Thanks!   

I didn't expect that the Sveshnikov was busted, but was struck (again) by the simplicity of Kasparov's plan and the effectiveness of its execution.  I can only imagine that that was a bit of home brew, rather than an over the board discovery...

The Sveshnikov and the Kalashnikov used to be my playground against 1 e4, but it became a full-time job keeping up with the theory.

As a one time Sveshnikov player, I was going over a series of old Sveshnikov games of mine and those played at the top level, and was reminded of Kasparov's brilliant win against Shirov in 1994 at Horgen (game below).  In truth, I remember thinking that the method in which Kasparov gained control of the light squares in the game was enough to make me feel as though the Sveshnikov wasn't for me (I dabbled with it and the Kalashnikov for awhile before turning to the Najdorf and then the Caro Kann).  Having left this line long behind me and not having kept up with the theory, I presume that Black has found improvements, but I was curious to know how Black combats White's general plan of knocking off the light-squared bishop and solidifying his/her grasp on d5.  We don't all play like Kasparov, but I remember thinking this was a pretty devastating plan...


[Event "Horgen CS"]
[Date "1994.09.??"]
[White "Kasparov,Garry"]
[Black "Shirov,Alexei"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "B33"]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bf4 e5 8.Bg5 a6 9.Na3 b5 10.Nd5 Be7 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.c3 Bb7 13.Nc2 Nb8 14.a4 bxa4 15.Rxa4 Nd7 16.Rb4 Nc5 17.Rxb7 Nxb7 18.b4 Bg5 19.Na3 0-0 20.Nc4 a5 21.Bd3 axb4 22.cxb4 Qb8 23.h4 Bh6 24.Ncb6 Ra2 25.0-0 Rd2 26.Qf3 Qa7 27.Nd7 Nd8 28.Nxf8 Kxf8 29.b5 Qa3 30.Qf5 Ke8 31.Bc4 Rc2 32.Qxh7 Rxc4 33.Qg8+ Kd7 34.Nb6+ Ke7 35.Nxc4 Qc5 36.Ra1 Qd4 37.Ra3 Bc1 38.Ne3  1-0