Jun-19-11
 | | FSR: Radjabov proves yet again that the Schliemann draws: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... |
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Jun-19-11
 | | The Long Diagonal: I find it a bit difficult to believe that the position after 11.Kxe2 is not a theoretical white win. Ok, black has the bishop pair and white's pieces are somewhat cramped, so he must take a few moves to develop and re-organise... but I still have a gut feeling white should score a full point here because extra pawn is an extra pawn. Perhaps I am just being too materialistic and the pawn snatching with 9.Nxe5 simply isn't good enough to win. |
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| Jun-19-11 | | ajile: <FSR: Radjabov proves yet again that the Schliemann draws: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...; It's quite amazing his run of games with only one loss. Could this opening mean the Ruy Lopez needs to reevaluated from White's standpoint? |
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| Jun-19-11 | | SimonWebbsTiger: I'm not convinced people have played the critical tests. But then these GMs are known to have novelties up their sleeves. ;o) 9. Qxe5 seems to be universally recommended by the books. |
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| Jun-19-11 | | SimonWebbsTiger: looking at the link FSR provides, Radjabov's top notch opponents invariably choose the 4. d3 line |
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Jun-19-11
| | FSR: <SimonWebbsTiger: looking at the link FSR provides, Radjabov's top notch opponents invariably choose the 4. d3 line> Kramnik, Leko, Shirov, Karjakin, and Judit Polgar played 4.Nc3. They're not too weak - for example, Kramnik has been World Champion, and Leko drew a World Championship match. <ajile: <FSR>: Radjabov proves yet again that the Schliemann draws: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...; It's quite amazing his run of games with only one loss. Could this opening mean the Ruy Lopez needs to reevaluated from White's standpoint?> Yes, I think so - at least if your opponent has Radjabov's level of technique. |
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| Jun-19-11 | | Blunderdome: On the other hand, white players could just count on their opponent not playing 3...f5, and they would be OK most of the time. Who else at the top plays it? |
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| Jun-19-11 | | Blunderdome: I'll answer my own question. From 2007 to present, the only players rated 2700+ to play the Schliemann at classical time controls are Radjabov and Carlsen -- once, in Anand vs Carlsen, 2008. Aronian has played it in blitz and Adams played it at what appears to be a Ruy Lopez theme tournament, so I don't think it counts as a normal opening choice. M Perez Candelario vs Adams, 2009. |
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| Jun-19-11 | | ajile: <Blunderdome: I don't think it counts as a normal opening choice.> Who cares if it's "normal" if it works?
:o) |
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| Jun-19-11 | | Blunderdome: No, I mean, I think it was a theme tournament, where they had to play the Ruy Lopez in all the games -- so I wouldn't infer anything about his opening repertoire based on that game. As far as the Schliemann, I don't see anything wrong with it -- I was just saying there's no need to "reevaluate" the Ruy Lopez on account of the Schliemann, since only one guy is playing it. |
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| Jun-20-11 | | SimonWebbsTiger: @FSR
"invariably" was not the right choice of words -- didn't convey my meaning. 4. d3 is the move he has met the most when facing his colleagues. Somehow that move has always looked wimpish to me compared to 4. Nc3, although the, admittedly dated by now, ECO C (5th ed) gave white a  in its main line |
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| Jun-20-11 | | ajile: An interesting alternative is 4.Qe2 as in this game. The white queen becomes immediately active on the e file and f1-c4 diagonal. If I was White in this opening I would want to keep queens on and also find ways to exploit Black's k-side light square weaknesses. Lines where heavy pieces are exchanged early seem to frequently peter out into draws since king safety is less of an issue. E Schiller vs B Manthe, 1989 |
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Kibitzing
