Ametanoitos wrote on 05/22/08 at 12:22:52:


It probably is.  It's Kaspi - Alterman, Ramat-Gan 1992.  Since Sakaev must have been aware of this when he recommended 12.d5, it may be that he agrees with you that Black is O.K. here.

Ametanoitos wrote on 05/22/08 at 12:22:52:


The game in question went 14.Rc1 Bd7 15.f4!? and Kaspi eventually lost, but 15.f3 should have been played with at least +=, I opine.  My silicon suggests 14...Ne5 instead of Alterman's 14...Bd7, but just 15.Bb3 looks good for White, e.g. 15...Ng4 16.h3 and so forth.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Qa5+ 11. Bd2 Qh5
12. 0-0 0-0 13.Be3 Rd8! This is best in this position and makes Markovich's += questionable.
 
14. f3 

(14. Qd2 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 Bxd4 16. Bxd4 e5 17. Bd5
exd4 18. Qxd4 Be6 19. Rfd1 Rac8 is very nice, but Black should not forget his main strategy as i have explained earlier, 14...Qa5!) 
14... e6 (Good, e7 can be an emergency exit for the Queen, although i don't think that Qh5 has any problems, and the Bd5 tricks are avoided)

15. Rc1 

(15. Qd2 Qa5!   
(15... Nxd4 16.
Nxd4 Bxd4 17. Bxd4 e5 18. Bd5 exd4 19. Qxd4 Be6 20. Rfd1 Rac8 works here also)) 

15... Qa5! White has problems with the d4 square!
16.Bb3 Qb6! Now Black is more than comfortable (or you can play 9...0-0 and 10...Bd7 if you like  )

Yes! Another crushing win for the "Ametanoitos variation"! Untill now i enjoy an incredible 4-0! Everytime i play "my" variation i have great confidence and i enjoy my opponents' surprized faces! This is my last game:


1. d4  Nf6  2. c4  g6 3. Nc3  d5  4. cxd5  Nxd5  5. e4 Nxc3  6. bxc3  Bg7 7. Bc4  c5  8. Ne2  Nc6  9. Be3  cxd4  10. cxd4  Qa5+  11. Bd2  Qh5  12. d5 
 
(12. O-O O-O!
13. Be3  received some attention here lately! 13...Rd8! Arkhein's suggestion 
(13... b6 14. Qa4 Bd7 15. Bb5 a6 16. Bxc6 Bxc6 17. Qxc6 Qxe2 18.Qxb6 Rfb8 19. Qc6 seems better for White) 
14. f3 (14. Rb1 b6 (14... Ne5 15. Bb3 Ng4 is good) 15. Qa4 Bd7 16.
Bb5 a6 17. Bxc6 Qxe2 18. Bxd7 b5 19. Bxb5 axb5 20. Qb4 Qxa2 21. Qxb5 Bxd4 22.Bxd4 Rxd4) 14... b6 15. Qa4 Bd7 16. Bb5 Nxd4! Black is more than OK) 

12... Ne5  13. Bb5+  Bd7  14. Bxd7+  Nxd7  15. Rb1  b6 Qg4 16. Qa4 b6! According to MegaBase 2007 this move is novelty! Yes there is on Sakaev's book as we later discovered but as it has never been played before , so it can be considered a novelty. Also my development of this line is much more consistent than Sakaev's (with the greatest respect!...) 

17.Ng3 

(not the most critical, but my 2195 opponent considered it as very natural and played it quickly. The critical line seems to be 17.Nf4 O-O 18.h3 Nc5 19.hxg4 Nxa4 20.Ke2! Rac8 21.Rhc1 Bb2!! and Black solves all his problems as i discovered back in 2004 when i was preparing for this variation. Glory days.....! I have won a tough training game started from this position.)

17...O-O  18. f3 Nc5  19. Qc4 Qd7  20. O-O  Rac8 Black has a slight advantage because of the idea ...e6. We see now that the White center is going to collapse as usual!
21. Rfc1  e6!  22. Bb4 exd5  23. Qxd5 Qxd5 24. exd5 Rfd8 25. Bxc5  Rxc5 26. Rxc5  Bd4+!  27. Kf1  Bxc5  28.Ne4 f5! 29. Nxc5  bxc5 Now Black has a winning advantage!  30. Rd1  Kf7  31. Ke2 Kf6 
32. f4 Ke7  33. Kd3  Kd6  34. Kc4  Re8  35. Rd2  Re4+  36. Kb5  Rxf4  37. a4  Rd4  38. Rxd4  cxd4  39. Kc4  Ke5
40. a5  a6  41. d6  Kxd6  42. Kxd4  h6 43. h4 g5
44. hxg5  hxg5  45. g3  g4  46. Kc4  f4!  0-1 Great! Please feel free to critisise my game.

Ametanoitos wrote on 03/27/08 at 20:05:22:


Pardon my late reply, but I don't understand "21...Rac8" since, in your post just before the one quoted, the sequence 20.Nd3 Rfc8 21.Ke2 would make 21...Rac8 a rather difficult move to play.  Could you please show me where my confusion is?

Also with the greatest possible respect, I don't think that 16...b6 can be considered a novelty, since it's right there in black and white on page 109 of Sakaev's An Expert's Guide to the 7.Bc4 Gruenfeld, Chess Stars, 2006.  But I fully agree that the line is promising.

Congratulation for your friend. 

I was the first who mentionned the line 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 Nc6 9. Be3 cxd4 10. cxd4 Qa5+ 11. Bd2 Qh5 12. O-O O-O 13. Be3 here. I wondered where was the advantage of Black's queen manoeuvre here. And for me, the only point here is to play 13..Rd8
Your friend's 13..b6 is of course very natural, very common in this type of Grünfeld position. But there is a little annoying tactical point here. 14.Qa4! seems quite strong when after 14..Bb7 15.Bb5 Rfc8 (or 15..Na5) 16.Nf4, White seems to have a very good pressure where there is still the problem of the misplaced  black queen. Black might survive but this position is probably a slight advantage to White.

But after 14.f3, a natural move, I believe Black's equalisation is already done.

So 13..Rd8  first is maybe the most precise.

Hi Ametanoitos and many apologies -- as you could tell I was getting very mixed up!  Sorry -- the dangers of looking at chess very late at night!

I'm on your side and I want the ...Qa5 system to stand up! I like your description of why the BQ is on h5. But tell me, how should Black handle things if White plays 12 0-0 0-0 13 Be3, maybe intending f2--f3 soon. Can you give some concrete lines, because Black obviously has more than one possibility?

This is one of the most interesting thread of the whole forum to me, it convinced me to give it a try in practice! In fact, from an objective point of view, that line with cxd4 followed by Qa5-Qh5 might not be stronger than the main lines but main lines are really deeply analysed, and it is the best prepared who win, and somes lines are 35 move of theory to get a draw. 

So, I might still play "main lines" but if I feel that my opponent is better prepared, there is the "Ametanoitos Variation" as a good surprise weapon which is clearly underrated but fully playable and sound.