Friday, March 21, 2008

The Stockholm Variation of the Grunfeld Defense

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5

Black announces his intention to play a Grunfeld instead of a King's Indian.

4 Bg5 Ne4

A viable alternative to 4...Ne4 is 4...Bg7. 4...Ne4 is preferred by about 6-1, but both moves score about the same. With 4...Bg7 black offers a (temporary) gambit, but he will easily recover his gambit pawn; e.g., 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. Nxd5 Bg7 7. e3 c5 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. Be2 e6 10. Nc3 cxd4 11. exd4 Nxd4 12. Nxd4 Bxd4=.

5 Bh4!

This is the "miracle ingredient" popularized by Taimanov in the early '70's. The Bishop will exert uncomfortable pressure on Black's Pawn on e7, making his development difficult.

5...Nxc3

Batsford Chess Openings also gives 5...c5 leading to an unclear position. However, a survey of my most recent games with this opening shows that Black played 5...Nxc3 in 5 out of 6 games, the 6th playing 5...dxc4 (see game 1 below).

6 bxc3 Bg7

BCO gives 6...c5 as the main move, and also mentions 6...dxc4. But I am giving this as the main line since 3 of my 5 aforementioned opponents played this, with the other two trying 6...dxc4.

7 e3 c5

7...0-0 gives up the e-Pawn after 8 cd Qxd5 9 Bxe7, but it leads to difficult play for White (see game 2).

8 cd Qxd5 9 Qf3!

This is the new move Taimanov found that lead to such success for him. If Black trades Queens on f3, Taimanov showed that White gets the better endgame. (see game 3).

BC) gives 9...Qd7 10 Bc4 0-0 11 Ne2 cd 12 ed Nc6 13 0-0 e6 14 Bf6 Bxf6 15 Qxf6 Qe7=, or 9...Qd8 10 Bb5ch Nd7 11 Ne2 cd 12 ed 0-0 13 0-0 a6 14 Bd3 Qc7=.

Hartston, in his book on the Grunfeld (written in the days of descriptive notation), gives, in the last continuation, 13...N-B3 14 KR-K1 R-N1 15 P-KR3 P-N3 16 P-QB4 B-N2 17 P-Q5 and White is better. Hartston actually advocates Black delaying ...Bg7, and playing ...e6 and ...Be7 to equalize.

game 1: chessart(1559)-RATTKILLER(1447), 3/18/08, time control 5,0
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bh4 dxc4 6. e3 Nxc3 7. bxc3 b5 8. a4 c6 9. axb5 cxb5 10. Qf3 Nc6 11. Qxc6+ Bd7 12. Qf3 f6 13. Bg3 e6 14. Ne2 a5 15. Nf4 b4 16. cxb4 g5 17. Nh5 Bxb4+ 18. Ke2 Bb5 19. Nxf6+ Ke7 20. Qb7+ Kxf6 21. Be5+ Kg6 22. Qg7+ Kh5 23. g4+ Kxg4 24. f3+ Kh4 25. Qh6# {Black checkmated} 1-0

game 2:  chessart(1456)-Loco-Mojo(1649), 2/20/08, time control 5,0

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bh4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. e3 O-O 8. cxd5 Qxd5 9. Bxe7 Re8 10. Ba3 b6 11. Qf3 Qxf3 12. Nxf3 Bb7 13. Be2 c5 14. O-O cxd4 15. cxd4 Nc6 16. Rac1 Rad8 17. Bb5 Re6 18. Rc2 a6 19. Ba4 b5 20. Bb3 Ree8 21. Rfc1 Na5 22. Bc5 Nxb3 23. axb3 Be4 24. Rc3 a5 25. Bb6 Ra8 26. Rc5 Bd3 27. R1c3 Be2 28. Ne5 Bxe5 29. dxe5 a4 30. bxa4 bxa4 31. Ra3 Rab8 32. Rc6 Bb5 33. Rd6 Rxe5 34. Rd8+ Rxd8 35. Bxd8 Rd5 {White resigns} 0-1

game 3:  chessart(1455)-ArgoNavis(1456), 3/11/08, time control 5,0

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Ne4 5. Bh4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. cxd5 Qxd5 8. e3 c5 9. Qf3 Qxf3 10. Nxf3 Nc6 11. Bb5 Bd7 12. O-O cxd4 13. exd4 a6 14. Ba4 e6 15. Rfe1 O-O 16. Rab1 b5 17. Bb3 Na5 18. Re2 Rac8 19. Be7 Rfe8 20. Bb4 Nc4 21. Bxc4 Rxc4 22. Rc2 Rec8 23. Rbc1 Bf8 24. Bxf8 Kxf8 25. Ne5 R4c7 26. Kf1 Ke7 27. Ke2 f6 28. Nxd7 Kxd7 29. a4 bxa4 30. Kd3 Rc4 31. Ra1 Kd6 32. Ra3 e5 33. dxe5+ fxe5 34. f3 Kc5 35. Rca2 Rd8+ 36. Ke3 Rd6 37. Rxa4 Rxc3+ 38. Ke4 Kb5 39. Ra5+ Kc4 40. Rxa6 Rd4+ 41. Kxe5 Re3+ 42. Kf6 Kd3 43. R2a3+ Ke2 44. Rxe3+ Kxe3 45. Ra3+ Kf2 46. Ra2+ Kg1 47. h3 Kh2 48. Kg7 Kg3 49. Kxh7 Rd6 50. Rb2 Kh4 51. Kh6 Kg3 52. Kg5 {Black forfeits on time} 1-0

2 comments:

chessart said...

Played today vs. gnom(1587).

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Bg7 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. cxd5 O-O 7. e3 Nd7 8. Nf3 Nb6 9. Be2 Nxd5 10. Rc1 c6 11. O-O Qb6 12. Nxd5 cxd5 13. Qd2 Bd7 14. Rc2 Bb5 15. Rfc1 Bxe2 16. Qxe2 Qe6 17. Rc7 b6 18. Rb7 Rfc8 19. Rcc7 Rxc7 20. Rxc7 a5 21. Qc2 Qd6 22. Qc6 Qxc6 23. Rxc6 Rb8 24. g3 e6 25. a4 Kf8 26. b3 Ke8 27. Kf1 Bd8 28. Ke2 Kd7 29. Rc2 f6 30. Kd3 Bc7 31. Nd2 e5 32. dxe5 fxe5 33. Ke2 Bd6 34. Nf3 Ke6 35. Ng5+ Kf5 36. Nxh7 Rh8 37. Rc6 Bc5 38. Rc7 d4 39. exd4 exd4 40. h4 Re8+ 41. Kd3 Re7 42. Rxe7 Bxe7 43. Ng5 Bc5 44. Nf3 Kg4 45. Nxd4 Bxd4 46. Kxd4 Kf3 47. Ke5 Kxf2 48. g4 Kg3 49. h5 {Black resigns} 1-0

chessart said...

This game, played today vs. ArgoNavis, shows the interesting play that can flow from the Gruenfeld.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Bg7 5. Bxf6 Bxf6 6. cxd5 O-O 7. e3 Nd7 8. Bc4 Nb6 9. Bb3 Bf5 10. Nge2 Qd7 11. Ng3 Bg4 12. Qd2 Rac8 13. O-O h5 14. f3 h4 15. Nge4 Bh5 16. Nxf6+ exf6 17. g4 hxg3 18. hxg3 g5 19. g4 Bg6 20. Qh2 Kg7 21. Kg2 Rh8 22. Qg3 Rh4 23. Rh1 Rch8 24. Rxh4 Rxh4 25. Rh1 Rxh1 26. Kxh1 c6 27. dxc6 Qxc6 28. d5 Qc5 29. f4 gxf4 30. Qxf4 Nd7 31. g5 fxg5 32. Qxg5 Nf6 33. Qe5 Qb4 34. Qd4 a5 35. Qxb4 axb4 36. Nb5 Be4+ 37. Kg1 Nxd5 38. Bxd5 Bxd5

Here I go into the Bishop vs. Knight ending, knowing that in the time scramble to come I will be able to make moves easier than he will. At this point he has 1:08 left and I have :53.

39. a3 bxa3 40. bxa3 Kf6 41. Kf2 Ke5 42. Nc3 Bc6 43. Ke2 f5 44. Kd2 b5 45. Na2 Ke4 46. Nb4 Bb7 47. Nd3 Kd5 48. Nb4+ Kc4 49. Nc2 Be4 50. Nd4 b4 51. axb4 Kxb4 52. Ne6 Kc4 53. Nf4 Kb3 54. Nh5 Kc4 55. Nf4 Kc5 56. Nh5 Kd6 57. Nf4 Ke5 58. Nh5 Ke6 59. Nf4+ Ke5 60. Nh5 Kd5 61. Nf4+ Kc5 62. Nh5 Kb4 63. Nf4 Kb5 64. Ne6 Kb4 65. Nf4 Kb5 66. Nh5 Kb4 67. Nf6 Kb5 68. Nh5 Kb4 69. Nf4 Kb5 70. Nh5 Kb4 71. Nf4 Kb5 72. Nh5 Kb4 73. Nf4 Kb5 74. Nh5 Kb4 75. Nf4 Kb5 76. Nh5 Kb4 {Game drawn by repetition} 1/2-1/2

I hit the draw button here and shouldn't have, because I had 3.2 seconds while he had only 1.2. I can use pre-moves here for the most part, moving my Knight back and forth, while he has to worry about checks and attacks on his Bishop.