Resultados Esperados

7... ♗xd4 8. cxb7 ♗xb7 This position is frankly a luxury you can't get for love or money nowadays, but in those years I think my first three or four games in the Bg7 variation got to here, with good results.

9. ♕b3 Ioannis chose this move.

9. e3 was played against me in a later junior game in a tournament in St. Petersburg in 1993 by Valery Popov, who also became a strong grandmaster. 9... ♗xc3+ 10. bxc3 ♕a5 11. ♕c2 Somewhat more circumspect. After ( 11. ♕d4 O-O 12. ♕b4 Black can just play 12...♕c7 and the knight is about to enter the fray, let's say via a6 and c5. White has only developed a single piece, and even that's a source of constant worry, so he's clearly not better here.) 11... O-O 12. ♘e2 It's important to see that after ( 12. ♖b1? Black doesn't need to play the bishop anywhere yet, because 12... ♖c8! is very strong, waiting for 13.♘e2 and only then,

perhaps, 13... ♗d5=/+ ) 12... ♘d7 13. ♖b1 ( 13.♘d4 ♖ac8 14. ♖c1 ♘f6→ ^{) 13...} ♘c5 14. f3 ♖ab8! A move I'm quite proud of. It's purely prophylactic, waiting for the knight to determine where it's going.

( 14... ♖fd8 15. ♘d4 e5 16. ♘b3∞ ; 14... ♗d5 is a move Black clearly wants to make, but if he starts with it White will reply 15. ♘f4 and now the threat of Rb5 means Black needs to start reworking his plans somewhat. I wasn't keen on that.) 15. ♘d4 ( 15.♔f2 ♗d5 ) 15... ♗d5 Only now, and at the very least Black will win back the a-pawn with quite a bit of pressure. I eventually won this game.

9... ♕c7 We'd reached a position I already had on the board back in 91 against Colin Crouch at the Lloyds Bank Masters in London.

10. e3 ♗_{g7 11.} ♗b5+ Frankly sub-optimal, as there's no reason for White to waste a tempo on this. I think Ioannis' play was influenced by the fact he was understandably nervous, just as I was. It was the last round of the World Juniors, which was my first and probably his first as well.

11. ♘f3 This is much better than 11.Bb5+, and

after 11... OO 12. ♗e2♘d7 13. OO ♖ab8 14. ♕a3 ♘e5 Black has wonderful compensation for the pawn. 15. ♖ac1 ( 15. ♘d4 is another try for White, but Black can reply with the very

strong 15... ♗a8 creating the idea of Qb7, and after the possible 16. ♖fc1 ♕b7 17. ♗f1 ♖fc8=/∞ ^Black has fantastic compensation for the pawn and at the very least isn't worse.) 15... ♗xf316. gxf3 ♕_{b7 and} the game soon ended in a perpetual on the

kingside:17. f4 ♘_{f3+ 18.} ♗_xf3 ♕_{xf3 19.} ♕_xe7 ♖_{xb2 20.} ♘_e4 ♖_{xa2 21.} ♘_f6+♔_{h8 22.} ♘_d7 ♕_g4+

Crouch-Svidler, London 1991

11... ♘_{c6 12.} ♘f3 O-O 13. O-O ♘e5 This is clearly a much improved version of the game against Crouch because the bishop on b5 is completely misplaced and will probably have to be drawn back to e2 at the cost of a tempo.

14. ♘_xe5 ♕xe5 15. e4 A move that can only be explained by his desire to offer me something which might tempt me to equalise immediately, but I wasn't really interested. I wanted to keep the pressure on.

15. ♗e2 is probably the best move here, but after 15... ♖ab8 16. ♕a3a5 Black certainly isn't worse, although I think White should hold. 17.♖fd1 ♗c6=/∞

15... ♖ab8 This is what I went for.

16. ♕_a4 ♕c5 Black doesn't need to try and win back material immediately as by now it's clear that some material will be won back at some point.

17. ♗_e2 ♗_{a8 18.} ♖_ab1 ♖fd8 Black just develops naturally and it's very difficult for White to withstand the pressure, especially if in his desire to simplify and make his life at least a little bit easier he does what my opponent did.

19. ♕_c4 ♕_{a5 20.} ♕_a6 ♕_{xa6 21.} ♗xa6 Black is finally ready to start winning back some material, and soon I was completely winning. The game didn't win me the title - Ronen became World Champion on tiebreaks - but it reinforced my belief that the Grünfeld is a very good fighting opening which gives your opponents a lot of scope to go wrong. It generally leads to unbalanced and interesting positions where you can express yourself.

21... ♖_{d2 22.} ♖_fc1 ♗xc3 23. bxc3 ♖_{xb1 24.} ♖_xb1 ♗_{xe4 25.} ♖_e1♗_{d5 26.} ♗_f1 ♗_{e6 27.} ♖_c1 ♔f8 28. a4

♖_{a2 29.} ♗_b5 ♗_{b3 30. h3}♗_{xa4 31.} ♗_f1 ♗b3 32. c4 a5 33. ♗_d3 ♖_{d2 34.} ♗_{f1 a4 35.} ♖_a1♖_{d1 36.} ♖_xd1 ♗ xd1 37. c5 ♔_e8

0-1

Giorgi Kacheishvili 0:1 Peter Svidler

World Juniors U18Szeged, Hungary, 1994

1. d4 ♘f6 2. c4 g6 3. ♘c3 d5 4. cxd5 ♘_{xd5 5.} ♗d2 In 1994 in round 7 of the U18s I played the then Georgian and now American chess player Giorgi Kacheishvili. The sideline he employed here is very important today, and a lot of very strong players have played it. Dreev has been its major proponent over the course of the last decade and a half. Vishy Anand also won a very nice game against me, so this is a very serious subline of the Grünfeld. I'm not even going to attempt to cover the theory here, but I think the game I played against Giorgi is very instructive and also covers one subline quite sufficiently. I also want to point out that although in those years there was

obviously some theory on this line I knew none of it. My reaction was, "ok, this is some move, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do here, so let's just make natural moves. This can't be the refutation of my favourite opening, so let's just play chess." In many cases over the course of my career that kind of approach has brought me better results than the times when I've sat at the board tortuously trying to remember what my notebooks and then later files said about something. An uncluttered mind is sometimes a very powerful thing.

5... ♗_{g7 6. e4} ♘_{b6 7.} ♗e3 O-O The main way of replying to 5.Bd2, and in this position White has a variety of good moves. Perhaps the most critical and most popular here is the somewhat counter-intuitive 8.Bb5. 8.h3 is another very important alternative which Vishy used to great effect in the game he won against me at the Tal Memorial. Of course there's also 8.Nf3, or the move played in the game.

8. ♗e2 Black once again has more than one idea here, but I believe what I did effectively puts an end to this subline (though it doesn't stop White returning to the lines with Nf3).

8... ♘_{c6 9. d5}

9. ♘f3 is probably the best move in this position, transposing to the normal Nf3

theory. 9... ♗g4 10. d5 ♗xf3 11. gxf3 ♘a5 ( 11... ♘e5 It's important to know that this move is imprecise here, since 12. ♕b3actually gives White a decent shot at an opening advantage.) 12. ♗d4♕d6! Theory shows that Black has absolutely nothing to fear and is fine in all lines here. 13. ♗xg7 ♔xg7

a) 14. ♖_c1 ♕_f6! ( 14... c6 is much less precise, as after 15. ♕d2! the knight on a5 is in trouble.)

a1) 15. ♘_b1⁈♕_{xb2 16.} ♖_c2 ♕_{b4+ 17.} ♘_{d2 f6}⁉=/+ ( 17... c618. ♕a1+ ♔g8 19. a3

♕a4 20. ♗d1 ♕b5 21. ♗e2 ♕a4 22.♗d1 ♕b5 1/2 Ivanchuk-Brkic, Kusadasi 2006)

a2) 15. ♘a4 15... ♘xa4 16. ♕xa4 ♕xb2 17. ♖xc7 ♖fc8 18.♕xa5 b6 19. ♖xc8 bxa5 20. ♖_xa8 ♕_{b1+ 21.} ♗_d1 ♕_{b4+ 22.}♔_f1 ♕_{b7 23.} ♖_d8 ♕_{b6 24.} ♖_a8 ♕_b7= Sieciechowicz-Matlakov, Chotowa 2010

b) 14. ♕d2 14... ♕f6 15. b3 ( 15. f4 ♘ac4 16. ♗xc4 ♘xc4 17.♕e2 ♘b6 18. ♕e3 ♘c4= I.Sokolov-Shirov, Las Vegas FIDE WCh 1999)15... ♖fd8! /\

Nc6( 15... c6 16. ♖d1 cxd5 17. exd5 ♖ad8 18. ♘e4♖xd5 19. ♘xf6 ♖xd2 20. ♘h5+!± Zhao Xue-Kosintseva, Sochi

2009)16. ♖_{c1 e6 17.} ♘_b5 ♘_{c6 18.} ♘_xc7 ♖_{ac8 19.} ♘_e8+ ♖xe8 20.dxc6 ♖_{xc6 21.} ♖_{xc6 bxc6} Arlandi-Konopka, Baden 1999

9... ♘_{e5 10.} ♗d4 This looks very sensible because White is aiming to play f4 next move, trade off the dark-squared bishops and then develop naturally. His pieces will be more harmonious because the knight on b6 is somewhat misplaced and White is dominant in the centre. This is actually a very principled way of dealing with Black's setup, but unfortunately it runs into quite serious turbulence.

10... c5 I'm very proud to say I was the first to play this move, which I believe is now the definitive response to this line.

11. ♗_xc5

11. ♗xe5 is also possible, and you could argue it's no worse than 11.Bxc5, but giving up the dark-squared bishop like that is no-one's idea of fun.

11... ♘ec4 It transpires that defending the b2-pawn won't be at all easy.

11... ♘bc4 12. ♕b3 b6 13. ♗d4±

12. ♗xc4 This move looks very strong at first glance.

12. ♗xb6 ♕xb6 13. ♗xc4 ♕xb2∓

12. ♕b3 is what White should perhaps play, and after 12... ♘xb2 13.♖c1 White at least attempts to hold his queenside together without giving up either of his bishops. ( 13. ♕xb2 ♘a4−+ ⁾

a) 13... ♗xc3+ The move I suggested in my notes to this game for the Informant. 14. ♕_xc3 ♘2a4 I went on to say that Black is slightly better here, which goes to show that in 94 my understanding of the static structures in the Grünfeld was somewhat deficient, because after 15. ♕d4 Black is definitely not better and there have even been some games starting from this position which White won convincingly. I'm not saying White has a definite advantage here, but it's very playable and would pose him no

problems. 15... ♘xc5 16. ♖xc5 ♗d717. ♘f3 ♘a4 18. ♖c1 ( 18. ♖c4⁉ b5 19. ♖c2∞ Palo-Jerez Perez, Andorra

2004) 18... ♕_{a5+ 19.} ♕_d2 ♕_{xd2+ 20.} ♔_xd2 ♖_{fc8 21.} ♘_e5♗_{e8 22.} ♗_g4 ♖_{d8 23.} ♔_e3+/= Huebner-Solozhenki, FIN-tch 2012

b) 13... ♗d7! Ignoring the fact that the knight is hanging on b2. 14.♘f3 1/2 Gleizerov-Ganguly, Abu Dhabi 2005 ( 14. ♕xb2 The point is that after the forcing

sequence 14... ♘a4 15. ♕a3 ♘xc5 16. ♕xc5♖c8 17. ♕a3 ♕c7 the knight on c3 is lost. Black is once again very much ahead.) 14... ♖_{c8 15.} ♗_d4 ♗_{xd4 16.} ♘_xd4 ♘_2c4⇆

12... ♘_{xc4 13.} ♕_b3

13. ♕e2 ♘xb2 transposes to 13.Qb3.

13... ♘_xb2! The point of my entire play.

14. ♕_xb2 ♕c7 It transpires that White is unable to hang on to the material. The piece will be won back with a lot of compensation.

15. ♗b4 The correct move. Trying to hold on to more material with

15. ♕_{a3 b6 16.} ♗_{b4 a5 17.} ♖c1 runs into 17... axb4! 18. ♕xa8 and taking on c3 with pretty much anything. Black will have an advantage because White is so undeveloped and uncoordinated.

15... a5 16. ♘ge2 axb4 17. ♕xb4 And in this position "the past me" made a very good move:

17... ♗_g4

17... ♕d6⁉ 18. ♕xd6 exd6 19. O-O f5 20. ♖ae1 ♗d7 21. ♖b1 fxe422. ♘xe4 ♖xa2= Chernuschevich-Jansa, France 2003