Jul-26-13
 | | HeMateMe: Man, what a tactical beheading. |
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| Jul-26-13 | | Nicocobas: <HeMateMe> Isn't 6 ... a beginner's blunder? |
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| Jul-26-13 | | Nicocobas: <Correction> Isn't 6... b5 a beginner's blunder? |
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Jul-26-13
| | HeMateMe: <nic> I think it is played by GMs. I would never play it, because the pawn structure is ugly and inflexible. I hate positions where I am weak on one color. I never take the pawn in a QGA/QGD opening. I think white lost because he played R-g1, trying to attack the loose looking piece, when he should have just got his king to safety by castling Q-side. After the opening structure is set, black scooped up those lost children like it was Giveaway Chess. |
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| Jul-26-13 | | Shams: <Nicocobas> Not at all; this variation is legendary. |
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| Jul-26-13 | | Nerwal: <Isn't 6... b5 a beginner's blunder?> Not at all. The variation started to appear in the 1930s and now bears the name of Mikhail Botvinnik who studied it during WWII and gained several victories with it. Of course it's too sharp and uncompromising to be safe, but that also applies to white... The line was massively played in the 1990s. Not so much now... Maybe there is some cloud, or maybe tastes and fashion have changed... |
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| Jul-26-13 | | DcGentle: <17... Rb8> by Richard Rapport seems to be new or rarely played. The Opening Explorer recommends <17... Qb4> or <17... Bg7>. |
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| Jul-26-13 | | Doniez: Can someone please explain 11...Rg8 instead of Be7? At least after the exchange you lose a Knight and save a Rook. Or am I missing something? |
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| Jul-26-13 | | Visba: What I'm wondering is why 18...exd5? Wouldn't black be much better off with 18...cxd5? After all with 18...cxd5 black doesn't create a passed pawn for white on the e file or hang the pawn on c6. In the position arising after 18...cxd5 it looks like black retains space in the queenside with a chance of attack, while black's position falls apart after 18...exd5 |
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| Jul-26-13 | | Nicocobas: <HeMate> <Shams> <Nerwal> Thanks. |
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| Jul-26-13 | | notyetagm: Bacrot vs R Rapport, 2013 <HeMateMe: Man, what a tactical beheading.> CHOMP!
(poor imitation of guillotine sound)
:-) |
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| Jul-27-13 | | dumbgai: The Botvinnik system of the Semi-Slav is one of my favorite openings. I play it quite a lot as black. As has been mentioned, it was played frequently at the Super-GM level in the 90s but fell out of favor when the top players figured out many of the lines to a draw. Here's a high level game that shows the tactical craziness that typifies this opening: Kasparov vs Kramnik, 1994 |
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Jul-27-13
 | | perfidious: The link to K-K brings back memories of a fun time many years ago. |
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| Jul-27-13 | | Nerwal: <Can someone please explain 11...Rg8 instead of Be7? At least after the exchange you lose a Knight and save a Rook. > The idea is to sacrifice the exchange to avoid losing a piece on f6. Then the rescued ♘f6 can find a good square on d5. The drawback is that this allows g5-g6, destroying the base of black's pawn structure.
This line was also often played in 1990s. Several games with it can be found in Shirov' book Fire on Board, like this one : Khalifman vs Shirov, 1994 <fun time many years ago.> Kamsky vs Kramnik, 1994
Ivanchuk vs Shirov, 1996
Van Wely vs Kramnik, 1993 (unsurprisingly for the Botvinnik variation black tried to improve in this line by putting another piece en prise with 19... ♘f4, see comments) It couldn't last forever but 1990s chess was fun.
<but fell out of favor when the top players figured out many of the lines to a draw.> Some of the lines also seem to have problems. Like Ivanov's 18... d4 which we have hardly seen since K Aseev vs S Ivanov, 1997. If I had to guess I would say it's busted... |
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| Jul-27-13 | | Doniez: Thank you for the clear explanation <Nerwal> , I will take a look at the links you suggested! |
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| Jul-27-13 | | Xeroxx: This variation is no good for black in my opinion. |
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| Jul-27-13 | | kellmano: This is a great variation. here is a youtube video that will let you know how much is going on beneath the surface in this game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itZM... |
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| Jul-27-13 | | haydn20: <Visba: What I'm wondering is why 18...exd5? Wouldn't black be much better off with 18...cxd5?> Me too. That being said, I can't find an answer to 18. Rh8 which, after all, seemed to be a major point of White's line. |
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| Jul-27-13 | | haydn20: OOh--even better: after 18...exd5 19. Qxc6 Rb6 19. Nd5! Rxc6 20. Nxe7 Kxe7 f4 and four connected passers finish Black off. |
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| Jul-27-13 | | cro777: Bacrot pointed out after the game that Rapport could have drawn the game if he had played 24...Qg4 instead of 24...axb6? which loses by force. Position after 24.Nxb6
click for larger view24... Qg4 with a possible continuation 25. d5 Qxg3+ 26. Ke2 Qg2+ 27. Ke3 Qg3+ 28. Ke2 |
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| Jul-28-13 | | notyetagm: Bacrot vs R Rapport, 2013 <THE IMMORTAL INTERPOSING GAME> So much INTERPOSING! INTERPOSING! INTERPOSING! in this here game! 25 d4-d5! b7->h1@d5+g8
29 Re1-e3! d4->f2@e3+f2 |
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| Jul-28-13 | | notyetagm: Bacrot vs R Rapport, 2013 Game Collection: INTERPOSE TO DEFEND. DEFEND BY INTERPOSING. 25 d4-d5! b7->h1@d5+g8, 29 Re1-e3! d4->f2@e3+f2 |
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| Jul-28-13 | | notyetagm: Bacrot vs R Rapport, 2013 Game Collection: INTERPOSE! INTERPOSE! INTERPOSE! INTERPOSE! 25 d4-d5! b7->h1@d5+g8, 29 Re1-e3! d4->f2@e3+f2 |
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| Nov-04-14 | | MelvinDoucet: I wish I could copy or dl pgn's from a mobile device ;( |
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Kibitzing
sac: 9.Nxg5
icon.