Apr-10-12
 | | twinlark: This has to be the most inexorable buildup of heavy pieces on the h-file, ever. |
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| Apr-10-12 | | King Death: <twinlark> Yes and it counted for something unlike Black's seemingly impressive control of the light squares and c file. |
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Apr-10-12
 | | whiteshark: <twinlark: This has to be the most inexorable buildup of heavy pieces on the h-file, ever.> I don't argue with your superlative, but I'd like to bring you attention to a 'more classic' <Alekhine's gun>: Rubinstein vs Salwe, 1907
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Apr-10-12
| | twinlark: <whiteshark>
Yes, I've seen that very impressive game. But this one seemed to condense out of nowhere, whereas the 1907 game was clearly focused around the h-file for quite a while before the denouement. Both very great games. |
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Apr-17-12
 | | Domdaniel: Textbook Advance Variation. After much twiddling in the marsh, and many maneuvers, Black gets the c-file and White gets the h-file. The h-file is more important. Mate follows. Hard to say what Black could have done about it. He could maybe have tried to evacuate his King back towards the centre, but by playing 11.Bxf5 exf5 White had ensured that the centre would be unstable, lacking the usual French resilience. Black's problems really start with that exchange. After ...exf5 the central stability which is crucial in the French is gone. |
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Apr-17-12
| | Domdaniel: In D Fernando vs E Cordova, 2006, White played 11.Rb1 rather than 11.Bxf5(!) and went on to lose. It's not a new idea, of course, but it may be a strong novelty in this position. Black could try 10...g6!? to avoid the break-up of his central pawns, but that creates new weaknesses. |
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Apr-17-12
| | Domdaniel: Actually, 11.Bxf5 *has* been played a few times before, eg Jonkman-Gurevich 1997. That was also won by Black, so maybe the issue isn't so clearcut. |
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Apr-17-12
| | Domdaniel: Maybe Black's crucial error was 15...0-0. Once he has castled kingside, the White plan proceeds like clockwork: use the minor pieces to support the centre while keeping pressure on d5 and f5, playing g3 and h4 to restrain the black kingside activity, building up to 24.g4! - and then coming down the h-file like an express train. Cocteau called it "le train express de la vie qui roule vers la mort". I prefer that to 'Alekhine's Gun', but that's just me. In a game Alarcon-Cordova, Lima 2006, the same position was reached by transposition, and Black went the other way with 15...0-0-0!? -- ensuring a sharp and double-edged game, which he duly won. It would be interesting to see if Dominguez had an improvement on that line. |
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