MilenPetrov wrote on 04/01/09 at 09:03:44:


Greetings from a long time lurker, first time poster....

I have never really understood why the 12...g5 line doesn't get more attention.  It appears to be completely ignored in OTB play and a very rare guest in correspondence despite being completely playable.  It's quite common in Playchess engine room games -- so common, in fact, that it's the mainline after 10.e5.  After seeing how well black scored in the engine room I began to dabble with it in my own CC games and quickly became a convert.  It's been one of my pet lines ever since....


I recently had a chance to put it to the test against GM Becerra in a casual (i.e. meaningless) online correspondence game (unassisted):

[Event "Najdorf, Poisoned Pawn w/12...g5"]
[Date "2009.03.24"]
[White "Becerra, Julio"]
[Black "Gates, Roy"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B97"]
[Annotator "Gates"]
[EventType "game (corr)"]
[SourceDate "2009.01.01"]
[TimeControl "1 in 3 days"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2
Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. e5 h6 11. Bh4 dxe5 12. fxe5 g5 13. Bg3 $6 ({Better is} 13.
exf6 gxh4 14. Be2 Qa5 15. O-O {Serradimigni,R (2526)-Pezzica,G (2465)/
Champions League 2007 A 2007/1-0}) 13... Nh5 14. Ne4 Qxa2 15. Rd1 Qd5 16. Qe3
Qa5+ 17. c3 Nd7 18. Nf3 Be7 19. Nd6+ Kf8 20. Bf2 Nf4 21. h4 Rg8 22. hxg5 hxg5
23. Rh7 Rg7 24. Rh8+ Rg8 25. Rh7 Rg7 26. Rh8+ Rg8 27. Rh7 $15 {Post-game
analysis suggests that I might have been too eager to settle for the draw. 
The prospect of entering into a sharp tactical duel against a 2600+ player
sans blundercheck was too daunting.  Like alcohol or spring-break in Mexico,
our silicon friends have an uncanny ability to instill courage....} 1/2-1/2

Though the game itself wasn't very interesting, it led to a couple of interesting ideas that I've since been able to put into practice.

[Event "Najdorf, Poisoned Pawn w/12...g5"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2009.05.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Zemlyanov, Sergey"]
[Black "Gates, Roy"]
[Result "0-1"]
[Annotator "Gates"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2009.03.18"]
[EventType "corr"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2
Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. e5 h6 11. Bh4 dxe5 12. fxe5 g5 {This little played
variation doesn't get the respect it deserves in my opinion. With g5 black
hopes to kill off whites annoying dark square bishop and activate the dormant
kings rook.} 13. exf6 gxh4 14. Be2 (14. Ne4 Qxa2 15. Rd1 (15. Rb3 $5 Qa5 16.
Be2 Nd7 17. Rc3 Qa1+ 18. Bd1 Qa2 19. O-O Qd5 20. Rd3 Bc5 21. Nxc5 Qxc5 $14 {
Noble,M (2511)-Gueci,A (2225)/2nd Webchess Open Tournament semifinal  2008/1/
2-1/2}) 15... Nd7 16. Be2 h3 17. O-O Qd5 $15) 14... Qa5 15. O-O h3 (15... Nd7
16. Kh1 Qg5 17. Rf4 e5 18. Nd5 exd4 19. Nc7+ $6 (19. Bf3 $5 Bd6 20. Qxd4 Kd8
21. Rxh4 Bc5 22. Qc4 Re8 23. Rd1 Bd6 24. Rh5 $1 Qd2 25. Qh4 Qa5 26. Ne3 $13)
19... Kd8 20. Nxa8 d3 21. Bxd3 Bd6 22. Rbf1 Bxf4 23. Rxf4 Re8 24. h3 Re6 25.
Qb4 $15 {Gonzalez,B (2138)-Castro Salguero,R (2355)/CADAP Championship 22
Semifinal 4 2008/0-1}) 16. Qe3 {According to "Playchess theory" white's other
options are:} (16. g3 Nd7 17. Rbd1 Ne5 18. Qe3 (18. Qf4 Bd7 19. Ncb5 axb5 20.
Qxe5 Qb6 21. Kh1 O-O-O $15) (18. Nf3 $5 Nc6 19. Ne4 Qxd2 20. Rxd2 Bd7 21. Rfd1
O-O-O $13) 18... Bd7 19. Nb3 Qc7 20. Nd5 exd5 21. Rxd5 O-O-O 22. Qxe5 $15) (16.
Bf3 $5 Nd7 17. Nd5 $5 Qc5 18. Rfe1 Bd6 19. Kh1 Be5 20. Nxe6 fxe6 21. Nb6 Rb8
22. Red1 Rh7 23. Bh5+ $13) (16. gxh3 $143 $6 Qg5+ 17. Qxg5 hxg5 $15) 16... Rg8
{Preparing the lift to g5, my intention was to eventually sacrifice the sleepy
h-rook for one of those pesky knights.} 17. g3 Rg5 18. Ne4 Re5 {A useful move
that pins the knight to the queen and the queen to the knight.} 19. Bf3 (19.
Bg4 $5 {?! allows black to castle after} Bd7 20. Bxh3 Nc6 21. c3 O-O-O {but
the position is unclear with plenty of opportunities to play fighting chess
for both sides.}) 19... Nd7 (19... Nc6 $2 20. Nxc6 bxc6 21. Kh1 Qc7 22. c4 Bd7
23. Qd3 Rb8 24. Rxb8+ Qxb8 25. Rb1 Qc7 $16 {Serradimigni,R (2526)-Pezzica,G 
(2465)/Champions League 2007 A 2007/1-0}) 20. Kh1 $6 {Too slow. Normally, Kh1
is a sound thematic move but in this line it's a luxury. With blacks dark
square bishop tied to the defense of the h6 pawn, Bc5 isn't practical so
moving the king into the corner isn't urgent.} (20. Rfd1 $5 Qxa2 21. Qf4 Qc4
22. Kh1 $14) 20... b5 {By allowing the Nc6 fork I hoped to accomplish the
exchange sac I set in motion with 16...Rg8. The fact that it clears b7 for my
bishop and opens the possibility of castling is a very nice bonus! The
temptation to give this move an exclamation is very strong but I know that's
my bias talking...} 21. Nc6 ({The fork is difficult to resist but} 21. Qf4 Bb7
22. Nc5 Bxf3+ 23. Qxf3 Rc8 24. Nxd7 Kxd7 25. Rbd1 $15 {might be better in the
long run.}) 21... Qc7 22. Nxe5 Nxe5 {A key objective completed, my position
"feels" improved. The white knight was a source of great tension and removing
him from play changes the entire character of the position in a very palpable
way.} 23. c4 $6 {Another missed opportunity to give his heavy pieces a more
active role.} Bb7 $17 {White resigns unexpectedly.  It's clear at this point
that white is in trouble but the contest is no where near over. The
resignation feels premature.        I had anticipated 24.Qf4 after which I had
analyzed 24...Rc8 25.cxb5 Nxf3 26.Qxf3 Bd5 27.Rbd1 Qe5 28.Rxd5 exd5 -/+     
Ironically, castling might have given white some hope: 24...O-O-O?! 25. cxb5
axb5 26.Rfc1 Bc6 27.Rxc6! Nxc6 28.Qxc7+ Kxc7 leads to an unclear position.} (
23... Nxc4 {allows white to equalize after} 24. Rfc1 Nxe3 25. Rxc7 {=}) 0-1


I hope it's okay to paste the PGN into a message like I've done here.

Regards,
Roy

sanek9385 wrote on 04/29/09 at 07:50:32:


20...f5!! =

Kopperhed wrote on 04/25/09 at 18:05:15:


Thanks!

JavaMate, at the risk of going off topic, would you mind explaining the reference to the "opening book" of Deep Rybka 3?  Is it some stand-alone product that you need to buy in addition to the program or is it the opening book that comes with the program?  Also, if it is a separate product, how do you use it -- is it stand alone or do you load it into the Rybka engine interface, e.g., as a .ctg file -- and is it worth getting?  Thanks for any help!

So 15...Bc5 is pretty crappy on account of 16. Nxe6 and 19. Rd6, but what about the more standard 15...Qxe5 followed by 16...Bc5 and 17...Bxd4? Has any conclusion been reached about this line? Why is Black trying something else? Thanks....

The opening choice by Wang Hao remains slightly mysterious to me. Well maintained databases will contain the game by Sjugirov from 2008, which already showed that Black is in deep trouble in this line by move 21:

22. Bf6(!) Nxf6 23. Nxf6+ gxf6 24. Rfxf6 Ne5 25. Rxh6 Nxc4 26. Qe7 Qf5 27. Rh8+ Kxh8 28. Qxf8+ Kh7 29. Rh6# 
1-0 Sjugirov,S (2491) -Brodsky,M (2572)/St Petersburg RUS 2008

Speaking about this line recently I was interested in the following move order: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. e5 dxe5 11. fxe5 and now instead of 11...Nfd7 Black plays first 11...h6.
Of course White can transpose with 12. Bh4 Nfd7 13. Ne4. But Black has another possibility - 12...g5 instead of 12...Nfd7.
I searched some sources and in Chess Informant found a recommendation that White should play 12.Bf4 with assessment that he keeps the initiative, but i am not so satisfied with this line.
would be interested to hear your opinion what you think about the suggestd move order fro Black.