Girkassa wrote on 11/21/07 at 18:01:00:
I must say this looks really interesting! In fact, I thought the queen sac was almost forced in this line, which is why I have preferred 5...Bd7 the few times I've taken on c4 on move 4 (usually I play 4...Be7).
When I got to that position I thought I had already played 4..Be7
I have looked at the queen sac a lot and I was getting a bit desperate (really I cant understand why anyone would recommend it), so then I started looking at the alternatives and found that Mamedyarov game. I think white should be very slightly better, but certainly in correspondence I think I should be ok. In essence black has to watch out for two things:
-The c-pawn needs protection, but as little as possible. See the next point why.
-The weakest part of my position is the a-pawn. IF it can be attacked I can get into big trouble.
Mamedyarov had a nice illustration of turning this weakness into a strength. I thought of repeating this, but my opponent followed another line in which I think I am at least equal. One thing white has to watch out for is that the black bishop is only seemingly bad and at the very least can be used to plug the holes on the q-side if need be. Plus as in this game the black k-side pawns will go forward creating trouble.
If I am right and Anand reads this, we might see a very frustrated Kramnik