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Paul Keres vs Miguel Najdorf
Margate (1939), Margate ENG, rd 7, Apr-19
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense. General (D60)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
May-15-10  jerseybob: Nice game by Keres, but it shows why these classical defenses aren't so common anymore: they're too passive. But black could've improved, even within that limitation. 12..Nh5 just to swap bishops followed by moving back to f6 2 moves later baffles me. There's no plan or continuity to it. Why not 12..Ne4 with a sort of Lasker defense? Or maybe interpolate 12..h6 first? Then later, the combo initiated with 23..Ne4? is shown to have a fatal flaw: black can't recapture the bishop with 27..Rxa8 due to 28.Rc8ch! So how to meet white's threat of 24.Nxb7? Maybe 24..Kf8.
May-22-22  jerseybob: I'd like to take a mulligan on that post if I may. (At least it's not a mean tweet coming back to haunt me, just bad analysis). My suggested 24..Kf8 is an out and out blunder and I'll concede black seems lost at that point. But I'm still not crazy about Najdorf's 13..Nf6. How about 13..g6!? with Ng7 a future possibility? And I found a very interesting game, Ragnarsson-Gunnarsson, Reykjavik 2000 (0-1,27) featuring 11..b6 for black. I tried to link it but haven't mastered that skill. (suggestions?) It's in this database.
Mar-26-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  plang: Najdorf often plays more ambitious systems with Black such as the King's Indian or Nimzo Indian. The game transposed into the Exchange variation after 7 cxd. Keres thought that 10 h3 wasn't necessary and that 10 0-0 followed by b4 would have been stronger. 13 Bf5 had been played in the short draw Spielmann-Alekhine BLED 1931; 13 Rab1 was new and is now the most popular choice. Keres thought that 20..Rec8 would have been a more efficient way of meeting White's Minority Attack. 22..Ne4 23 Ndxe4..dxe 24 Bc4..Bxc4 25 Qxc4+ and Black would have had trouble protecting his pawns. 23..Ne4? was apparently based on a miscalculation; better would have been 23..Ne8 but White would still have been better after 24 Rc2, Black must have missed 27 Rxc5! which left White a clear two pawns up after 28 Bc6! though it should be mentioned that White would also have had good winning chances after 27 dxc..Rxa8 28 b6..Ne5 29 b7..Rb8 30 c6..Qc7. Black resigned as 30..Qc7 31 Bd7 would have been hopeless.
Mar-26-23  areknames: <And I found a very interesting game, Ragnarsson-Gunnarsson, Reykjavik 2000 (0-1,27) featuring 11..b6 for black. I tried to link it but haven't mastered that skill. (suggestions?) It's in this database.>

Open a new cg window, search for "ragnarsson-gunnarsson", then copy and paste the game link into this box. Like so:

J Ragnarsson vs A Gunnarsson, 2000

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