I thought you might do that! (after earlier hint that the Shipov improvement with early f5 in Rhf1 line was not enough).

Well nothing for it now, we just have to put Khalifmans stuff to the test! 

kylemeister, 

I may have worded it clumsily, but rather than say it was slightly less than 2,5 metres (which might have offended my smiling friend*), I said it was easily 2 metres.  It was about 7'.  It was also about 2m 30cm.  I didn't ask it exactly how long it was because it wasn't the only monster that big in the water near us.   

When I said it was near us, I mean to say it was less than two metres, and probably less than 6 feet (two yards) or one of me (6'0") away.   


*Yes, I know alligators don't really smile, and I'm sure he (or she) doesn't think of me as a friend, but he was willing to have his photo taken without charging an arm or a leg.

There was an alligator that may have been around 16' long, but he was on the other side of a canal and I didn't really want to measure him either.  These are American Alligators, so they probably prefer the American System.  No, that's probably not true, since their brains are about the size of a walnut.  No, I don't know the metric equivalent of walnuts!

PS:  My apologies to all alligator fans for misspelling the name of the beast in the original post!

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 08/07/06 at 15:49:08:

Smyslov_Fan,
I will post my move tonight.  While you were away we got some good dicussion going on some of the options, and a few new ideas, arising from 13.Rhf1 and 13.g4 lines (about 40 posts - some with sharp teeth, but overall still probably a bit less than 7').  This might give you something to occupy yourself while you wait.

Welcome back!

Hi all!

I'm back after a week of sun and snorkelling in the Florida Keys.  Florida isn't Hawaii, but it's almost as good as the Caribbean.  The tourists mostly stayed away because of the fear of heat and hurricanes.  We had realtively mild weather (highs around 93 degrees F and lows around 80 degrees F and no heavy rains or winds) while most of the East Coast of America suffered through temperatures in the 100s.

We saw lots of toothy predators, including barracudas, sharks, and aligators.  I thought it would be great preparation for Ostap's move, but I came back and he hasn't done anything yet.   


At least the gators moved up closer to us!    It's kinda scary when a dinosaur that's easily 2 meters (more than 7') long is sizing you up for lunch and there's nothing between except a few feet of swamp.

In the third game, 19.f6! is Khalifman move.

In the line: 13.Rhf1 Bb7 14.Rc3 Rc8 15.Rh3 g6 16.g4 Black plays 16..Na5 and if 17.g4 then 17...Qe7 with the idea: 18.g5 (vs another move: f6) Bxc3 19.bxc3 Qa3+ 20.Kb1 Na5 21.Nxa5 Qxa5 and Black will soon attack on c-file while protecting castle with Rfe8 and Nf8

OK I have looked at a couple of things:

1) the idea of an early ...Na5 against 13.Rhf1:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 a6 11.Nb3 Bb4 12.Bd3 b5 13.Rhf1 Na5 14.Bd4!?
After much reflection I believe this is Whites best chance of advantage [14.Nxa5 Qxa5 15.Bd4 Nc5 16.a3 (16.Kb1 Na4 17.f5 Bxc3 18.bxc3 exf5 19.Bxf5 Be6 And Black is almost winning) 16...Bxa3 (16...Nxd3+ 17.Qxd3 Be7 18.f5 (that move again!)) 17.bxa3 Qxa3+ 18.Kb1 Qb4+ 19.Ka1 (after Kc1 Black can consider repeating moves to see if White wants a draw - if he needs to win at all costs it may also be possible to play on!?) 19...Bd7 with the White king over on a1 I suspect Black has reasonable chances here] 14...Nxb3+ [14...Nc4 15.Qe2] 15.cxb3 (Note that in this line Doms suggestion of exchanging Black squared bishops and playing f6 is not as strong - since f4 is not a weak pawn. This is a critical position but at the moment I prefer White - the attack flows quite smoothly)

**************
2) I also looked at early ...Na5 against 13.g4 - here I concluded that it is far too risky.... 
 
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 a6 11.Nb3 Bb4 12.Bd3 b5 13.g4 Na5 14.Nxa5 (It seems here this simple way is strong) Qxa5 15.Bd4 Nc5 [15...Bc5 16.Bxc5 Nxc5 17.Kb1 b4 18.Ne2 Bd7 19.Nd4 Bb5 20.f5 Bxd3 21.cxd3 Rfc8 22.f6 with attack] 16.Kb1 Na4?! [16...Bd7 17.f5 Rfc8 18.f6 Nxd3 19.Qxd3 g6 20.Qe3 Rab8 21.h4 Bf8 22.h5 b4 23.hxg6 fxg6 24.f7+ Kxf7 25.Rxh7+ Kg8 26.Qf3 Kxh7 27.Qf7+ Kh6 28.Be3+ g5 29.Rh1#] 17.f5! Bxc3 18.bxc3 Rb8 19.f6! with a winning attack 
 
***************

3) Doms idea against 13.g4 of playing ...Bb7 first, then ...Na5 I think is a very interesting line of investigation: 
 
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Bc5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.0-0-0 a6 11.Nb3 Bb4 12.Bd3 b5 13.g4 Bb7 14.Rhg1 Na5 15.Bd4 (This is looking Whites best move to me)   
 
[15.Nxa5 Qxa5 16.Bd4 Rfc8! (This I like!) 17.Kb1 (The immediate 17.f5 is just too reckless as the game Dom quoted proved convincingly) 17...Nc5! (similar to my 13...Na5 idea but here there is a big difference which favours Black...) 18.a3 Nxd3 19.Qxd3 Bf8! 20.f5 b4 21.axb4 Qxb4 (and ...a5 is coming next)] 
 
15...Nxb3+ 16.axb3 [16.cxb3 Bc5 17.Bc2 Bxd4 18.Qxd4 f6 (agree with you Dom - now that f4 is weak this plan gives reasonable play)] 16...Qc7 (Why not the ...Bc5 plan again here Dom?) 17.Rg3!? Nc5 18.f5 Rfc8 19.f6 Nxd3+ 20.Qxd3 g6 21.h4 (And again I'm not sure Blacks queenside action has time to get going before the h5 plan kicks in opening the h-file) 
 
Thats it for me for now, we're not there yet but I think we are getting closer   
 

dom wrote on 08/05/06 at 09:27:18:


Interesting stuff Dom about the 13.g4 line, in the other line - 13.Rhf1 Bb7 14.Rf3 Rc8 15.Rh3 g6!? 16.g4!? and now if Black continues 16...Na5 17.Bd4 we have transposed into one of Nijboers games