Biel 2003: This Category XVI was won by the mercurial GM Alexander Morozevich, who scored 8.5/10 with an Elo performance of 2879. Viktor Kortschnoj had a very bad tournament and ended up last, with 2.0/10.

Kramatorsk 2003: This Category X was won by a thirteen-year-old girl, Kateryna Lahno, who made a GM norm in the process. This is a young lady we will have to watch out for.

A 13-year-old with GM strength: Kateryna Lahno with the other participants of the category 10 GM tournament in Kramatorsk.

FRA-ch: The French championship saw three players at the top: Andrei Sokolov, Etienne Bacrot and Joel Lautier. In the playoff 20-year-old Bacrot won all his games to become the new French champion.

American Continental 2nd: This is the biggest tournament on the CD, with 836 games. This is high-quality fighting chess, borne witness by the fact that 16 examples in our Tactics database are all taken from this event.

Multimedia

Once again Anna Dergatschova provides us with video material, this time from the European Club Team Cup in Crete. Anna has conducted interviews with players like Peter Svidler, Elli Pähtz, Laurent Fressinet, Sergei Movsvesian and Maria Manakova (on the subject of being a “sex symbol” in the chess world).

Chess Theory

GM Evgeny Postny examines the position that can arise after various move orders, for instance 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.cxd5 Nxd5 4.g3 g6 5.Bg2 Nb6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.d3 Nc6 9.Be3 e5.

Postny writes: “This opening variation gained popularity in the last decade, and White achieved good results lately (although the overall statistics is equal, see below). On the white side, there are no players employing this variation consistently (yet!), but many strong grandmasters use it occasionally. Due to the recent successes of Black in the main variations of the Gruenfeld, White has been trying some new approaches. Therefore, some previously considered `side variations' have suddenly become topical.”

There are 66 selected games in this database, about 30% of them are annotated by the author, at least the opening stage. A few games have been annotated by the grandmasters V. Mikhalevski, Ribli and Gelfand. The database includes almost all fresh practical material – up to October 2003. Furthermore, there is an opening key especially developed for this database.

Statistics: out of 66 games White won 23 games = 34%, 20 games were drawn = 32%, Black won 23 games = 34%. The average rating of White players was 2421, performance = 2424; the average for Black was 2437, performance = 2393.

Our GM analyst concludes his lesson in the Anti-Gruenfeld with the following summary: “In general this opening variation can be evaluated as equal, in all lines Black has sufficient resources to maintain the balance. Understanding typical plans and ideas is required from both sides. Since the position arising in this opening line are non-symmetrical, this variation can be a suitable weapon in a `must-win situation' for both sides!”

GM Zoltan Ribli looks at the opening that starts with the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be2 a6 7.0-0 b5 8.Nxc6 dxc6 9.a4.

He points out that instead of 7...b5 more usual is 7...Nf6, meaning that the diagram is actual the basic position of a sub-variation. Ribli concludes that the variation with 7...b5 is not as popular as 7...Nf6. After 8.Nxc6 dxc6 (8...Qxc6?! is not as good because of 9.Bf3 Bb7 10.Bf4) 9.a4 Black has, in practical terms, two continuations since after 9...Bb7? White has a great advantage. But after the immediate 9...b4 as well as after 9...Rb8 (after which Black sooner or later also plays the pawn move b5-b4) White has a simple plan – the occupation of the c4-square with the knight, causing the black position to lose its elasticity, which gives White a small positional advantage without any special risk. On the other hand the variation offers Black tactical counter chances, so that 7...b5 is useful as a surprise weapon for some games, but cannot be recommended as the main weapon.

Our Playchess.com chess trainer GM Dorian Rogozenko looks at the opening that starts with the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5.

Rogozenko starts with a little explanation about the move order that is required at the beginning of the survey. Taking on d4 (11...Nxd4) is one of the most attractive ways for Black players to avoid some of the main lines in the Sicilian Dragon. But it must be mentioned that if there are pawns on h4 and h5 (e.g. after 10.h4 h5 11.0-0-0 Rc8 12.Bb3 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 b5) playing like this with Black is worse. White gets an advantage after 14.e5 dxe5 15.Bxe5, when the move 15...Bc6 (the best with the pawns on h2 and h7) runs into 16.Qg5 attacking the pawn g6.

Thus, White can avoid the variation discussed in the survey by playing an early h2-h4, say at move 10. But Rogozenko shows that it would be a concession, restricting White from later choices. For instance, nowadays one of the most fashionable lines for White in the Dragon is 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Ne5 12.Kb1. With the pawns on h4 and h5, this plan (Kb1) is less dangerous for Black, so the early inclusion of the move h4 does have its drawbacks as well.

GM Zoltan Ribli discusses the lines that arise after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 0-0 8.Rc1 dxc4 9.Bxc4 c5 10.0-0 cxd4 11.exd4.

“In this position, White has a great advantage in development and space, but Black has the bishop pair and the d4-pawn is isolated. Black has three main continuations at his disposal: 11...Bxc3, 11...Rd8 and 11...Nc6. This variation offers White active play and even when Black achieves equality, he must always defend very carefully. In my personal opinion the variation 11...Lxc3 offers Black good chances to equalize. Also the variation with 12...Qe7, which is a favourite of GM Ehlvest, creates a solid impression. In other variations White obtains lasting positional pressure.”

The variation presented by Jerzy Konikowski arises after the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 0-0 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Be3 Bg4 (to provoke f2-f3 weakening the diagonal g1-a7) 11.f3 cxd4 12.cxd4 Sa5 (Black wants to away the white-squared bishop away from the active diagonal a2-g8) 13.Bd3 Be6.

With 14.d5!? White sacrifices the exchange to maintain his strong centre and his attacking chances. This line leads to sharp and complicated play. After 14...Bxa1 15.Qxa1 f6 16.Bh6 Re8 some theoreticians recommend 16...Bd7!? immediately giving back the material sacrificed by White, e.g. 17.Bxf8 Qb6+ 18.Nd4 (18.Qd4 Qxd4+ 19. Nxd4 Kxf8 20.Rc1 Rc8 21.Rxc8+ Bxc8=) 18...Rxf8 19.Rb1 Qd6 with a good game.

However the continuation 17.Kh1!?, which was suggested by Max Euwe, is the subject of Konikowski's investigation. The idea is to safeguard the monarch against checks on the diagonal g1-a7. The resulting position has a sharp character: White doubtlessly has good attacking possibilities, but Black should – with correct play – be able to defend himself successfully.

Conclusion: In tournament practice, with limited reflection time, the exchange sacrifice after 14.d5!? represents a great danger for Black. However, the second player has enough counterplay to refute his opponent's attack.

Chess Strategy

“Material Imbalances – The Queen v Other Pieces” is the second of three columns by GM Peter Wells, which examine positions in which the initial equilibrium is disturbed in material terms. This sounds straightforward enough, but the existence of an unusual material balance in no way invites us to switch off our positional antennae. On the contrary, and perhaps never more so than in the battles between the queen and a range of forces arrayed against her, the inter-play of material and 'positional' considerations can be especially complex.

Chess Tactics

“Beware of Fragile Constructions!” is the title Valery Atlas has chosen for his tactics corner. The Panamerican Continental Championships and the 78th French Championships have provided many exciting tactical battles, decided by brilliant combinations and remarkable sacrificies. Among the tactical examples in the present database you will find many games in which the winning side efficiently used the fragility of the opponent's defensive constructions. In these games defensive bastions, which could appear firm at first glance, were destroyed by means of efficient tactical blows and impressive combinations.

Chess Endgame

Endgame specialist GM Hans-Joachim Hecht presents 81 instructive endings. His subjects this time are pawn endings (6 examples), rook against knight (3), rook against bishop (12), rook against minor pieces (4), rook + extra piece (9), two rooks against rook + piece (3), rook with knight (11), rook with bishop of same colour (10), rook with bishop of different colour (10), rook + bishop against rook + knight (13).

Chess Telechess

The new edition of Telechess provides news, information and games from the many tournaments which are played under the auspices of the International Correspondence Chess Federation, the official World organisation for all correspondence chess, i.e. moves sent by post, Email or other forms of transmission. The database on CBM 97 contains seven reports and over 9000 games, of which 37 are annotated.

All telechess organizations (both postal or e-mail) will find coverage in the ChessBase Magazine Telechess column. The authors GM Juan Sebastián Morgado and GM Roberto Alvarez invite both masters and amateurs to submit their games with analysis and annotations (in one of the following languages: English, Spanish or German) to the following e-mail address: jmorgado @ajedrez-de-estilo.com.ar or ajeinteg @yahoo.com. Those who want to use normal postal services should write to: Juan Sebastián Morgado, Casilla de Correo 51 Sucursal 49, 1449 Buenos Aires, Argentina. You are asked to send the games in electronic format, preferably in ChessBase format or at least PGN format.

Chess Demo

In this database you will find, as usual, short descriptions and samples