ChessPub Forum - Morra: News since Langrock's book!

Dji

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Morra: News since Langrock's book!
05/06/07 at 13:02:19

The line 4.Nxc3 e6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bc4 a6 7.0-0 Nge7 8.Bg5 f6 is probably GM and IM favorite weapon against the Morra.
After 9.Be3 b5 (if 9...Ng6 10.Bb3 intending Na4)10.Bb3 Ng6 Langrock 's book reveal ZAKHAROV' s sac 11.Nd5!? in the main line Langrock give '11...exd5 taking the knight is dangerous, but playable for black (In fact it's the only move but i'm not sure that black have full equality)
Alternatively Langrock give:' 11...Rb8!?' .
So in my thematic tournemant I play this move... 11.Nd5 Rb8 but 12.Rc1! (Langrock give only 12.Re1! and nothing is clear) and black position is very bad.
Langrock wrote:'Zakharov's brilliant idea'.
Is it?

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MNb

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Re: Morra: News since Langrock's book!
Reply #1 - 07/12/07 at 21:52:57

I don't know, I will look at it later.
Langrock's book got reviewed at

http://www.chesscafe.com/Tim/kibb.htm

Personally I agree fully with this alinea:

Quote:

So the statistics suggest that you should not play the Morra unless you do your homework first, and do it more deeply than you might with other openings, but if you do get the hang of it, then it could be a useful weapon, even in correspondence chess. Over-the-board and in Internet blitz, of course, it should be even more effective.

Alas Black can do the same and will have to pay much less time.
For instance, I already met (and was completely surprised) by the Scheveningen main line (Michael Squires – Manuel Seris-Granier Gonzalez) back in 1986, which was not a pleasant experience. And yes, my opponent only had a rating of about 1650.

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MNb

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Re: Morra: News since Langrock's book!
Reply #2 - 07/16/07 at 03:11:28

Now I have looked at it, I must say, that 12.Rc1 seems to be superior indeed. Does Langrock mention the transposition 11.Re1 (? by Palkovi) Na5 12.Nd5 (12.Bxe6 looks equal to me) Rb8 13.Rc1 Nc4 Karacsony-Dobos, Szeged 1993 ?
Another reason is 12.Re1 exd5 13.exd5 Nce5 14.d6 Bb7 15.Nxe5 fxe5 16.f4 Qh4 and White wishes, that the rook is on f1.

So we get 11.Nd5 Rb8 (exd5 see Zacharov-Gusev, Tula 2001) 12.Rc1 exd5 (maybe Nge7, but White must have sufficient compensation then) 13.exd5 Nce5 14.d6 and in all lines I found the inclusion of the two rook moves favour White. One example is Nxf3+ 15.gxf3 Bb7 16.Re1 Ne5 17.f4 Nf3+ 18.Qxf3 Bxf3 19.Bb6+ Be7 20.Bxd8 Kxd8 21.dxe7+ Ke8 22.Rc7 and Black is entangled.

As the quieter 11.Nd4 does not convince me, Zacharov's knight sac might very well White's best. After all White has a huge lead in development after 10...Ng6 so strong measures might be justified.

If White wants to play this piece sac, the transposition via 9...Ng6 is somewhat problematic. The theoretical recommendation is 10.Bb3 Be7 11.Na4 0-0 12.Nb6 Rb8. Sure White has pressure, but further not anything concrete. Maybe the piece sac is here possible as well?
a)10.Re1 b5 11.Bb3 Na5 is mentioned above.
b)10.Bb3 Be7 11.Nd5 exd5 12.exd5
1)12...Na5 13.d6 Bxd6 (Nxb3 14.dxe7 Qxe7 15.Qxb3 is the same) 14.Qxd6 Qe7 15.Qd5 Nxb3 16.Qxb3 with compensation, as Black is underdeveloped and has long term problems with the safety of the king.
2)12...Nce5 13.d6 Nxf3+ (Bf8? 14.Re1 and 14.Nxe5 fxe5 15.f4 win) 14.gxf3 Bxd6 15.Qxd6 Qe7 16.Qg3 Nf8 17.Rac1 looks good.
c)10.Rc1 preparing 11.Nd5 (or b5 11.Bb3 and 12.Nd5) might also be possible.

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« Last Edit: 07/16/07 at 05:14:06 by MNb »

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Dji

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Re: Morra: News since Langrock's book!
Reply #3 - 07/18/07 at 12:58:38

Langrock just mention 9.Be3 b5 10.Bb3 Ng6 11.Re1?! Bb4!?

Your novelty in the line Ng6 10.Bb3 Be7 11.Nd5N is very very interesting ...ed5 12.ed5 Nce5 13.d6 Nf3+ 14.gf3 Qa5 the only way to complicate a little since 14...Bxd6 ,you've right, looks good for white 15.Re1 (it's a very quick analyse so maybe 14.dxe7 is better) ...Ne5 (15...Qh5 16.f4 (maybe 15.de7 Nh4 17. Bd5 Qg6+ 18.Kf1 Ng2 19.Qb3 is good too?) Qd1 17.Rad1 a5 18.Bb6 and white domine.) 16Kh1 Bf8 17.f4 b6 18.fe5 Bb7 19.Qg1 0-0-0 20.e6 Qf5 21.e7 Be7 22.Qc1+ Bc6 23.de7 Rde8 24.Qc4 b5 25.Qf4 Qg6 26.Qg3+-

In the line 9.Be3 b5 10.Bb3 Ng6 11.Nd5 Rb8 12.Rc1! ed5 13.ed5 Nce5 14.d6 you 've right is probably winning but there is another way :first 14.Nxe5 Ne5 (14...fe5 15.d6 Bb7 16.f4 ef4 17.Qe1 is not particulary better;maybe 14...Bd6 is best but the position is just horrible) 15.f4 (or 15.Re1 ) with a terrible attack!
Again it's just very quick analyse so sorry for mistakes

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MNb

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Re: Morra: News since Langrock's book!
Reply #4 - 07/18/07 at 22:57:36

Well, it is not really my novelty, as I have stolen the idea from Zacharov of course.
You are right, that 14.Nxe5 first is more precise than 14.d6 and 15.Nxe5. There is no need to allow the extra option ...Nxf3+.
My impression is, that Black needs to return the piece just to survive. As it will usually be the bishop on e7, White will be left with the pair of bishops. Black at the other hand will regret having played ...f6.
Is the knight sac really that strong? If yes, why hasn't it been tried more often, as that Zacharov game already is 6 years old?

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« Last Edit: 07/19/07 at 04:20:03 by MNb »

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Dji

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Re: Morra: News since Langrock's book!
Reply #5 - 07/19/07 at 10:56:30

MNb wrote on 07/18/07 at 22:57:36:

Well, it is not really my novelty, as I have stolen the idea from Zacharov of course.

Is the knight sac really that strong? If yes, why hasn't it been tried more often, as that Zacharov game already is 6 years old?

Yes but a very few professional play the Morra and the other reason is that information is very important: Langrock's book was printed out just few months ago.
Last but not least,There is an interrogation about the evaluation of the game Zacharov - Gusev (11...ed5 instead of 11...Rb8?). Langrock thinks it's a draw 18.Qc8! instead of 18...Qb8?.
I think that white have nothing to fear but hard to say if white have more than a draw

In the line 9...Ng6 (!? Langrock ) 10.Bb3 Be7 Langrock give 11.Nd4 and Na4!? The game LANGROCK-Sarakauskas !! so I 'm sorry but you're move 11.Nd5!N is a real novelty!!

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MNb

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Re: Morra: News since Langrock's book!
Reply #6 - 07/26/07 at 12:58:38

For the time being I also think 18...Qc8 (iso 18...Qb8, as played by Gusev) a draw. Given White's bad results after 11.Nd4 Nxd4 12.Nxd4 Bd6 - Harding is probably right, that White should try 12.Qxd4 Bb7 13.f4 Rc8 - a draw after 11.Nd5 is not too bad.
Palkovi is quite superfluous on 9...b5 10.Bb3 Na5 and 10...Bb7. Eg he analyses 10...Bb7 11.Nh4 Na5 12.f4 Nxb3 13.axb3 b4 14.f5 but fails to mention Kapferer-Bilsel, em IECG 1999, where Black played h5! and went on to win.
This must be analysed thoroughly as well. As I suffer from a sore throat, I will postpone this a bit.

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Re: Morra: News since Langrock's book!
Reply #7 - 08/22/07 at 22:22:35

As Dji wrote in the other thread on the Morra Gambit (early a6 and b5): Kamsky's interesting idea!

[Event "14th Ordix Open"]
[Site "Mainz GER"]
[Date "2007.08.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Negele, M."]
[Black "Kamsky, G."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B21"]
[WhiteElo "2245"]
[BlackElo "2718"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2007.08.18"]
[Source "Mark Crowther"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.20"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. O-O Nge7 8.
Bg5 b5 9. Bb3 Bb7 10. Qe2?! dubious but what else Nd4? Qb8 11. Rfe1 Ng6 12. Rad1 Bc5 13. e5 h6 14. Bc1 Bb4 15. Bc2 Nce7 16. Rd4 Bxc3 17. bxc3 Bd5 18. Ba3 Qb7 19. Rxd5 Nxd5 20. Bxg6 fxg6 21. Qe4 Kf7 22. Nh4 Rhc8 23. Qxg6+ Kg8 24. Bc1 d6 25. exd6 Qf7 26. Qg4 Rc4 27. Re4 Nf6 28. Rxc4 Nxg4 29. Rxg4 g5 30. Nf3 Qf5 31. Rd4 Qc2 32. Bd2 e5 33. Rd5 e4 34. Ne1 Qxa2 35. Rd4 Rd8 36. h4 Qe6 37. hxg5 hxg5 38. Bxg5 Rxd6 0-1

As Palkovi already has pointed out, in this particular case White has 9.Bxb5! axb5 10.Nxb5 d5 11.exd5 exd5 12.Bf4 Be6 13.Bc7 winning the queen. Once again Palkovi is quite unreliable, as Black can offer more resistance with 12...Qa5 and especially 11...Ba6, so White should play 11.Bf4 and Black is not to envy. Kamsky was a bit lucky.
The logical conclusion is not, that this line is good for White. Black should play ...b5 at an earlier stage, eg 4...a6 5.Bc4 e6 6.Nf3 b5 7.Bb3 Bb7 8.0-0 Ne7 9.Bg5 Nbc6 and we are back in the Kamsky game. The position already occurred in Roos-Goins, corr 1995. White played 10.Re1 f6 (note Qb8 11.Nd5!?)11.Bh4 and lost. This game shows, that Black in the right circumstances just can ignore the typical Nd5 sac.
White's problem is about the same as the one I pointed out in my previous note (6...Nc6 7.0-0 Nge7 8.Bg5 f6 9.Be3 b5 10.Bb3 Bb7). Since the last time I have looked at this only superficially (not superfluously).
Maybe 11.Nd4 (and 10.Nd4 f6 11.Be3 in the Kamsky game) after all, though Palkovi gives 11...Nxd4 and 12...Nc6 to Black's advantage. Is this true? In any case, 10.Nd4 (iso Negele's 10.Qe2) f6 11.Be3 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b4 (Nxd4) 13.Na4 Bxe4 14.Re1 Bc6 15.Nc5 gives White chances. Black can avoid this with 10.Nd4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 f6 and White may try 12.Bh4 Nc6 13.Qd1 Be7 14.Qh5+ g6 15.Qh6.

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Dji

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Re: Morra: News since Langrock's book!
Reply #8 - 08/23/07 at 14:09:51

MNb wrote on 08/22/07 at 22:22:35:

As Dji wrote in the other thread on the Morra Gambit (early a6 and b5): Kamsky's interesting idea!

[Event "14th Ordix Open"]
[Site "Mainz GER"]
[Date "2007.08.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Negele, M."]
[Black "Kamsky, G."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B21"]
[WhiteElo "2245"]
[BlackElo "2718"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2007.08.18"]
[Source "Mark Crowther"]
[SourceDate "2007.08.20"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 a6 6. Bc4 e6 7. O-O Nge7 8.
Bg5 b5 9. Bb3 Bb7 10. .

Since 10.Qe2 and 10.Nd4 doesn't seem to promising so maybe 10.a4 b4 11.Nd5 or 10.Nd5 ?

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