| Jun-28-12 | | LoveThatJoker: This apparently unassuming draw is a terrifically important game in the development of opening theory. For, as it relates to 15...0-0 16. Qe5 Rab8 is practically the best move in the position. The idea is that after 17. Be2 Nb4+ 18. Kc3 b5!, White cannot exchange Queens due to Stockfish's ...Nxd5 when Black has a won game. Furthermore, yet again according to Stockfish, after 19. axb5 cxb5 Black has a  edge in the position. LTJ |
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| Jun-28-12 | | SimonWebbsTiger: van-Wely-Kramnik (!), Wijk aan Zee 1999 saw 16. Qf3 (1/2-1/2, 26). The trouble with this line though is that 17. a5 f6 18. Qxd5 cxd5 19. Ne3  (Onischuk-Grischuk, Biel 2007). GM Lars Schandorff ("Playing the Queen's Gambit", Quality Chess, 2009) remarks that the bishop seemingly always tends to be better than the three pawns in these endgames. Needless to say, what once was hot theory (mainly the 1980s-1990s) has gone into the backwaters of tourney praxis, notably because of the systems introduced by Morozevich and Ivan Sokolov in the ECO D17 code. A fairly recent example was this famous win Bacrot vs Anand, 2010 |
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| Jun-28-12 | | SimonWebbsTiger: PS. I oughtn't forget the <Elista Endgame> eclipsed this line too, i.e. 7...c5 8. e4 Bg6, which was used by both Kramnik and Anand in their matches against Topalov (Elista 2006; Sofia 2010) |
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| Jun-28-12 | | LoveThatJoker: <SWT> Thanks for this note! I am reading "Kramnik: My Life and Games" and investigating the games he makes reference to in his analysis. Kramnik vs J M Hodgson, 1993 is the main game and in it, he brings attention to this game against Van Wely as an example of how Black should best proceed. It should be noted that in the 17. a5 f6 18. Qxd5 cxd5 19. Ne3 line that you gave, Stockfish gives 20. Rfc8+ with a < > assessment of the position. LTJ
PS. Thanks for the link to Bacrot vs Anand, 2010 what a terrific game from GM Bacrot - tenacious stuff from him! |
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| Jun-28-12 | | LoveThatJoker: <SWT> Re: Elista Endgame Very cool, man - Thanks!
I'll definitely go through those games again to remember what transpired in them. LTJ |
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| Jun-28-12 | | SimonWebbsTiger: @<LTJ>
19...Rfc8! (19...Rbc8 has also been played.)
I had a sneaking feeling that Onischuk-Grischuk game would be in Informator. It turns out it is: 100/284. Onischuk vs Grischuk, 2007
The first new move there pops up on move 21. Onischuk analyses 26...e5= instead of Grischuk's 26...Nd6? Not sure what to say there. Schandorff says , Stockfish and a 2600+ GM = . Not getting any the wiser, perhaps? :-D I have the Kramnik book too; brilliant stuff. A particular favourite game from it is
Kasparov vs Kramnik, 1996
66/382 in Informator and game 141 in the Kramnik book (pp. 165-169). It won the best game prize in Informator #67 with the grand score of 87/90 points! If you really like <Slavic studies>, "Fire on Board" (Vol. I) by Shirov has a whole chapter devoted to his experiences in the Botvinnik Variation of the Semi-Slav and makes fascinating reading. But that is, as they say, a story for a different day. |
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| Jun-28-12 | | LoveThatJoker: <SWT> Thanks, man! I appreciate once again your most informative chess literature compass. You really have a lot to apport in that regard and I recognize that! LTJ
PS. Kasparov vs Kramnik, 1996 - a total Classic (with a capital 'C')! The first time I was exposed to that game was in the Chessbase DVD "Kramnik: My Path to the Top". What a game, eh? Kramnik has played so many classics - It's simply amazing that he is only 37 years of age and he is like an elder statesman/legend of modern Super GM chess. |
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| Jun-28-12 | | SimonWebbsTiger: @<LTJ>
Kramnik has, as one would expect, certainly enriched the game. I am eagerly awaiting Garry's book "My Great Descendents"! (OK, not going to happen....) Something worth noting as the van Wely and Kramnik references in this thread reveal, is the willingness of the super GMs to willingly take both colours in the chaotic jungle of the Slav complex (Czech, i.e. 4...dxc4/5...Bf5; Chebenenko, i.e. 4...a6; and Semi-Slav, i.e. 4...e6) and literally within weeks of a previous encounter with colours reversed in the same line against the same opponent. A sign of the modern age. |
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