The critical moment is black's 17th move, so any improvement will likely come from there. I've tested a quite a few alternatives, but nothing has ultimately flipped the evaluation so far. Black has practical chances, but that's true of the Mar Del Plata in general, so maybe you've got something in your lab that escaped my attention...

Based on the research I've done black is at least slightly worse after 17...h5 18. d6.

It's too bad that I have no faith in either 9. Nd2, or the Bayonet in their main lines, otherwise I'd actually get to use the file I've built on it.

TopNotch wrote on 01/19/10 at 00:49:12:


http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1243859307/60#60

I placed the main emphasis on 17. Kh1, given the 18. d6/19. Qa4/20. Rad1 idea follows on that. Even starting from the 17th move none of the black players wanted to bite.

I mentioned the line TopNotch just mentioned here months ago and none of the KID afficiondos found anything that could produce equal play for black.

Maybe they, or Golubev, can find something now.

Got spanked today though, but interesting game too.

GMGolubev wrote on 01/10/10 at 15:15:40:


Thank you, Mikhail!

Nakamura himself has now provided some comments at

http://main.uschess.org/content/view/10023/571/

Below are my notes from Chess Today, issue 3351.

Gelfand,Boris (2761) - Nakamura,Hikaru (2708) [E97]
7th World Team Championship Bursa TUR (5), 09.01.2010
[Mikhail Golubev (www.chesstoday.net)]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Nd2 Ne8!? 10.b4 f5 11.c5 Nf6 12.f3 f4 13.Nc4 g5 Diagram  This curious variation may also arise through 9. b4. The theoretical assessment is between 'unclear' and 'winning for White', but in practice Black is successful quite often. In 1991 I won here a decent game against Vlatko Bogdanovski, but White had many serious possibilities to improve, and I returned as Black to this line only in 2002 after looking at the modern idea with ...d6xc5 (after White plays b4-b5). 14.a4 [A principal alternative 14.Ba3 may lead to the same positions after the further b4-b5, ...d6xc5, Bxc5, and a2-a4.] 14...Ng6 15.Ba3 Rf7 Diagram 16.b5 [This is a usual move, but in Beliavsky-Nakamura, Amsterdam 2009 (CT-3211) White showed an interesting novelty after 16.a5 h5 17.b5 dxc5 , i.e. 18.b6!?N and despite Nakamura's brilliant win in that game most annotators had the opinion that Black was objectively worse along the way. So, the question remains open there.] 16...dxc5 17.Bxc5 h5 18.a5 [In Bunzmann-Golubev, Bethune 2002 there was 18.d6!? (CT-787.cbv); 18.h3 as in Tishin-Golubev, Alushta 2006 (CT-2046) is a dubious approach here.] 18...g4 19.b6 g3 20.Kh1 Diagram 20...Bf8! In the 2000s I tried to find a solultion for Black in this line, which was recommended for White in Khalifman's 'according to Kramnik' book (1st edition), and gradually came to a decision that this move is probably the most promising. A suggestion with some lines was included in my book 'Understanding the King's Indian' (2006). Later, I found that Arbakov v Gufeld 1986 game, which was included in ChessBase database (EXT 2008), already featured this move. 21.d6N [Earlier only 21.Bg1 had been tried in practice: 21...Nh4!? (The 1986 game followed 21...axb6!? 22.axb6 Rxa1 23.Qxa1 h4 - intending 24.bxc7 h3! - 24.h3 Bxh3 25.gxh3 Qc8 26.Kg2 Nh7 27.Nxe5 Nxe5 28.Bd4 Ng5 29.Rh1 and only here my 2006 analysis deviated from Arbakov-Gufeld with 29...Ng4!?; of some interest is also 21...Nh7 ) 22.Re1? Nxg2 23.Kxg2 Rg7-+ Roussel Roozmon-Charbonneau, Montreal 2008; Unprofitable lines for White include 21.Bxf8? Nxe4!-+] 21...axb6 Diagram 22.Bg1 [22.axb6 Rxa1 23.Qxa1 cxd6 24.Rd1 allows 24...Ng4! 25.fxg4 Qh4 26.Bg1 hxg4 followed by ...f3 - White can hardly survive this] 22...Nh4! [22...bxa5 'is unclear' - that all what was given in my book regarding 21.d6. But after 23.dxc7 Qxc7 24.Nb5 White, despite being two pawns down for the moment, has an unpleasant initiative.] 23.Re1 [23.Ra2 Bh3 24.Bd3 also does not seem to be safe for White] 23...Nxg2 Diagram 24.dxc7? [After 24.Kxg2 Rg7 25.dxc7 an interesting attacking possibility is 25...Qe7 (GM Zagrebelny in his live notes at ChessPro.ru provided the line 25...gxh2+ 26.Kh1! hxg1Q+ 27.Rxg1 Qxc7 and then 28.axb6 Rxa1 29.bxc7 Rxd1 30.Bxd1 Rxg1+ 31.Kxg1 Ne8 32.Nd5 Be6 33.Nxe5 Bd6 34.Nxf4 Nxc7= with a probable draw) and if 26.Nxb6 Nxe4! with the idea of 27.Qd8 Bh3+!] 24...Nxe1! 25.Qxe1 g2+! The most direct solution. 26.Kxg2 Rg7+ 27.Kh1 Bh3 28.Bf1 Qd3!-+ Diagram  A picturesque position. 29.Nxe5 Bxf1 30.Qxf1 Qxc3 31.Rc1 Qxe5 32.c8Q Rxc8 33.Rxc8 Qe6 0-1

No prizes for guessing which game will be one of the highlights of Mikhail's next update.

[Event "7th World Team Championship"]
[Site "Bursa TUR"]
[Date "2010.01.09"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Gelfand, B."]
[Black "Nakamura, Hi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E97"]
[WhiteElo "2761"]
[BlackElo "2708"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2010.01.05"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5
Ne7 9. Nd2 Ne8 10. b4 f5 11. c5 Nf6 12. f3 f4 13. Nc4 g5 14. a4 Ng6 15. Ba3 Rf7
16. b5 dxc5 17. Bxc5 h5 18. a5 g4 19. b6 g3 20. Kh1 Bf8 21. d6 axb6 22. Bg1 Nh4
23. Re1 Nxg2 24. dxc7 Nxe1 25. Qxe1 g2+ 26. Kxg2 Rg7+ 27. Kh1 Bh3 28. Bf1 Qd3
29. Nxe5 Bxf1 30. Qxf1 Qxc3 31. Rc1 Qxe5 32. c8=Q Rxc8 33. Rxc8 Qe6 0-1

Gelfand is a great player, but he has become one of the tedious "press with White, draw with Black" school, so there's a sort of poetic justice here.