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Informant at ChessCafe
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We Never Walk Alone by Josip Asik I do not know the origin of FIDE's motto Gens una sumus; however, it perfectly reflects the strong connections within the worldwide chess community. It has proven itself time and again in my numerous travels that a chess player never walks alone in any city or country. One need only seek out his brethren at the local club or even street corner. In late '90s, as a television journalist, I went to Israel to cover the basketball match between Maccabi and Red Star. While walking with my cameraman through Tel Aviv center, I spotted a group of chess players. The temptation was strong, but I managed to resist joining the games. Nevertheless, I learned that strong players went there in the evenings. To cut a long story short, I spent my only night in Tel Aviv enjoying the night-long chess party. My new friends even arranged a morning cab ride to the hotel. My colleagues couldn't imagine where I had been and even feared the worst, since I had left the hotel only after retiring for bed: the urge to play was simply stronger than me. I had similar adventures in Fortaleza in Brazil, in Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) in Russia, and many other locales. In 2000, I desperately wanted to cover the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. However, because of UN sanctions against Serbia, there was no regular travel connections to Turkey. Thus, I found myself, loaded with a big Super VHS camera, on a smugglers bus that journeyed a strange and unbelievably long route to the dazzling city along the Bosphorus. The Chess Olympiad was a revelation for me: it is where the heart beats for the game of chess. There is no similar event in any other sport in terms of kinship and camaraderie. So many nations under one roof! The Chess Olympiads in Istanbul, Mallorca, Torino, and Dresden left me in a state of joy. Chess Informant brings this world into the hands of its readers. With so many contributors it reflects the colorful world of chess and allows us to travel to long distance events through its pages. We are, after all, speaking the same chess language. This month, we are pleased to present the "CI Labs" article from Chess Informant 112 by the well-known Bulgarian theoretician Aleksander Delchev. Chess Informant 112 features six other original theoretical surveys, while the forthcoming Chess Informant 113 will present ten "CI Labs" articles as well as introduce many new surprises.
By Aleksander Delchev The Blumenfeld Gambit is one of the sharpest openings in modern chess practice. This applies especially to the line where White grabs the sacrificed pawn after 5.de6 fe6 6.cb5. I myself do not like this approach, as White surrenders the opening initiative to his opponent for a fairly insignificant material gain, and prefer the more positional approach starting with 5. Bg5. In a game of mine from the recent European Team Championship, playing against the fearless Mamedyarov, I preferred to keep him at a reasonable distance and chose precisely this line. The first critical position of the game appeared after 18...f5!, introducing the plan of Black transferring his knight to e4 and preparing a kingside pawn storm. A similar position occured in the game Gupta – Iturrizaga, Wijk aan Zee 2009. I apparently underestimated Black's counterplay and was severely punished. Instead, I should have continued to build up my position, by improving my pieces and very carefully preparing the e4-e5 break. After deep analysis of that game, as well as three others I have played in the same line, I think I have found the key to breach Black's optically miserable position, which contains a hole on c4 and pawn weaknesses on d6 and a6. The analysis is presented in this CI Labs article and my conclusion is that the Blumenfeld Gambit is a positionally very risky opening. Black needs to find some improvement at an early stage (perhaps trying Nisipeanu's move 5...b4, which however hasn't brought him much success), in order to avoid the typical pawn structure where White enjoys a stronghold on the c4 square. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 b5
5.Bg5! ed5 5...Qa5 6.Qd2 Qd2 7.Nbd2 [7.Nfd2] ed5 8.Bf6 gf6 9.cd5 and White is slightly better; 5...b4 6.a3
6...h6! [6...a5 7.e4 h6 8.Bf6 Qf6 9.e5 Qd8 10.Bd3 and White is superior; 6...Na6 7.de6 fe6 8.e4 Be7 9.e5 Ne4 10.Be7 Qe7 11.Bd3 Bb7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Qc2 Rf4 14.g3 Rf3 15.Be4 Be4 16.Qe4 Raf8 17.Nd2 R3f7 18.f4 and White is superior] 7.Bh4 a5 8.ab4 cb4 9.Nbd2 unclear; Z.Gyimesi 2598 - Nisipeanu 2683, Plovdiv 2010 6.cd5 d6 6...Qa5 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Bd2 Nd2 9.Nd2 d6 10.e3 a6 11.a4 b4 12.Nce4 and White is slightly better; V.Bogdanov 2403 - R.Wukits 2296, Zalakaros 2002 7.e3 a6 8.a4
8...b4 8...ba4?! 9.Bf6 Qf6 10.Qa4 Nd7 [10...Bd7 11.Qb3] 11.Nc3 Rb8 [11...Bb7 12.Nd2 Be7 13.Nc4+-] 12.Ba6! Ba6 13.Qa6 Rb2 14.0-0 and White is superior; A.Delchev 2613 - A.Saric 2441, Zadar 2007 9.Nbd2 Be7 10.Nc4 110.Bf6!? Bf6 11.Nc4
10...Bb7 10...a5?! 11.Bd3 Ba6! [11...Nbd7 12.Bf4 0-0 13.e4 and White is slightly better] 12.Rc1! 0-0 [12...Nbd7 13.Bf4 Nb6 14.Nb6 Qb6 15.e4 Bd3 16.Qd3 Qa6 17.Qa6 Ra6 18.Nd2 Nh5 19.g3! Nf4 20.gf4 g5 21.Ke2 gf4 22.Nc4 Bf6 23.b3 Bd4 24.Rcg1 and White is superior] 13.Bf4 Nh5 14.0-0 Nf4 15.ef4 Nd7 16.Re1 Re8 17.Rc2 Bf8 18.Ne3 Nf6 19.Ba6 Ra6 20.Qd3 Ra7 21.Rce2 Rae7 22.Nd2 Qa8 23.Kf1 g6 24.g3 Bg7 25.Ndc4 Qd8 26.f3 and White is slightly better; 10...0-0 11.Bd3
11...Bb7! 11...a5?! 12.0-0 12.Qc2 b3 12...Nbd7 13.Rd1 [13.Bf6 Bf6 14.0-0] h6 14.Bf6 [14.Bf4 Nb6 15.Nb6 Qb6 16.h3 b3] Nf6 15.0-0 [15.h3 Ba6 16.0-0 (16.e4 Nh5) Qc7 17.e4 Nh5 18.Ne3 Bd3 19.Qd3 Nf4 20.Qd2 and White is superior] Bg4! 16.b3 Nd7 17.Bf5 Bf3 18.gf3 Nb6 19.Kh1 Nc4 20.Qc4 Bf6 equal; A.Delchev 2632 - Ovetchkin 2540, Plovdiv 2008 13.Qb3 Na6 14.e4 Rb8 15.Qd1 Nd5 unclear; 12.Bf6 Bf6 13.Qc2 g6 14.0-0 and White is superior; 12...Bb7 [12...Ba6 13.Bf4] 13.Bf6 [13.e4?! Nd5 equal] Bf6 14.e4 g6 [14...Qe7 15.e5 Be5 16.Nfe5 de5 17.Re1 Nd7 18.f4 Bd5 19.Bh7 Kh7 20.Qd5 Kg8 21.fe5 Ra6 22.Qb7 and White is superior] 15.Re1 Re8 16.Rc1 Qe7 17.e5 and White is superior; 11...Ra7 12.Bf6 Bf6 13.Qc2 h6 14.a5! [14.0-0 a5 15.Nfd2 Ba6 16.Rad1 (16.f4 Nd7 17.Rae1 and White is slightly better) Nd7 17.Ne4 (17.Rfe1 Qc7 18.Ne4 and White is slightly better) Bc4 18.Bc4 Qe7 19.b3 and White is slightly better; A.Delchev 2591 - Aloma Vidal 2341, Balaguer 2007] Bb7 [14...Qe7 15.0-0 Bd7 16.Nfd2 Bb5 17.f4 Nd7 18.Rae1 and White is superior] 15.Rd1 Qe7 16.0-0 and White is slightly better 12.Bf6 Bf6 13.a5 and White is slightly better; 10...Nbd7 11.a5 Bb7 [11...0-0 12.Bd3 Bb7 13.Bf6 Nf6 (13...Bf6 14.Bc2 Qe7 15.Qd3 g6 16.Ba4 and White is slightly better) 14.e4] 12.Bf6 Nf6 13.Nb6 0-0! 14.Bd3 Rb8 15.0-0 Nd7 16.Nc4! Bf6 17.Bc2 Qe7 18.Qd3 g6 19.Ba4 Rbd8 20.Rae1 and White is slightly better 11.Bf6! Bf6 12.a5! 0-0 12...Qe7 13.Be2 Nd7 14.Qd3 g6 15.Bd1 0-0 16.Ba4 Bg7 17.0-0 and White is slightly better; A.Gupta 2569 - Iturrizaga Bonelli 2528, Wijk aan Zee 2009 113.Bd3 Qe7 14.0-0 Nd7 15.Bc2 g6 16.Ba4 Rad8 17.Qd3 Bg7 18.Rae1
18...f5! 18...Ne5 19.Nfe5 Be5 20.Re2 Bg7 21.Nb6 f5 22.Bc6 Rf7 23.Rc1 Bf6 24.g3 Qc7 25.Bb7 [25.Rd2 Kg7 26.Rcd1 Qe7 27.Qc4 h5 28.h4 Qc7 29.Rc2 Re7 30.Bb7 Qb7 31.Kg2 Re4 32.Qd3 Rde8] Qb7 26.h4 and White is slightly better 19.Bc6! 19.Re2 Nf6! [19...g5 20.e4 f4 21.Bd7 Rd7 22.e5] 20.Nb6 Ne4 [20...h6 21.Nh4 Kh7 22.f3 Ne4 23.g3 Ng5 24.Bc6 Bf6 25.Ng2] 21.g3 g5 22.Rc2 Bf6 23.Nd2 Nd2 24.Rd2 f4 25.ef4; 22...Rf7 with counterplay; 19.e4!? f4 20.Bd7! Qd7! [20...Rd7 21.e5 and White is superior] 21.h3! [21.Ng5 Qg4 22.Ne6 f3 23.Ne3 Qh5 with compensation] Bf6! [21...h6 A.Delchev 2629 - Mamedyarov 2733, Porto Carras 2011] 22.Re2 Rfe8 23.Rfe1 Qb5 24.b3 Bc3 25.Rd1 Bc8 26.Ne1 g5 27.e5 Be5 28.Nf3 Bf6 29.Nd6 Qd3 30.Re8 Re8 31.Rd3 Rd8 32.Nc8 Rc8 33.Nd2 Kf7 34.Nc4 Rd8 and White is slightly better 19...Bc8 19...Bc6 20.dc6 Nb8 21.e4 f4 22.Nb6 and White is superior 20.Re2! 20.e4 f4! 21.Re2 [21.e5 Ne5 22.Nfe5 Be5 23.Ne5 de5 24.f3 Qd6 25.Qe2 Rf5 26.Rc1 Rf7 27.Rfe1 Bb7 28.Qe5 Bc6 29.dc6 Qc6 30.Rc5 Qd6] Ne5 22.Nfe5 Be5 23.Ne5 Qe5 24.f3 Rf7 20...g5 20...Nf6 21.Nb6 Bb7 [21...Qe4 22.Qb3 Bh6 23.Nd2 Qe7 24.Nc8 Rc8 25.Qc4 Qa7 (25...Ne4 26.Ne4 Qe4 27.Qa6 c4 28.Rc1 and White is superior) 26.Qh4 Kg7 27.h3 and White is superior, with the idea f4, g4] 22.Ng5 and White is superior; 20...Ne5 21.Nfe5 Be5 22.Rfe1 Bf6 23.f3 Rf7 24.Nb6 Bb7 25.g3 Qc7 26.Bb7 Qb7 27.Nc4 Re7 28.Kg2 and White is superior 21.e4
21...f4 21...fe4 22.Re4 Ne5 23.Nfe5 Bf5 24.Rfe1 Be5 25.Ne5 de5 26.Qa6 Be4 27.Re4 Rf4 28.Qe2 and White is superior 22.e5 Ne5 23.Nfe5 Be5 23...de5 24.d6 24.Ne5 de5 25.Rfe1 Rf5 26.Qc4 and White is slightly better. Download a complete index of the ECO Classification System. A PDF file of this month's Informant at ChessCafe column, along with all previous Informant at ChessCafe columns, is available in the ChessCafe.com Archives. Comment on this month's column via our Contact Page! Pertinent responses will be posted below daily. |
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Queen's Pawn Game [E10]
