsen and his soon to be challenger FabianoCaruana, whereas the 2018 tournament,because of the proximity of the London worldchampionship match, lacked these two andalso the other two current players withratings in excess of 2800. Ding Liren hadbeen slated to play, but unfortunately hisongoing mobility problem ruled this out. Another difference between the 2017 and2018 tournaments was the absence of arandom draw for the first-round pairings.Though FIDE’s rating overlords had allowedthis innovation to go ahead in 2017 –successfully, if one takes account of the showof hands vote in its favour by a substantialproportion of the competitors at the prize-giving – after the 2017 tournament FIDE hadhad a change of heart and brought in a rulingwhereby scores achieved in competitionswhere random pairings had been usedwouldn’t count towards norms. This ultra-cautious decision might have had adetrimental effect on the 2018 result. As well as the long list of establishedplayers, the tournament also had its fair shareof dangerous aspirants, and the prospect ofclashes between present and future stars isone of the factors which gives opentournaments of this quality their hugespectator appeal. Last year we saw some ofthe earliest encounters between the leadinglights and the young stars such asRameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin,born in 2005 and 2004 respectively.

This year the same two young stars wereback, showing off their shiny new GM titlesand, of course, stronger than ever, but therewere more where they came from (andelsewhere). To their ranks had been added D.Gukesh, born in 2006, already an IM and withat least one major GM scalp to his name;Raunak Sadhwani, born in 2005, and alreadyan IM; and, as well as the above youngIndians, Vincent Keymer of Germany, born in2004, with the IM title and a formidablecoach in the shape of Peter Leko. Keymer’sreputation went before him as he had wonthe Grenke Open in March/April of this yearahead of 49 GMs, while scoring an eye-watering 8/9 and, needless to say, a GMnorm (page 50 of the June CHESS featuresone of his wins from that event). To the play: shorn of its first-roundrandom pairing bizzaz (let’s hear a loud ‘boo’for those FIDE killjoys), round one consistedof 82 mismatches between players separatedby 300 rating points. Yet all was not lost... bythe weaker players. Usually when you runyour eye down the results of an orthodox

Swiss-paired first round, the results go 0-1,1-0, 0-1, 1-0, etc, monotonously down thepage with very few exceptions, as Goliathbashes David with his heavy club and driveshim into the ground like a tent peg. If you do this with the 2018 pairings, youwill find just one result which went in favourof the weaker party – we’ll return to that onepresently – but there were more draws thanmight usually have been expected. The point,I suppose, is that 2600-2700 players may bestratospherically strong, but players in the2300-2400 range are no mugs either, andquite a lot of them dug in for draws againstthe superstars, several of whom were lessfamiliar than their opponents when it came tothe rough and tumble of life in an opentournament. Deprived of a first round win were suchnames as Anish Giri, Vladimir Kramnik, WesleySo and Hikaru Nakamura – the last perhapsbeing the most surprising since he is probablythe most adept open tournament performeramongst the elite players, with his string ofsuccesses in Gibraltar. Amongst the English

A stellar field contested the Isle of Man International, but Radek Wojtaszek andhis wife Alina Kashlinskaya were the standout successes, reports John Saunders

Mr & MrsMonopolise the Manx Money

12

Can you spot any superstars? The impressive setting of the Villa Marina in Douglas onceagain played hosted to the Chess.com Isle of Man International, the world’s strongest open.

December 2018

Seeded ninth, England could be delightedto finish fifth at the Batumi Olympiad. A crushing 3½-½ defeat of Kazakhstan in the final round enabled England to catch up Poland on 17/22. Only the three sideswho tied for first (China, the USA and Russiain order of tie-break and medals) scored a match point more, with Armenia, France,India and Ukraine four of the sides whofinished on 16. England’s performance was all the moreremarkable considering that the whole teamand captain John Nunn were suffering fromheavy colds. Nunn’s decision to largely trustthe top four, only bringing in Nick Pert whenone of the others needed a day off, mostcertainly paid off, as John Saunders pointedout last month. The star performer was David Howell whoscored an impressive 7½/10 on board 3 for a2760 performance. David ground wellagainst lower-rated opposition, comfortablyheld Arkady Naiditsch as Black when Englandwent down to a determined Azerbaijan inround 4 (only Russia also defeated England,while France were the only other opponentsto escape with a draw). We enjoyed David’sfinal round victory in last month’s Editorial andyou’ll have to see if you can find hisconcluding blow against Italy in this month’sFind the Winning Moves. On board two Luke McShane began a littleslowly, but chipped in with importantvictories over Argentina, as we also saw lastmonth, and Israel. Apart from whenoutplayed by the in-form ShakhriyarMamedyarov, Mickey Adams was typicallysolid and professional as he amassed ‘+2’ ontop board, whilst on board 4 Gawain Jonessaved a couple of tough endgames and alsoonly lost to Azeri opposition, in the shape ofRauf Mamedov, while finishing on 6½/10. Of the three medalists, perhaps the mostrelieved to be one was Russia, for whom onlyIan Nepomniachtchi avoided losing ratingpoints as he racked up 7½/10 on board two.Both the U.S. and China had an out-of-formplayer in the shape of Hikaru Nakamura andWei Yi respectively, but the Americans alsohad Fabiano Caruana putting up anundefeated 7/10 for a 2859 performance ontop board. Overall, though, they probablydidn’t win quite enough individual games. Incontrast, Bu Xiangzhi racked up ‘+5’ on boardfour for China, whilst at the top end of theteam Ding Liren chipped in with 5½/8,winning one of the games of the Olympiad inthe process.

Ding Liren-J.K.DudaChina vs Poland

Queen’s Gambit Accepted

1 d4 Ìf6 2 c4 e6 3 Ìf3 d5 4 Ìc3 dxc45 e4 b5 6 e5 Ìd5 7 Ìxb5 Ìb6 8 Íe2Ìc6 9 0-0 Íe7 10 Ëd2!? A recent idea, deploying the queen to thekingside ahead of developing the queenside.10...0-0 11 Ëf4 Îb8 A month earlier Black had also failed toequalise with 11...Ìb4 12 Ëg4 Îe8 13 Îd1Íb7 14 h4 Ëd7 15 Ìc3 Îad8 in Dreev-Grachev, Moscow (blitz) 2018.12 Ìc3 f5 13 Ëg3 Êh8 14 Îd1 Ìb4 Duda has sensibly aimed to restrict Whiteon the kingside and now plans to take over onthe queenside. Ding realises that he mustcounter on that flank.15 b3! cxb3 16 axb3 a6 17 Íc4 Ìc2 18 Îa2Ìb4 19 Îa1 Ìc2 20 Îa2 Ìb4 21 Îe2!

Centralising and intending to roll Blackover in the centre in the event of 21...Ìxc4?!22 bxc4.21...a5! Black in turn prepares to meet 22 Íg5with 22...Ìxc4 23 Ëh4 Îe8 24 bxc4 Ía6.It appears that he has control of the positionthanks to his grip on d5, but Ding’s powerfulnext changes all that.22 d5! A bold and unexpected idea. Thanks to aneven more remarkable follow-up Ding soonobtains a monstrous initiative. As such, Dudashould likely now have opted for 22...Ì4xd523 Ìxd5 Ìxd5 24 Ìd4 Îb6, holdingeverything together and keeping mattersrather unclear.22...exd5?! 23 e6 Íd6 24 Ëh3!? White relies on his attacking chances andmighty passed pawn, but he did also have the

simple 24 Íf4 with a plus, and if 24...dxc4?25 e7.24...Ëf6 25 Ìb5!

The aforementioned stunning idea. Dingmight be extraordinarily hard to beat, but healso possesses Tal-like vision and creativityat times.25...dxc4 25...Ìxc4 26 Ìg5 Ëg6 27 bxc4 is alsofar from clear, although here, like in the game,the initiative most certainly belongs to White.26 Ìxd6 cxd6? Now the e-pawn gets out of control. Assuch, the intermezzo 26...Íxe6! wasindicated, and if 27 Ìxc4 Ìxc4 28 bxc4Ìc6 when Black might well have been able tobeat off the attack.27 e7 Îe8 28 Ìg5 Ëg6 This runs into a powerful blow, but Blackcouldn’t allow 28...h6? 29 Ëh5.29 Îxd6! f4! 30 Ëh4!

Ding has worked out that his attack is toostrong, so spurns the pretty repetition whichwas on offer with 30 Îxg6 Íxh3 31 Ìf7+Êg8 32 Ìh6+.30...Ëb1 31 Îe1

England had plenty to cheer, but the Chinese were even happier at the Olympiad

Brilliancies in Batumi

20

December 2018

With 36 hours of sleep deprivation,including a nine-hour stopover in Minsk, Iwasn’t too happy on arrival in Georgia to learnthe hotel we were staying in wasn’t the one Ihad scribbled down. Maybe the volunteerteam had got it wrong, as I tried to weigh upwhich option was worse. Back up two months prior to the event. I’dspent most of August updating my openingsand during September had played 14 classicalgames as a warm-up for the Olympiad. Theplan was to detach from result-expectancy,to enter a ‘flow’ state of mind, whereeverything is light and easy, and, theoreticallyat least, you play at your best. Only the planhad backfired. In the Belgrade League after a 3/3 start, Ifound myself up against the distinguishedRichard Rapport from Hungary. Of course, Ifelt lucky just to have the chance to exchangeblows with number 25 on the world rankinglist. Moreover, what easier than to detachoneself from the result when everyone has youdown as lost before the game...except whenthe position on the board is deadly drawish andit’s a question of just playing the other moveyou were analysing for a handshake agreement.

C.Strugnell-R.RapportBelgrade League 2018

After the game Rapport told me thisshould position be dead draw: 30 Íb5! f4 31 Íxc6 dxc6 32 c4 g5 33 c5 Íe2 34 f3Êg6 35 Êg1 Íc4 36 Êf2 Êf5 and Blackshouldn’t be able to make progress.30 f4 Êe8 31 c3 Íd1 32 g3 Ìd8 Some 55 moves and three microimprecisions later, I finally threw in the towel.

It’s hard to get what would have been afamous half-point out of your head. It haunted

me way into the night and the liquid remedy Iresorted to, to shake it off, only made things worse. Back in Georgia, we’re now climbing up arocky road which seems to lead nowhere. Ineed sleep desperately, but morning is risingand I know that it will just jet lag me entirely.Again, I’m weighing options and my decision-making ability is in counter-intuitive mode.The biggest part of an hour away from theairport the minibus rocked up at a five star,palace-looking resort. The Welsh squad met up that evening.Everybody had had time to come to theirsenses. As pretty as the surroundings were,we knew it spelt disaster. We were stranded30km from the venue, in a small town namedKobuleti, where stray dogs shied away in fearof a beating when you come to pet them. Wethen discovered the buses would be leaving awhole hour and a half before the round toensure we had time for security checks. Thatalso meant we had to hang around for agesbefore kick off if all went well. Preparing andeating got mushed into a simul-like activity.

C.Strugnell-D.Anton GuijarroWales vs Spain

Ruy Lopez

1 e4 e5 2 Ìf3 Ìc6 3 Íb5 a6 4 Ía4 Ìf65 0-0 Íe7 6 Îe1 b5 7 Íb3 d6 8 c3 0-09 d4 Íg4 10 Íe3 exd4 11 cxd4 d5 12 e5

Ìe4 13 h3 Íh5 14 Ìbd2 Ìxd2 15 Ëxd2Íxf3 16 Ëc3

I’d opened the right file in my database,but then checked in a paranoid state everysingle other line my 2600+ opponent couldplay, and finally forgot about his main stuff. Iknew how to get up to here, I knew it wasgood, more or less, but not really why...16...Îb8!? Trying to get a pawn out of it gives Black abad piece arrangement. Instead, 16...Ìxe517 dxe5 Íe4 18 Îad1 was a little better forWhite in Smirin-L’Ami, Wijk aan Zee 2017,while 16...Íxg2 17 Êxg2 Ìb8 18 Îac1 c619 Êh2 f5 20 Îg1 Îa7 21 Îg2 Ëd7 22 Îcg1gave White the initiative in Ponomariov-Eljanov, Kiev 2013.17 gxf3

Carl Strugnell reports not so much from Batumi, as from the Kobuleti Olympiad

The Welsh Ordeal

24

The Welsh team in action at the Batumi Olympiad. Nearest the camera is top board CarlStrugnell, then leading scorer, Jonathan Blackburn, followed by Alex Bullen and Allan Pleasants.

Position 150Réti, 1921

White to move

Why is this pawn ending important? Youwill never reach this position in a game, butit’s the ideas it represents that are important.The position is a very instructive and pureexample showing how to play with multipleplans or double threats with every move.White has two goals. He wants either tosupport his pawn or catch the enemy pawn.On the surface it looks impossible, but thegeometry of chess can sometimes fool you.1 Êg7! By placing the king on this square White isfollowing two paths at the same time andaccordingly has two plans in mind.1...h4 1...Êb6 2 Êf6 Êxc6 3 Êg5 and the blackpawn is lost.2 Êf6 Êb6 2...h3 doesn’t win on account of 3 Êe6 or3 Êe7, escorting the passed pawn to c8.3 Êe5!! The double threat of 4 Êd6, supportingthe c6-pawn, and 4 Êf4, trapping the enemypawn, secures half a point.

Position 160Réti, 1928

White to move

It’s unbelievably magical that this positionis a draw, despite the fact that White is twopawns down, although thanks to Position158 it’s easier to understand that the miracleof Dunkirk is indeed achievable.1 Êg6 Êb6 1...h5 2 Êxg7 h4 3 Êxf6 leads to exactlythe same position as the previous example byRéti. 1...f5 2 Êxg7 f4 3 Êf6 f3 (3...Êb6 4Êe5) 4 Êe6 or 4 Êe7 is a draw as well.2 Êxg7 h5 2...f5 3 Êf6 f4 4 Êe5 f3 5 Êd6is likewise a draw.3 Êxf6 h4 4 Êe5 and again we have thesame position as in Réti’s magnum opus. Don’t forget illusions and miracles in chess!The great chess teacher GM Ludek Pachmanonce said that there are no miracles in chess andto a certain extent he’s right, but neverthelesswe have to be prepared for the extraordinarywhen it occurs, whether we solve studies orplay a game. It’s sometimes possible to runthrough a wall and we have to understand whenthat is indeed a reality – since magic sometimesinterweaves with real life.

Position 167Berger – Bauer

Correspondence 1889-1891

White to move

Sometimes it’s possible to win eventhough the pawn majority is crippled. Thisinstructive position arose in a correspondencegame a long time ago. If White wants to win he must participatein a hair-raising pawn race since that’s theonly way to win. Exact calculation is requiredand in over the board play it wouldn’t be soeasy to find the ingenious win achieved byBerger. He played: 1 c4!! bxc3 2 Êe3 Êg5 So what is going on? Here comes the nextshocker!3 a4!! 3 Êd3 is a draw after 3...Êxg4 4 a4 h5 5b4 h4 5 b5! and both pawns promote. However, after shocker number two it’s adifferent story because Black is soon forcedto capture the b-pawn and that makes adifference. White gains a crucial tempo in thepawn race.

December 2018

IM Thomas Engqvist presents three important endgame positions courtesy of hisnew book for Batsford, which you can even win a copy of this month!

THE300 MOST

IMPORTANT

CHESS POSITIONS

30

www.chess.co.uk31

3...Êxg4 4 b4 axb4

5 Êd3!! Another surprise move. How many arethere in this position? 5 a5 surprisingly leadsto a draw after 5...b3 6 Êd3 b2 7 Êc2 Êf3!.This is the point, Black concentrates onpromoting his c-pawn. 8 a6 Êe2 9 a7 b1Ë+10 Êxb1 Ëd2 11 a8Ë c2+ 12 Êa2 c1Ë 13Ëg2+!. The queen ending is an easy draw.5...h5 6 a5 h4 7 a6 h3 8 a7 h2 9 a8 Ë andWhite wins handsomely by following up withthe deadly Ëh1. The advantage with promoting a rookpawn is that it automatically controls theopponent’s corner on the long diagonal, sonever underestimate the cheapest materialon the board, since it can suddenly turn out tobe the most valuable piece on the board!

A Challenge to Readers!

Can you find the move that worldchampion Magnus Carlsen played in thefollowing position and can you also explainthe reasoning behind it? The three best solutions submitted to uswill win a copy of 300 Most Important ChessPositions, as well as a copy of the newBatsford edition of a classic work, Paul Keres’sPractical Chess Endings. To enter [email protected] or by post to Chess &Bridge Ltd., 44 Baker Street, London, W1U7RT, postmarked no later than January 31st.

Carlsen – IvanchukForos 2008

White to move

CHRISTMAS

STOCKINGFILLERS

It’s that time of the year again. A time forquiet reflection on the year soon to end andon the new one about to begin. It is normalfor one’s attention to turn to the really bigquestions in life, such as ‘which chess books ismy library lacking?’. Fortunately, we are here to help byproviding a few observations on severalbooks from 2018 not previously covered inour regular column. Some are well-known titles– including the winner of the 2018 ECF Bookof the Year contest – and others are lesser-known books that deserve more attention. There were plenty of impressive booksover the course of 2018 and four of themended up on the shortlist for the 2018 EnglishChess Federation Book of the Year Award. Therunners-up have already received detailedreviews here in CHESS, namely: Alekhine’sOdessa Secrets: Chess, War and Revolution bySergei Tkachenko (Elk and Ruby PublishingHouse); Carlsen vs Karjakin World ChessChampionship 2016 by Lev Alburt and JonCrumiller (Chess Information and ResearchCentre); Small Steps to Giant Improvement bySam Shankland, (Quality Chess). The judging panel discussed the merits ofthe winner at length and believe me, it had tobe good to beat the other three outstandingcandidates on the short list. John Pigottreviewed the winning book in the June issue,but any ECF award-winner always deserves areminder of its content...

Under the SurfaceJan Markos, 288 pages, Quality ChessRRP £19.99 SUBSCRIBERS £17.99

Vlastimil Babula’s foreword to this work -now available in paperback - sets the scene.

It is interesting and far from the standard,often lazy offering from a grandmaster who hasclearly not read the book he is introducing. “Theauthor demonstrates his knowledge with clearchess examples, and to facilitate the readers’understanding, he uses parallels from everydaylife, which I consider to be very accurate.” There are seven parts to this veryimpressive book, covering a variety of subjectsincluding openings, decision-making and theuse of computers. Quite simply, overall thereis a vast array of high-quality information. Plenty of intrigue can be found in thechapter titles, such as ‘Policemen of theChess Board’, ‘Magnetic Skin’, ‘Walkingwithout Moving’, ‘Progress without Change’,and ‘On the Breaking Ice’. ‘Anatoly Karpov’sBilliard Balls’ should also grab the attention. Itis based on a comment by the twelfth worldchampion, in which he said: “Bishops arerebounding from the edges of the board,similarly to billiard balls rebounding from theedges of the table.” The matter is not so simple and has notpreviously been covered in depth in print.“Often it is surprisingly difficult to transfer abishop from one flank to the other. It istherefore better decided beforehand wherethe bishop should be developed. It is quitepossible that it will stay there for the rest ofthe game.”

Unsure what you want for Christmas? Let Sean Marsh be your guide...

December 2018

GREECE – Fine performances at the Olympiadand in the Isle of Man saw Radoslaw Wojtaszekgain 22 points and climb to world no.16 whenthe latest rating list was unveiled by the FIDEOffice on November 1st. Meanwhile it’s allvery tight at the top, Magnus Carlsen findinghimself down to 2835, which left him justthree points ahead of Fabiano Caruana goinginto their match. Back in third on 2817 isShakhriyar Mamedyarov, which is just onepoint ahead of that immovable object who isreally on a roll, Ding Liren. Michael Adams at 2706 is now the worldno.38, 10 places and 9 points ahead of DavidHowell. Matthew Sadler isn’t far behind at2693, with all of Gawain Jones (2683), LukeMcShane (2667), and Nigel Short (2646)making recent gains. After her fine OlympiadJovanka Houska is up to 2419, putting her 50thon the women’s rating list. Harriet Hunt is 2440,while at the top of the list we find Oxfordstudent Hou Yifan at 2658, putting the Chinesestar some 90 points ahead of Ju Wenjun.

HOLLAND – Peter Svidler recovered from ahorrific experience at the European Club Cupby overcoming Sam Shankland in the Dutchtown of Hoogeveen (21-27 October). InPorto Carras the eight-time RussianChampion had finished strongly with a winand the better of a draw with the worldchampion no less, but had earlier lost as manyas four games in a row for the first time in hiscareer. In Hoogeveen the first blow wasstruck by the U.S. Champion, but Svidler hitback immediately, won again in Game 4 andthen held tight to triumph 3½-2½.

P.Svidler-S.Shankland4th matchgame, Hoogeveen 2018

Queen’s Gambit Accepted

1 Ìf3 d5 2 e3 A quiet start, but play soon transposesinto a line of the QGA.2...Ìf6 3 c4 e6 4 Ìc3 dxc4 5 Íxc4 a6 6 0-0 b5 7 Íb3 Íb7 8 d4 Ìbd7 9 Ëe2c5 10 Îd1 Ëb8 11 e4 cxd4 12 Ìxd4Íd6 13 g3 0-0 14 f3 Îc8 New in practice and far from forced. Onedecent alternative would be 14...Íc5 15 Íe3Ìe5 followed by ...Ëa7, ...Îac8 and ...Îfd8.15 Íe3 Ìf8 16 Îac1 White’s major pieces are the bettercentralised. We now discover why Shanklandleft his queen on b8, but his next asks toomuch of the black set-up.16...h5?! 17 Ëd2 Îd8 This was necessary to deal with the threatof 18 Ìxe6, but does rather suggest that therook shouldn’t have gone to c8 in the first place.

18 Ìce2 h4 19 Íg5!

Svidler is quite aware that two can tangoon the kingside.19...hxg3? Shankland has already been ratheroptimistic in this game, but this capture isdefinitely too much. 19...Íe7 was requiredwhen Black is still fully on the board after 20 Ëe3 hxg3 21 hxg3 Ëe5!?, angling to stirup trouble, as with 22 Íf4 Ëh5 23 Êg2 g5.20 Íxf6! gxf6 Unfortunately necessary, as 20...gxh2+?21 Êh1 gxf6 22 Ëh6 gives White far toostrong an attack, as shown by 22...Íg3 23 Îg1!hxg1Ë+ 24 Îxg1 and Black collapses down theg-file, as if 24...Ìg6 25 Ìxe6! fxe6 26 Íxe6#.21 Ëh6 Íe5 22 Êh1 g2+ Even this will fail to prevent White fromgenerating a decisive attack down the g-file.23 Êxg2 Íxd4 24 Ìxd4 Ëe5 25 Êh1 Good enough, but there was a pretty winavailable in 25 Ìf5! exf5 26 Êh1, cuttingout the defence Shankland tries, and cleaningBlack up with 26...Îxd1+ (or 26...Ìh7 27 Íxf7+!Êxf7 28 Ëxh7+ Êe6 29 exf5+ Ëxf5 30 Îe1+) 27 Îxd1 Ìh7 28 Íxf7+! Êxf729 Ëxh7+ Êf8 30 Îg1 Ëe6 31 Îg7.25...Íxe4 Going down in flames rather than reach acompletely lost endgame after 25...Îxd4 26 Îxd4 Ëxd4 27 Îg1+ Ëxg1+ 28 Êxg1.26 Îg1+

26...Íg6 Likewise, if 26...Ìg6 27 Îxg6+! Íxg6 28Ìxe6! fxe6 29 Ëxg6+ when White’s piecesare superbly coordinated and the finish mightbe 29...Êf8 30 Ëh6+ Êe8 31 Ëh8+ Êe732 Ëg7+ Êd6 33 Ëc7#.27 Ìxe6! Far stronger than the mundane 27 Ìc6Ëc7 28 Ìxd8 Ëxd8 29 h4.27...fxe6 Equally deadly would be 27...Ìxe6 28Îce1 Ëf5 29 Íxe6 fxe6 30 Îxg6+.28 Îxg6+! Ìxg6 29 Ëxg6+ Êf8 30Ëh6+ Êe7 31 Ëh7+ 1-0 31...Êe8 32 Îg1 spells the end.

The annual Hoogeveen Chess Festival alsofeatured a second match between VladimirFedoseev and Jorden van Foreest, as well as astrong Open with a twist: the top four playersafter seven rounds didn’t play in the final tworounds, but rather faced off in semi-finalmatches. Egyptian Grandmaster BassemAmin defeated Dmitry Kryakvin in the final,but Russian pride was satisfied as 23-year-old Fedoseev overcame 19-year-old vanForeest, albeit only after a blitz play-off. Late October was a busy time for chess inthe Netherlands, with the HaarlemseMeesters also taking place (20-28 October).We were delighted to see IM Mike Basmanplaying in the top section. The 72 year oldremained faithful to his favourite openings inHaarlem, winning one game with the Groband another with the Borg, as he finished on‘-3’ in this 10-player all-play-all. Dutch FMBart Gijswijt triumphed overall, but he wasn’tinvolved in the most spectacular game, whichtook place in the fifth round when the Englishchess legend faced a Dutch chess legend, andone also known for his original play.

M.Bosboom-M.BasmanHaarlem 2018

English Opening

1 c4 g5 2 h4!? The 55-year-old IM and renowned blitzexponent is never a man to shirk a challenge.2...g4 3 g3 Íg7 4 Íg2 c5 5 e3 d6 6 Ìe2Ìc6 7 d4 Unusually classical play from Bosboom asBlack’s pawn on g4 looks a little out of place.7...Íd7 8 Ìbc3 Ìf6 9 0-0 0-0 10 Ìd5 Beginning to up the ante. There wasnothing wrong either with the immediate 10 b3.10...Ìh5 11 Îe1 Îc8 12 b3 e6?! This doesn’t fit in well with Black’s 10thmove. 12...e5 followed by ...f5 would haveoffered better chances for counterplay.

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13 Ìef4!?

Bosboom can’t resist the most artisticmove. 13 Ìdf4 would have avoided thepossibility in the next note and transposed tothe game after 13...Ìxf4 14 Ìxf4.13...Ìxf4 The point behind his 12th move. The alter-native was 13...Ìxg3 14 fxg3 exd5 15 Íxd5,but even here Black appears to be strugglingwith, for instance, 15...cxd4 16 Ìh5! Íh817 exd4 Ìxd4 18 Íh6 Ëb6 19 Êh2 leavinghis king the more exposed of the two.14 Ìxf4 cxd4 15 exd4!? Here too 15 Ìh5! would have been prettyeffective.15...Íxd4 White also finds himself with the muchbetter-placed minor pieces in the event of15...Ìxd4 16 Ìh5 e5 17 Íb2.16 Íxc6! Íxa1 17 Íxb7 Îb8

18 Ìh5 Bosboom can’t resist the chance to hurl apiece even closer to the black king. He alsohad 18 Íg2!?, and if 18...Íc3 (or 18...Íg719 Ìh5) 19 Ëxg4+ Êh8 20 Îd1 withpromising play for the exchange.18...Ëa5 The board has caught fire. White’s mainidea was 18...Îxb7 19 Ëxg4+ Êh8 20 Íg5f5 (or 20...f6 21 Íh6) 21 Ëf3 with a doubleattack, after which White once again haspromising compensation. Basman’s choice,activating the queen, is sensible, as wouldhave been 18...f5!? 19 Íg5 Ëe8, althougheven here White’s bishops continue to radiatepower and leave him with decentcompensation after 20 Ëxa1 Ëxh5 21 Íg2.19 Íg5 Bosboom had presumably prepared this

before his last move. It’s a dangerous sortie,but possibly 19 c5!? would have beenstronger, as well as neat. Following 19...Ëxc5(there’s also the critical 19...Îxb7 20 Íh6Ëc3 21 Îe3 Ëd4 22 Îd3 Ëe5 when Whitecan win the queen with 23 Ëxg4+ Êh8 24Íg7+ Ëxg7 25 Ìxg7 Íxg7 26 Îxd6,which leaves him with a powerful queensidemajority to boot; White should be doing wellhere, although in practice, with Black havingthree pieces for the queen, anything mighthave happened) 20 Ëxg4+ Êh8 21 Íe3 Ëf5 22 Ëxf5 exf5 23 Îxa1 Îxb724 Íd4+ White will regain the exchange,although the resulting opposite-colouredbishops grant Black some chances to hold.19...Íc3 Even the highly creative Basman hadclearly missed the rejoinder this runs into. Assuch, 19...Íh8 might have been critical, andif 20 b4! (20 Íg2 f6 21 Íf4 Ëxh5shouldn’t give White enough for a piece after22 Íxd6 Ëf7 23 Íxb8 Îxb8 24 Ëxg4+Íg7) 20...Ëa4! 21 Ëxd6 Îxb7 22 Íf6.This must have look pretty scary over theboard, but after 22...Ëxb4! 23 Ëe5 Íxf624 Ìxf6+ Êh8 White has nothing betterthan a slightly unusual repetition with 25Ëe4 Êg7 26 Ëxg4+ Êh8 27 Ëe4 Êg7 28Ìh5+ Êh8 29 Ìf6 Êg7.20 b4!

20...Ëxb4? Now it’s all over as Black’s kingside is tornto smithereens. 20...Ëa4 21 Ëc1 Ëxb4

22 Ìf6+ Êg7 23 Îe4! would also have leftWhite with a powerful attack, but after20...Ía4! anything might have happened.Indeed, this great scrap might well haveended in a fitting shared point following 21 Ëxd6 Ëxb4 (21...Îfd8 22 Ëxb8 Îxb823 bxa5 Îxb7 24 Îc1 isn’t at all clear, butshouldn’t leave White worse) 22 Ìf6+ Êg723 Ìh5+ (23 Ëf4!? is a try for more, butBlack can maintain the balance with23...Ëb2! 24 Íh6+ Êh8 25 Íxf8 Íxe126 Íg7+ Êxg7 27 Ìh5+ Êf8 28 Ëxb8+Êe7, and if 29 Ëxa7 Íxf2+ 30 Ëxf2Ëxb7) 23...Êg8 24 Ìf6+.21 Ìf6+ Êh8 Now Black collapses because of h7, but if21...Êg7 22 Ëxg4 or 21...Íxf6 22 Íxf6Ëxc4 23 Ëd2 and it’s going to be mate onthe dark squares.22 Ëd3 Íxf6 23 Íxf6+ Êg8 24 Ëe3 1-0

HUNGARY – Judit and Sofia Polgar onceagain staged a ‘Global Chess Festival’, withthe main emphasis on October 13th thesisters’ hometown of Budapest. The daybefore Judit gave an online simul againstplayers from 20 different countries, whichwas watched by an audience of 100,000 onTwitch, and on the big day itself both Juditand Sofia gave simuls at the HungarianNational Museum. The audience also got toenjoy a chess-themed recital from JasonKouchak, as well as singer-songwriter Jugaperforming her new song ‘Isolated Pawn’. Ofthe various events held in parallel around theworld, perhaps the most striking was thedecision by the tiny Dutch island ofSchiermonnikoog to change its name to the‘Island of Chess’ for the day. The First Saturday tournaments, organisedby Laszlo Nagy in Budapest each month, saw12-year-old Uzbek wunderkind JavokhirSindarov triumph with 7/9 at the Octoberedition. That was impressive enough in itself,but it means that RameshbabuPraggnanandhaa isn’t the second youngestgrandmaster of all time after Sergey Karjakin.Instead it’s Sindarov, who only made hissecond norm at the World JuniorChampionship in September ahead of his third

It was an eagerly awaited clash when Manuel Bosboom (left) took on fellow chess legendMike Basman in Haarlem. The game began with the Borg and most certainly didn’t disappoint.

Decemeber 2018

in Budapest, thereby fulfilling the GM titlerequirements at the age of 12 years, 10months and 8 days.

RUSSIA – The Women’s World Championshipwas underway in Khanty-Mansiysk as wewent to press. In our Christmas issue we’ll havethe full results of this 64-player knockout, inwhich Ju Wenjun was bidding to retain herworld title. The biggest upsets in the openinground were Elizabeth Paehtz’s defeat to theyoung Iranian WIM Mobina Alinasab and OlgaGirya being eliminated by Zhai Mo.

SPAIN – Veselin Topalov made a welcomeappearance at the Salamanca Masters (24-27October), one of a number of events whichcelebrated the University of Salamanca’s800th anniversary. In this rapid event Topalovproved largely too strong, conceding only adraw to the young Spanish GM Miguel Santos,who also drew with Anatoly Karpov. Santosfinished second on 5/7, half a point ahead ofKarpov and Julio Granda Zuniga, if also a pointand a half behind Topalov.

USA – Almost every month it feels like theeyes of the chess world are at least part

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The Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog stageda major celebration of chess on 13 October.

focussed on Saint Louis. The U.S. capital ofchess recently hosted the St. Louis Fall ChessClassic (10-18 October). The first of two all-play-alls, Group A, saw Alexey Dreev prove toostrong, the 49-year-old Russian racking up anundefeated 6½/9 to outclass the field. LazaroBruzon Batista was second on 5½, with thelikes of Yury Kuzubov, Ray Robson and JonLudvig Hammer further back. MeanwhileArmenian GM Hovannes Gabuzyan swept allbefore him in Group B, amassing a mighty 7/9

to triumph by some two points. The staff at the Chess Club and ScholasticCenter of Saint Louis had little time to rest foron October 23rd the venue hosted the start ofthe 14th edition of Susan Polgar’s SPICE Cup.This annual event is a strong Swiss for thosecurrently studying in higher education inAmerica, and saw Jorge Cori and Illya Nyzhnyktriumph with 6½/9 before the 23-year-oldPeruvian won an Armageddon game againstthe 22-year-old Ukrainian to take the title.

Home NewsBURY ST EDMUNDS – Alan Merry was in theIsle of Man as top seeds Adam Hunt andRichard Pert shared the top honours at theBury St Edmunds Congress (20-21 October).Open: 1-2 Richard Pert (Brentwood), AdamHunt (Woodbridge) 4/5, 3-7 Neil Bradbury(Welwyn Garden City), Ashley Stewart(Linton), Shaun Munson (Ipswich), Mark Le-Vine (Bury St Edmunds), Ryszard Maciol(Cambridge) 3½.Major: 1 Peter Finn (High Wycombe) 4½, 2-3 Chris White (Richmond), Jan Balogh (BurySt Edmunds) 4.Intermediate: 1-2 Andrew Donnelly (BurySt Edmunds), Jerzy Cholewinski (Ipswich)4½, 3-4 Cameron Little (Sudbury), AngusIrving (Ipswich) 4.Minor: 1-2 Nina Pert (Brentwood), ChrisShepherd-Rose (Bury St Edmunds) 4½, 3-4Mark Nettleton (Lowestoft), Peter Housden(Ipswich) 4.

CAMBRIDGE – Jonathan Pein caused anupset as he defeated top seed Alan Merry totriumph at the Cambridgeshire Rapidplay onSeptember 23rd, a tournament whichattracted plenty of players, not least juniors.Open: 1 Jonathan Pein (Wood Green) 5/5,2-3 Alan Merry (Bury St Edmunds), JohannesArens (Germany) 4.Major: 1-2 Gavith Dharmasena(Cambridge), Joseph Battisti (Italy) 4½, 3-5Kian Dharmasena, Julia Volovich (bothCambridge), Peter Tibbert (Northampton) 4.

Challengers: 1 Julian Tang (Leicester) 5, 2-5Mohammed Sheikh (Kettering), SyemaSheikh (Leicester), Yoav Bankirer (Cam-bridge), Christopher Willoughby (Essex) 4.Minor: 1 Roman Bartels (Cambridge) 5, 2-4Anusha Subramanian (Maidenhead), JoshuaTang (Leicester), Mae Catabay (Colchester) 4.

J.Pein-A.MerryCambridge (rapid) 2018

Having run into trouble in the earlymiddlegame, White has recovered well,sacrificing a pawn for activity. He nowcontinued to take the fight to his higher-rated opponent:30 Ìh5! Ìxh3+ Risky. There was also 30...Îf5! when 31

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Ìxf5 Ìd3+ 32 Êf1 Ìxe1 33 Ìxh6+ Êh7!34 Ìxf7 Ìxc2 would have remained quiteunbalanced, as well as roughly level.31 gxh3 Îf3? Now Black loses a piece for insufficientcompensation. A better try was 31...Îf5 32 Ìg3 Îg5 33 Êg2 Íd6 34 Ìde2 h5when Black has only two pawns for the piece,but unravelling will not be so easy for White.32 Êg2 Îxh3 33 Ìxg7! Îh4 Of course, if 33...Êxg7? 34 Ìe6+ Êg835 Ìxc5, while White was ready to meet33...Íb4 with 34 Îe8+! Êh7 35 Îd8 Íg436 Ìgf5.34 Ìgf5 Îg4+ 35 Êf3 Îg5 36 Ìe7+Êf8 37 Ìexc6 There goes a pawn and Pein went on toconvert his extra piece:37...Íg4+ 38 Êe3 h5 39 Îf1 Íd6 40 Ìd8 Îe5+ 41 Êd2 f5? 42 Ì4e6+Êe7 43 Ìc6+ Êxe6 44 Íxe5 Íxe5 45 Îe1Êf6 46 Ìxe5 Êg5 47 Ìxg4 fxg4 1-0

CREWE – IM Dietmar Kolbus popped overfrom the Isle of Man, but had to settle for ashare of first at the Crewe Congress (12-14October).Open: 1-3 Dietmar Kolbus (Isle of Man),Stuart Clarke (Holmes Chapel), Jacob Boswell(Leek) 4/5.Major: 1 Karl Lockett (Crewe) 5, 2-9 DavidPatrick (Halifax), Steven Potter (St Helens),Sam Davies (Southport), Reg Clucas(Altrincham), John Ryan, David Boulden (bothDenton), Micheal Connor (Great Lever),Neville Layhe (Crewe) 3½.Intermediate: 1 Jozef Nemcek (Chester)4½, 2-3 Gary White (Priorslee), SteveEdwards (Sutton Coldfield) 4.Minor: 1 Harry Gardiner (Crewe) 5, 2 LewisChatten (Wallasey) 4½, 3 Martin Cockerill(Wallasey) 4.

DOUGLAS – The Chess.com Isle of ManInternational (20-28 October) wasn’t justabout the Masters section, as covered earlierin these pages.Major: 1-3 Jason McKenna (Oxford), Ken Nor-man (Wokingham), David Ireland (Coventry) 5½/7.Minor: 1-2 Pedro Deus (Portugal), GaryWhite (Priorslee) 5½, 3 Kupsjar Jannur(Mongolia) 5.

DUNDEE – Quality Chess colleagues JacobAagaard and Andrew Greet tied for first atthe Dundee Congress (19-21 October).Open: 1-2 Jacob Aagaard, Andrew Greet(both Bearsden) 4½/5, 3 George Neave(Edinburgh) 4. Major: 1-4 Adria Borras Carbonell(Edinburgh), Daniel Thomas (East Kilbride), PawelKosior (Dundee), Robert Taylor (Syston) 4.Minor: 1-2 Lee Bishop (Edinburgh), AlisdairMcLeod (Aberdeen) 4½, 3-7 DavidAinsworth, Aravind Kumar (both Edinburgh),Iwo Labuda (Perth), Laurenziu Archip(Dundee), Damien Williamson (Oban) 4.

FAREHAM – Matt Chapman is the newHampshire Champion after defeating DavidPye in the final round of the Hampshire

Congress (2-4 November), at its new home,the Lysses House Hotel in Fareham.Open: 1 Matt Chapman (Fareham) 5/6, 2 Mike Waddington (Dorchester) 4½, 3 DavidPye (Cosham) 4.Major: 1-2 Brendan O’Gorman (Coulsdon),Robert Page (Broadstairs) 4½, 3-4 DavidAgostinelli (Southampton), Nick Burton(Ilkley) 4.Minor: 1 Ryan Cheung (SouthamptonUniversity) 6, 2-4 Richard Meredith(Chandlers Ford), David Nelson(Southampton), Phil Pinto (Emsworth) 4.

LONDON – Ben Keohane (London) won theOpen at the Muswell Hill Rapidplay onOctober 16th, while Raghu Kamath(Richmond) and Michael Saunders (London)tied for in the Major and Adah Ogah (Harrow)triumphed in the Minor. Then at theHampstead U2200 Congress (20-21October), Savin Dias triumphed.Under-2200: 1 Savin Dias (Hendon) 4½/5,2 Shyam Modi (Syston) 4, 3 AlexanderJamieson (Hammersmith) 3½.Under-1900: 1-2 Oliver Finnegan(Loughton), Xavier Cowan (Richmond) 4½, 3Tashika Arora (Oxford) 3½.Under-135: 1 Savas Stoica 4½, 2-4 EricEedle (both Barnet), Jerwynn Lau(Richmond), Nick Goulbourne (Hendon) 4.

SWANSEA – Welsh Champion Gerry Heaptriumphed at the West Wales Congress (12-14 October)Open: 1 Gerry Heap (Carmarthen) 4½/5, 2Adam Musson (Neath) 4, 3-5 JonUnderwood (Seaton), Sven Zeidler(Abergavenny), Joe Fathallah (Cardiff) 3½.Major: 1 Kimberly Chong (North Cardiff) 4½,2-3 Tomasz Miga (Llanelli), Andrew Thomas 4.Minor: 1 Eleanor Collins (Swansea) 4½, 2-3Joy Fursman (Clevedon), Joel Chung(Swansea) 3½.

TELFORD – The 4NCL celebrated its 25thbirthday at its International Congress inTelford (31 October - 4 November). In ahard-fought Open, top honours went to OlegKorneev, despite being held to a draw byNottingham teenager Jonah Willow in theopening round, and Tamas Fodor. They bothwent home with £750, but even happierwere Matthew Turner and Simon Williamswho qualified on tie-break for the BritishKnockout Championship, which will onceagain take place alongside the London ChessClassic. The only disappointing news was thatduring a routine anti-cheating check by thearbiters, one player had to be disqualified forreceiving electronic assistance. Open: 1-2 Oleg Korneev (Spain), TamasFodor (Hendon) 6½/9, 3-8 Teja Ravi (India),Simon Williams (Farnham), Matthew Turner(Glastonbury), Keith Arkell (Paignton), DanielFernandez (Marple), Ravi Haria (Elstree) 6.Under-2050: 1 Aliriza Atif Gorgun(Swindon) 7, 2-4 Roger De Coverly (BourneEnd), Adrian Zdanowski (Telford), AnitaSomton (West Nottingham) 6.Under-1825: 1 Joe Hirst (Newcastle-

under-Lyme) 6½, 2-4 Lavanya Maladkar,Andrew Watson (both West Nottingham),Jeremy Brockes (Hampstead) 6.

T.Ravi-S.WilliamsTelford 2018

Dutch Defence

1 d4 f5 2 Ìf3 Ìf6 3 g3 g6 4 Íg2 Íg75 0-0 0-0 6 b3 d6 7 Íb2 Ìe4 8 Ìbd2Ìc6 9 Ìe1 d5! Establishing a favourable Leningrad-Stonewall hybrid.9...d5! 10 e3 e5 11 Ìdf3 exd4 12 exd4f4! 13 Ìe5 Ìg5 14 h4?! Weakening. 14 Ì5d3 was a better try,and if 14...f3 15 Ìxf3 Íg4 16 Ìf4, or even14 Ía3 Îf5 15 g4!?, but not 14 Ì1d3?Ìxe5 15 Ìxe5 Íxe5 16 dxe5 f3.14...Ìe4 15 Ì1d3 Ìxe5 16 Ìxe5 Íe617 Ëd3 Íf5 18 g4! Íe6 19 c4? 19 f3 was required, refusing to fear anyghosts in the case of 19...Ìg3 20 Îfe1Ëxh4 21 Ìxg6 hxg6 22 Îxe6.19...Íxe5 20 dxe5 Ëxh4 21 cxd5? The ugly 21 f3 was by now obligatory.21...f3! Another thematic Dutch blow and afavourite breakthrough of Williams’. Whitewould now find himself being cleaned up inthe event of 22 Ëxe4 fxg2 23 Ëxg2 Îf4 24f3 Íxg4. The text, though, is even worse.22 Íxf3 Ìg5 23 Íg2 Îf3!

24 Ëxf3 A lovely tactic. 24 Íxf3 Ìh3+ and25...Ìf4+ will win the white queen.24...Ìxf3+ 25 Íxf3 Íxg4 26 Íg2 Íh327 Íxh3 Or 27 f3 Ëg3 28 Îf2 Îf8 and, just as inthe game, Black’s attack remains far too strong.27...Ëxh3 28 Îae1 Ëg4+ 29 Êh2 Îf830 f3 Ëf4+ 31 Êg2 Îf5 32 Íc3 Îh5 33Îf2 Ëg5+ 34 Êf1 Îh1+ 35 Êe2 Îxe1+0-1

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Play the Trompowsky AttackDmitry Kryakvin, 264 pages

Chess Stars PublishingRRP £19.99 SUBSCRIBERS £17.99

There’s no doubt about it; if you playchess, you will encounter a whole range ofoffbeat 1 d4 openings, such as the Londonand Colle Systems, because club players quitenaturally want to adopt such easy-to-learnopenings. It is interesting to see how 1 d4 and2 Íf4 has replaced 1 d4 and 2 Íg5 as theanti-main line theory weapon of choice, butLondon System adherents are now runningthe risk of sinking into a Thames-sized riverof theory of their own. Perhaps it is time for creative 1 d4 playersto return to their first love – the trickyTrompowsky Attack. Kryakvin’s new bookstresses the importance of having a universalweapon up one’s sleeve “To force theopponent into your own territory”, especiallyin a tournament climate in which games comethick and fast. Kryakvin’s interest in theopening came via his wife, WIM ElenaTomilova, and then the author was temptedto try it for himself, with excellent results. There are two parts to the book. The bulkof the work is devoted to 1 d4 Ìf6 2 Íg5and the second part presents anti-Dutchideas, again with 2 Íg5 as the key move. Thecoverage includes oddball tries such as2...Ìg8, 2...b5 and 2...h6, all granting Whitean early advantage. These are followed bymore extensive coverage of 2...e6, 2...c5,2...e6, 2...d5 and 2...Ìe4. I like the way the author breaks things intosimple terms, without falling into the trap ofdumbing down the message. For example,after 1 d4 Ìf6 2 Íg5 he says, “White’sbishop is developed to g5 with thestraightforward idea to disrupt his opponent’spawn structure. It is understandable thatBlack can react in many different ways. Hecan attack the enemy bishop, avoiding thedoubling of his pawns, or inflict a counterstrike against his opponent’s centre.” This is a near-perfect summary of thevery basic ideas for both sides and exactly the

sort of statement that most specialist booksomit. The other aspect making the book veryaccessible is the inclusion of a ‘Quick Repertoire’,in addition to the more traditional, moredetailed ‘Step by Step’ guide. The main lines currently centre on Black’sattempts to exploit the early bishop moveand also the weakened dark queensidesquares with 1 d4 Ìf6 2 Íg5 Ìe4 3 Íf4 c5where White tries to win back the tempo with4 f3. This can lead to all sorts of weird andwonderful positions, where an open mind isoften as important as an open file. Onesample is 4...Ëa5+ 5 c3 Ìf6 6 d5 Ëb6.

Not to be outdone on visually suspiciousmoves, White can now, according to theauthor, gain an advantage with 7 Íc1! whenhe can not only hold the queenside together,but also produce a significant spaceadvantage in the centre. Incidentally, people who like to defend 1d4 with 1...f5 really should take a look at thefinal chapter, as the Dutch looks to be underpressure after 2 Íg5. The prose explanations are excellentthroughout the book and these will helpnewcomers to the murky world of theTrompowsky feel their way through theconfusion. Kryakvin makes a very good casefor adding this weapon to one’s 1 d4 armoury.

Sean Marsh

The Exchange Queen’s Gambit for BlackTibor Karolyi, 280 pages

Chess EvolutionRRP £22.95 SUBSCRIBERS £20.65

Regardless of the rise in 1 d4 deviations,there are still some players who will insist onplaying the main lines after 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6.Tibor Karolyi appears to be making it hismission to offer excellent coverage forplayers upholding the honour of Black’s‘straight bat’ defence. We have already seentwo volumes from him dealing with theincreasingly popular Semi-Tarrasch Defenceand now he has turned his attention to theExchange Variation, against which he offers acomplete and serious repertoire for Black. There is no doubt that stalwarts includingthe Tartakower-Bondarevsky-Makogonovsystem offer Black a very solid option against1 d4, but still, “Many simply had worriesabout the pawn structure after cxd5. Thisfear did not appear from nowhere; manygreat players – and especially Kasparov andKarpov – scored really well with it. But chess,with the emergence of ‘the computers’, hadchanged dramatically ever since these giantsretired and the exchange variation becamemore appetizing from Black’s point of view.” Players of a certain age may recall LudekPachman’s classic explanation of how Blackshould play in the third volume of his classicseries Complete Chess Strategy, but we havelacked a modern treatment for some time.The lines covered in this book are reachedspecifically after 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Ìc3 Ìf64 cxd5 exd5. The book offers a chapter on‘Masterpieces’, presenting four classicexamples of how Black should handle thepawn structure. The most instructive gameshows Petrosian outplaying Bobotsov at the1968 Lugano Olympiad, replete with expertknight manoeuvres designed to exploit weaksquares in the white camp. Then there are eight chapters offeringextremely thorough coverage of all lines,whether White opts for an early Íg5 or not.There are three main plans for White: theminority attack; central expansion with f2-f3and e2-e4; and 0-0-0 with hopes of akingside attack. Black needs to be ready for allof the options or risk being worse very quickly. There are various tricky move ordersdesigned to throw White off the naturalpaths, such as an early ...Ìh5 to offer anexchange of the dark-squared bishops and

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December 201856

attempts to develop the c8-bishop as quicklyas possible. The latter plan always runs therisk of running into Ëb3 or Ëf3 with anassault on the light squares, but Karolyi offerssome very interesting ideas to help Blackachieve the aim – although players willdefinitely need to do their homework as thereare lots of lines to consider. Indeed, in thechapter dealing with early ..Íf5 ideas, thereare more than 20 lines to consider. Considerable attention is given to the old– but still difficult – lines arising from 1 d4 d52 c4 e6 3 Ìc3 Ìf6 4 cxd5 exd5 5 Íg5 c66 e3 Íf5 7 Ëf3, when Black must accept thedoubling of his pawns on f6. The authoropines that this is Black’s only problem and hewill, after all, secure the bishop-pair. There is always much wrestling for controlof the f5-square. If White can gain and thenkeep control of it then Black will be worse.The ideas given by Karolyi include sendingBlack’s queen’s knight on a tour, through d7,b6, c4 (or c8), and finally to d6, to help withthe defence of that weak square. This is a key position.

Black to play

White is on the way to establishing thestandard bind on f5 with 13 Ìg3 and this canbe a big problem for Black. Among theinteresting analysis of 12...f5 and 12...Ìb6(with which Kramnik once suffered badlyagainst Carlsen), the author offers a brandnew idea with 12...Íb4+. The aim: “To obtain the opposite-colouredbishop endgame”, which could indeed happenafter the sample line 13 Êd1 Ìb6 (there goes the aforementionedknight manoeuvre again) 14 Ìg3 Ìc8 15 Ìgf5 Ìd6 16 Íd3 when “Sooner or laterBlack will take on f5 and get the opposite-coloured bishop endgame.” The above snippet will give an idea of thedepth of this book and the high level it isaimed at helping. Club players will be out oftheir depth in most places apart from the‘Masterpieces’ chapter, but serioustournament players looking to hold off one ofWhite’s main tries for an advantage after 1 d4should find plenty of lofty material into whichto sink their teeth.

Sean Marsh

300 Most Important Chess Positions Thomas Engqvist, 302 pages, paperbackRRP £16.99 SUBSCRIBERS £15.29

Having penned detailed works for EverymanChess on Petrosian, Reti and Stein, Swedish IMThomas Engqvist moves across to theBatsford stable to present a book for the clubplayer. Each of the 300 positions consists ofa diagram followed by a short instructiveextract. Engqvist begins with what he sees asthe 50 most important opening positions,although this section could really have beenlabelled key ideas in the early middlegameafter the most important opening structures.Coverage continues with 150 middlegamepositions and then 100 are devoted to theendgame. The explanation is succinct and thiswork might well suit those who like to dip intoa chess book when on a train, bus or plane. For an extract from 300 Most ImportantChess Positions and the chance to win a copy,do turn to page 33.

Better Thinking, Better ChessJoel Benjamin, 224 pages, paperbackRRP £24.95 SUBSCRIBERS £22.45

Subtitled ‘How a Grandmaster Finds hisMoves’, this work for New in Chess seesBenjamin do exactly that. These days thethree-time U.S. Champion spends much of histime coaching and is aware that the challengeisn’t so much pointing out to his pupils themove they missed, but why. Benjamincertainly does a fine job of pointing the readerin the right direction. His coverage may wellmake you consider more moves in certaintypes of position and fewer in others, whilealso having a better idea of how much time tospend over an important decision.

ChessBase 15ChessBase PC-DVD

The latest version of the famous databaseprogram is now available from Chess &

Bridge, ideal for those who like to study theirchess in some detail. The various searchfunctions have been speeded up and anumber of training options added, such as‘Instant Analysis’, which rapidly analyses anyunannotated game, highlighting the keymistakes and tactical motifs missed. There are three types of ChessBasepackage for you to choose from: Starter Package – £175 (or £157.50for Subscribers), which features theChessBase 15 program and the Big Database2019, as well as online access; Mega Package – £250 (Subscribers –£225), which is the same as the StarterPackage, but with the Mega Database 2019,as well as slightly improved ChessBasesubscription terms; Premium Package – £415. (Subscribers– £373.50). This is the Mega Package, butwith the addition of the Corr Database 2018and the Endgame Turbo 5 on a 128GB USB stick. Please note that if you just want to updatefrom ChessBase 14 to ChessBase 15, you maydo so, quoting your serial number or returningthe original DVD to Chess & Bridge, and all forjust £89.99 (Subscribers – £80.99).

Checkmate: TV Season OneHosted by Anna Richardson & Simon Williams, 3 DVD set

RRP £24.95 SUBSCRIBERS £22.45 At long last the modern equivalent of TheMaster Game has made it on to DVD. Filmedin Malta, a mixture of leading male and femaleplayers battled it out over six rounds. Thecontestants were Tiger Hillarp Persson,Jovanka Houska, Irina Krush, Igor Lysyj, NinoMaisuradze, Arkadij Naiditsch, ElisabethPähtz, Richard Rapport, Nigel Short and JuWenjun. With just under half an hour ofcoverage per round, and commentary by theGinger GM and Anna Richardson, who shot tofame on The Big Breakfast and has presentedvarious shows ever since for Channel 4. Aftertwo DVDs of footage of each round, the thirdDVD sees Simon Williams devote as many as9 hours to an analysis of the games.

Clinch It!Cyrus Lakdawala, 256 pages, paperbackRRP £24.95 SUBSCRIBERS £22.45

www.chess.co.uk57

“I was much better, but threw it away” is afamiliar refrain heard at chess clubs up anddown the land. Help for those who didn’tconvert is at hand in this work subtitled ‘Howto Convert an Advantage into a Win in Chess’.Lakdawala is painfully aware of how easy it isto mess up a big advantage and, indeed,supplies many examples from his own games.Moreover, he recognises that the cause oftenisn’t a lack of technique, as much as practicaland psychological issues, such as poor nerves.The ever lively style of Lakdawala might notbe able to sort those out, but this book ispacked full of common sense and should helpto improve your conversion rate.

Closing Gambit: 1978 Korchnoi versusKarpov and the KremlinAlan Byron (director), DVD

RRP £14.99 SUBSCRIBERS £13.49 Alan Byron’s documentary about the 1978world championship is another most welcomedevelopment on DVD, especially as the daysbecome ever colder and the nights everlonger. We have to agree with the publicityblurb that “The film presents the riveting,true story of an event – so extraordinary, itcould have been culled from the pages of aJohn Le Carré bestseller.” We featured ClosingGambit in our August pages and will have afull review next month.

Mega Database 2019ChessBase DVD

RRP £164.95 SUBSCRIBERS £148.45 The latest edition of ChessBase’s premiumdatabase now contains a whopping 7.6million games, of which 72,000 areannotated. Purchasers also receive a year’saccess to a weekly update service. See page39 for more details. By quoting your serial number or returningthe older DVD to Chess & Bridge, it’s possibleto upgrade from Mega Database 2018 toMega Database 2019 for £64.99(Subscribers – £58.49), or for £114.99 ifupgrading from an older version (Subscribers– £103.49). Please note too that if you’renot interested in the annotated version, theunannotated Big Database 2019 is alsoavailable, retailing at £64.99 or £58.49 forSubscribers.

The Hyper Accelerated Dragon(Extended Second Edition)

Raja Panjwani, 248 pages, paperbackRRP £27.50 SUBSCRIBERS £24.75

Like Quality Chess, Thinkers Publishingaren’t afraid to quickly update their books andbring our new editions. Here the Canadian IMupdates his repertoire with his favouriteopening, 1 e4 c5 2 Ìf3 g6. Panjwani beginswith 3 d4 cxd4 4 Ìxd4 Íg7 5 Ìc3 Ìc6 6Íe3 Ìf6 before tackling the Maroczy Bindand the 4 Ëxd4 variation. Coverage isrounded off by a thorough examination of anearly c2-c3 from White, while throughoutPanjwani strikes quite an upbeat note as heconstantly outlines dynamic methods ofcounterplay for Black.

King and Pawn EndgameVassilis Aristotelous, 136 pages, paperback

RRP £14.99 SUBSCRIBERS £13.49 Readers are likely aware of the basicmotifs in king and pawn endgames, theopposition and shouldering away theopponent’s king, but do you still panic whenrealising that a king and pawn ending mightappear on the board? The Cypriot authoraims to help with his coverage of “EssentialKnowledge and Techniques” of these evertricky endgames, coverage which should helpto improve readers’ knowledge of andconfidence in this ever-important part of the game.

The Open Games: A Detailed OverviewGeorgios Souleidis, PC-DVD,

running time: 8 hoursRRP £26.95 SUBSCRIBERS £24.25

The Greek IM has been long domiciled inGermany and his name may well be known toreaders. Souleidis splits up his coverage of themany lines which can arise after 1 e4 e5 into36 videos. His focus is squarely the club

player, with the emphasis chiefly onexplaining the key motifs for each side, aswell as some basic theory. The likes of theEvans and King’s Gambits are featured,although the majority of coverage isunsurprisingly devoted to the Giuoco Pianoand the Ruy Lopez. In a welcomedevelopment, Souleidis goes beyond thevideo format, where he frequently featuresleading grandmaster and correspondencegames, adding plenty of further material astext and in ChessBase format.

Together with the Candidates: Budapest1950 until Berlin 2018

Alexey Kuzmin, 280 pages, paperbackRRP £27.95 SUBSCRIBERS £25.15

Last month we reviewed new works onCarlsen and Caruana, and this recent workcould also be considered well timed,appearing, as it did, just before the worldchampionship match. Kuzmin follows up hisearlier Together with Morozevich for ThinkersPublishing by presenting a history of all theCandidates tournaments and matches since1950, while challenging readers to solve awide range of positions. Indeed, the workmight well be seen as one suitable largely forthe serious student – attempting to findwhat move the greats did each in position andthen learn from the detailed solutions.

Vladimir Kramnik - The Inside Story of a Chess GeniusCarsten Hensel, 256 pages, hardbackRRP £19.99 SUBSCRIBERS £17.99

Carsten Hensel was Vladimir Kramnik’smanager throughout much of his rise in the1990s and then his title matches with GarryKasparov and Peter Leko. As such, he is ideallyplaced to explain just what went on behindthe scenes at some pivotal moments in chesshistory. Hensel’s account is well written, aswell as often dramatic, and is now available inEnglish for the first time, courtesy of QualityChess. Finally, Kramnik fans may becomeeven more excited when learning that someof his most memorable games are included –annotated by the man himself.

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