With eight rounds to go, we have a sole leader on +3.Ian Nepomniachtchi has been onfire in this event, playingqualitychess and pressuring his opponentsinto makingmistakes. We are seeing the best ofNepomniachtchi in this event, and withoutmaking any radical claims he should beconsidered a favouriteto win the title (notwithstanding his healthissues) dueto thelead he possesses. With this general background out of the way, let us get into the crux of this article finding resources which the Candidates either missed or underestimated.
I have found tangible improvements in Caruana-MVL and Giri-Caruana, so we will focus on those two first. I will then present an alternative way to play the theoretical Najdorf in Alekseenko-MVL, andlastly I will point out a very imaginative idea (though notnecessarily an improvement) in Wang-Alekseenko forBlack, all of these courtesyFat Fritz and my chess filters! Onwards!
Navigating the Ruy Lopez Vol.1-3
The Ruy Lopez is one of the oldest openings which continues to enjoy high popularity from club level to the absolute world top. In this video series, American super GM Fabiano Caruana, talking to IM Oliver Reeh, presents a complete repertoire for White.
Why do I start with this game? Well, think of this as the biggest findof my analytical career till now! It seemed to me during the live broadcast that the general plan chosen by Fabi according to his opening preparation was sub-optimal, so I decided to check forimprovements. The results are quite astonishing frankly after more than nine hours of work I havecompiled a ratherastonishing idea thatasfar as Iknow has never been tried in similar structures! Let'shave a look:
This is the positionafter White's 10.c2!?, which is a rare move according to the databases, but aperfectly logical continuation. Here Caruana continued with 10...bd7!? 11.0-0-0 b6, but I am not convinced with his play, and decided to find an improvement. Well, here is the idea: Black plays the seemingly anti-positional 10...dxc4!N, which isalready taking thegame into uncharted territory. After White's logical 11.xc4aren't you wonderingwhy Black took on c4? Here despite White not losing a tempo by taking on c4 directly, I feel that after the next move he should not even have a symbolic advantage! Any guesses?
11...a5!!This is the last move that would come to most people's minds here. But Fat Fritz thinks differently. What is the point of this move? Well, common senseindicates that it just gainsqueenside space, and if Black is allowed to do it he will go b5 and a4 and b4, crushing White's queenside ambitions.Does this mean c5 is chucked out of the window?Not quite!In some positions that pawn break still comes, andBlack losing control of the b5 square is not so dangerous he has the b4 square to compensate for it and White's kingside structure is rather weak, due to the advance of the f-pawn.I havetried to logicallyexplain the ideas of this move, but it is impossible to cover them all, so with concrete variations I hope to convinceyou thatthe idea is not only perfectly sound, but also practically dangerous forthe playerwith the White pieces!
The critical response toBlack's wing attack is to counter it with an assault on the other wing with 12.h4!?. We will analyse that move last let us first check the alternatives for White on move 12:
After the natural, but risky 12.0-0 (White castles into a semi-open h-file) Black has this nice pawn break with 12...c5!. Does the move a5, weakening the b5 square,come back to haunt us? Not quite! Let us check the position after a few more moves 13.b5+ c6 14.dxc5 xc5 15.a4:
White wins a pawn and makes Black lose his castling rights after 15...a7! 16.xc6+ bxc6 17.xc6+ f8, but here concrete factors are a lot more important therook on the open h-file and the monster bishop on a7 guarantee Blackcomplete compensation. After a few more logical moves we reach the following position:
Black is completely fine here he has the more active pieces and White's king will be under constant pressure.The extra pawn is simply notrelevant.
What about 12.0-0-0?Well after 12...a4 13.b1 a3! 14.b3 the above position is reached, and shows one of Black's key plansbecoming a success the advanceof therook pawn to create weaknesses around White'sking.After a few logical moves we canreach the following diagram:
Black is comfortably equal here his lack of central space is compensated by the long term weakness of the White king.
To make my lines better, I was using Stockfish in tandem to understand why it doesn't understandBlack's ideas! Its choice afterdecent thought was 12.d1 with an evaluation of around 0.20. Now after 12...0-0 13.0-0 (The alternatives can be found in the file) b5 14.e2 b6 15.h1, Black has the thematic idea 15...a6!, preparing c5 and jumping to b4.Not torepeat myself, but Black is fine!
12.e2!? is actually a clever move, stepping out of anytempo winning b5 moves. However, the catch is that after 12...a6! White is unable to stopc5 with dynamic equality.
At long last! This move is the most interesting one to analyse,though it can be disputed if it's the best White can do. Black to play 12...bd7!, andhere we have a further split.
Apart from 13.0-0-0 White has a few additional options. 13.e2!? b8! 14.0-0-0 b5! is one, where he is forced to go in for therisky line 15.xe6!? fxe6 16.xg6+ f8 17.f4d6 18.e4, but here Blackhas a strong counter.18...e5!
One can continue the analysis from here, but it is clear that Black is in noway worse White has to prove his compensation for the piece, and it seems to me that he has the tougher taskahead of him.
13.g4 is most direct, discouraging Black fromcastling short, but it doesn't seem to affect us much after 13...d5! Black takes advantage of the newly available d5 square.After alogical sequence 14.0-0-0 xc3 15.xc3 b6! 16.e2 Black has to find the only move tofully equalise, butit is not so tough:
16...b4! Black ismaking good use of the move a5!
There is the move 13.d3!?, stepping out of any b6 tricks that win a tempo, but it is a little slow 13...c8 14.e4!? b6 15.e5 (above) and here Black has a choicebetween 15...d5 (staying active) and the shocking 15...g8!, in both cases having equal chances. The choice for the reader to make isbased on the position below:
Are you afraid of this sacrifice? If so, don't choose 15...d5 (from the note above), andgo for 15...g8!,which also involves a bit of defense, but is a little safer. However, Iprefer principled chess, and the objective evaluation after this is that White is the onewho has to prove compensation for the piece, and Black holds on with moves that are relatively easy to find.
After 18.xg6!? above we reach this position after a forcedsequence. It might seem scary for Black, but he has things under control. Chess is a game where you need to do many things well, and ifdefense of such positions issomething you don't do well, then takeit as a challenge and master it!
13.e4!? should also be considered, but this is an improvement for us over the main line 13...a4! 14.0-0-0 b6, with a complex and unclear game ahead.The critical lineleads to thenext diagram
With a pawn sacrificeBlack distracts White from his kingside attack, and obtains the initiative.
Now back to the mainline 12.h4 bd7 13.0-0-0. Here Black mustmake the thematic advance 14...a4!,gaining space and creating weaknessesin front of White's king.After a logical sequence, we can reach the final diagram of this portion:
For reasons of space I didn't cover the line that leads here (consult the notes), but the final position is the culmination of Black'sideas he hasgood control of the d5 break and White's advances could quickly become weaknesses. Black is forever fine! (Thanks Adorjan!)
Here are the extensive notes to the novelty 10...dxc4! 11.xc4 a5!!
The Solid Slav Defence
This Slav DVD is a complete opening repertoire for black after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6. GM Nick Pert has played the Slav defence for over 10 years and provides all his latest and most up to date analysis crammed into one video series. Nick has spent many hours studying the best Slav lines, and he explains his favourite variations, plus includes some interactive clips where the viewer is tested on a range of theoretical questions and tactics arising from Slav games.
Caruana's Slav has not gone according to the plan so far | Photo: FIDE Candidates 2020
The other fascinating clash that caught my attention almost immediately. With 1/3it might seem as if Fabiano is playing it safe, but his games are anything but dull! He managed to put incredible pressure on the Russian, but Nepomniachtchi managed to hold after a few inaccuracies from the WorldNo.2. Here, my aim was to initially find an improvement for White, but my resulting analysis is probably relevant to the Black player as well. Let us digin!
Winning against the Grnfeld
The Grnfeld is a highly dynamic opening in which Black's position often seems to hang together by a single thread; and yet, this apparently precarious equilibrium appears to be enough to make it entirely viable up to the highest level.
The strength of 7.c4 against the Gruenfeld is sometimes underestimated as far as practical value is concerned. White plays in classical fashion, and Black's best bet is to enter this passive Semi-Tarrasch formation. Here Fat Fritz likes three moves:11.d2, which Caruana played, 11.dxc5 which has beenneutralised after 11...c7!, and my proposed improvement,11.b5!?
This moveis actually quite interesting, and hasn't been exploredmuch at the top level, save one Giri-MVL game. Itleads to positionsthat are rich in strategic content, andin the limited time I got to analyse this position, I found no clear way for Black to kill the game off. Sure, he has one nice novelty that Fat Fritzfinds almost immediately, but White can still press in the critical position arising there.
This is the novelty after 11...b7 12.c1 Black plays the aggressive 12...d6!. It takesa regular engine likeStockfish some time to appreciate this idea, but for Fat Fritzthis is a move it sticks with as the best from the beginning. Black's main idea is to keep the positions ofhis rooks flexible, and not commit to anythingdrastic. This is the hardest nut to crack as far as an opening advantage is concerned, but I have managed to find some resources here, which should interest both sides. Before analysing this in depth let us look at the old move 12...c8.
The Giri-MVL game went 13.d2a5 14.d5 and here Black's besttry to equalise is not Vachier-Lagrave'smove14..e6, but14...a6!?N as shown here. Aftera forcedsequence we can reach the next diagram:
Black is still not fully equal, and he has to suffer for quite a while here to slowly bring the game towards a draw. This is why I don't quite likethe solution Vachier-Lagrave chose on move 13, and instead recommend 13...e6! as Black's besttry for equality.
This position is from the stem game Giri-MVL. Here can you findthe best way for White to obtain a one-sided advantage?
Now,returning to the main move 13...e6! after 12...c8 13.d2,the following sequence of moves reach the above position: 14.fd1 cxd4 15.cxd4 a5N 16.xc8 xc8 17.g5 andnow the important move 17...a6!, preparing to solidify the knight on c4 with b5.
The reason I don't quite like 12...c8 as much as 12...d6!N isthis:even if Black finds all the best moves, after20.c1 Fat Fritz gives White around 0.25, which is the advantage he carries since move 1.The position here is also not that simpleto play for Black he still has to be accurate enough if he wants toequalise the game thus, my preference for the main line.
Now, we shall return to 12...d6 13.d2 (the best, read the notes to understand why)cxd4 14.cxd4 and now the surprising move 14...fc8! is Black's idea in this line. To understand exactly why this is good, go through the analysis carefully.
When the other rook comes to c8, this idea of e5loses for Black. Can you seewhy?
I hope you noticed the difference! Here White has nothing better than 18.h3xc1 19.xc1 exd420.hxg4 c8 and Black is fine because the huge pawn mass can't advance easily.
Another reason why 14...fc8 isthe best move in that given position,Black can afford to trade queensafter 15.fd1 a6 16.c4b4!. The differences arereally minute, but they end up changing the evaluation quite a bit. That's granular analysis for you!
After someworkwith the engine, I decided to recommend 15.h4!? as White's main try in this position, even though this is not the first choice of theengine. My reasons are madeclear after 15...b4! 16.xb4 xb4 17.c3 e6 18.h5!? (see next diagram).
White retains some pressure in this ending, and the presence of both rooks should favour the attacker, which is White here. An evaluation of 0.18 by Fat Fritz shows it too sees the dangers in Black's positions, even if objectively he should equalise in the long run. The line in general needs a lot of tests for a definite final evaluation, but I like White here.
The position is definitely more complex than I thought it was | Photo: FIDECandidates 2020
The last two ideas will be mentioned in brief here, as compared to the two above I didn't have too much time to spend on them:
Mastering the Sicilian Najdorf
This Najdorf-DVD is suited for the beginner as well as experienced club players. Pelletier presents a classical repertoire that's easy to learn and covers all you need to know about the Najdorf.
Instead of 14.e1, as played by White in the game, I propose the interesting continuation 14.g5 c5 15.h4! as an interesting try for players on the White side. Fat Fritz gives White 0.40 here, which is not to be underestimated, and I have attached a few sample lines for further exploration by the readers.
Instead of 9...a4 which ALekseenko tried in the game, 9...b5! seems to be a more ambitious alternative. Black is fine in all variations, and I have provided some examples.
More:
Out-preparing the Candidates with Fat Fritz (Part 2) - Chessbase News
