Model
Games for Black
Petroff’s Defense
Kugayevsky-Khmielevsky, 1987
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nxe5 d6 4 Nf3 Nxe4 5 d4 d5 6 Bd3 Be7 7 0-0 Nc6 8 Re1 Bg4 9 c3 f5! 10 Qc2 0-0 11 Nfd2? Nxf7! 12 Rxe7?? (12 Kxf2 Bh4+ 13 g3 f4) Bd1! 0-1
Chess Life, Feb 1986, p. 29
Hracek-Haba, 1998 1. e4 e5 2 Nf3 Mf6 3 d4 Nxe4 4 Bd3 d5
5 Nxe5 Nd7(!) 6 Nxd7 Bxd7 7 0-0 Qh4 8 c4 0-0-0 9 c5 g5
10 Nc3 Bg7 11 g3 Qh3 12 Nxe4 dxe4 13 Bxe4 Bb5! 14 Bxg5 Rxd4 15 Bg2 Qf5 16 Qb3
c6 17 Be3 BxRf1 18 Rxf1. The game follows Rd7? 19 Qa4 a6 Bxc6!++
but Black should play … Rhd8! =+ (=
according to De Firmian,
Ruy Lopez:
Here is a real coffee house line that scored an impressive point for Black in international play: Topalov – Leko, Dortmund, 1999: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 4 0-0 Bc5 (this is supposed to be the correct move order to play the classical, as 3 … Bc5 is met by 4. c3) 5 c3 0-0 6 d4 Bb6 7 Bg5 h6 8 Bh4 d6 9 Qd3 Bd7 10 Nbd2 a6 11 Bc4 exd4! 12 cxd4 g5 13 Nxg5?! Hxg5 14 Bxg5 Kg7 15 Nb3 (maybe 15 Qb3) Ne7 16 Bxf6+ KxBf6 17 f4 Be6 18 Kh1 (maybe 18 f5) Bxc4 19 Qxc4 Kg7 20 f5 f6 and Black kept his material, drooled his opponent down, and won. (Chess Life, Sept. 1999, p. 22, article by Michael Rohde).
Maybe White’s best is 5 Nxe5. Nxe5 6 d4 a6
7 Be2 Be7 8 dxe5 Nxe4 9 Be3 d5 10 c4 c6 11 cxd5.
But the Berlin Classical Lopez (or most Lopez defenses without 3 ..a6), like the Petroff, appeals to players who like straightforward piece play in the opening.
French Defense - Winawer
French Poisoned Pawn
1. e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 a3 BxNc3 6 bx3 c5 7 Qg4
Qc7 (this commits black to a gambit, the French Poisoned Pawn, where Black
sacrifices his kingside to destroy the White center and to gain chances against
an exposed White King ) 8 Qxg7 Rg8 9 Qxh7 cd4 (and here more than one amateur
has “tossed that rook” in the corner) 10
Ne2 Nbc6 11 f4 Bd7 12 Qd3 dxc3 13 Nxc3 (Neil McDonald writes on p 10 of
his booklet “Trends: French Winawer”, 1990, “Black
faces utter destruction” as in Riemersa-Sinkovica,
Copenhagen, 1988) a6 14 Rb1 Na5! 15 h4 Nf5 (this seems to be the right deployment
of the knights to keep compensation) 16 Rh3 0-0-0 17 h5 Rg4 = (Lutz-Uhlmann, 1998) Here
is an example of 13
Qxc3 Nf5 14 Rb1 d4 15 Qd3
0-0-0 16 Rg1 Be8 17 g4 Nh4 18 Rg3 f6! 19 exf6 e5 20 g5 Bf7 21
Bh3 + Kb1 22 fxe5? (f5) Nxe5 23 Qe4 Rge8 24 Kf1 Neg6 25 Qg4 Qcx2 26 Bf4+
Nxf4 27 Qxf4+ Ka8 29 Re1 d3 30 Qxh4 Qxe1!
White Resigns (Sznapik-Nogueiras)
This whole Winawer thing reminds me of the Benko on the kingside, with the added attraction that the
White King often has no “safe house” (yup – that was a movie, too, about a
Sicilian Dragon, Yugoslav
(Azzopardi-Miles, 1973):
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 f3 Bg7 7 Be3 0-0 8 Qd2 Nc6 9 Bc4 Bd7 10 Bb3 Qc7!? This used to be thought bad – it looks “wrong” because the Q would be exposed to N chases. So 11 0-0-0 Ne5 (or Na5) 12 Bh6 Nc4 13 BxNx4 QzBc4 14 h4 b5 15 BxBg7 KxBg7 16 h5? B4 17 Nd5 (the sacrifices don’t work out) Nxd5 18 exd5 Qza2! 19 Nb3 Bf5 -+ (20 g4 Bxc2 followed by Rc8). Chess Life, Dec 2000, p. 56, by John Donaldson. Interesting that this line is based on light-square play, instead of the Dragon Bishop.
Now I thought that
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