Levon Altounian writes about the openings in the Arizona-Chicago Match. This will be a weekly column by Levon about only the openings for the Arizona Matches. He also runs the Arizona Chess for Schools based out of Tucson, AZ.
ARIZONA SCORPIONS VS CHICAGO BLAZE.
Opening Review:
Before I start about the openings I want to say a few words about the match in general.
What a match and what a sweet result! As many blogs, predictions and even personal bets indicated, most thought we had a better chance of coming ahead in the match. Some of the predictions (such as of Elliott Liu) and the recap by Alejandro Ramirez were very close to what I personally thought to before and after the match. This time we didn’t have a chance to prepare as a team, as we did last year and it might have been for the better. We never won a match with a score of 3.5-0.5 and I can assure you- it will be very hard to repeat. Chicago probably doesn’t like us much anymore. We won last year round 1 against them also and then won the 2nd match too. This year we started with a very good victory and as some indicated- we should campaign to stop the match right now and we win on tie-breaks!
Kudos to organizers and helpers who made an effort (and succeeded) in creating a perfect environment for the players and the spectators.
Now about the Openings: In each case I’ll be using a scale of 1-10 (10 being the highest) to convey my thoughts on different subjects for each game. I also have to approximate things to the best of my knowledge.
My feelings about the Openings before the round by boards were:
Board 1: Alejandro gets a small edge. If nothing goes badly either a win, draw or time scramble.
Board 2: Depending on Felecan’s first move- on 1 d4 a very complex game and on 1 e4- more solid Ruy Lopez main lines.
Board 3: Robby with white is super solid. Some small edge position for white with likely draw result or a more complex opening with chances for both sides.
Board 4: Let the young fighter boys fight in some theoretical line that players on first 3 boards feel too behind in theory or too old for.
Board 1: GM Ramirez- GM Mitkov.
General Styles: Ramirez – More active. Mitkov- More positional.
Theoretical Importance: 5
Novelty: 2
Precision: 8
Opening: Catalan
I was not sure what opening we will have in this game and furthermore, I was not sure what Alejandro will open with but I had a feeling that because he was playing for the Scorpions for the first time, he would spare us some grey hair and not play anything weird. Getting a Catalan (with a slight adjustment of having a Bishop on d2 instead of on c1 because of 4…Bb4+ 5 Bd2) limits White’s choices but does not offer equality for Black yet. Mitkov had some similar games before where things ended up wild. This game however, went under White’s lead. I really don’t like Black’s 9… a5 much. It weakened some squares and made Black have a very passive game. Black’s 12…Ra7 was a bit dubious too. I would myself have preferred 12…Nfd7 (Nb8 keeps control of the c6 square). Somewhere between moves 13-21 White let the big part of the advantage slip but still kept a very nice edge. The rest was just a game with White having at least a practical advantage of enjoying easier task of just controlling files, dark squares and some pawn pushing. Black probably being tired of the defense didn’t notice a very good counterattack 30… Nd4! The rest was a matter of technique which Alejandro did flawlessly.
Board 2 FM Felecan- IM Altounian
General Styles: Felecan- aggressive style and opening choices: Me- solid opening choices
Theoretical Importance: 4
Novelty: 2
Precision: 8
Opening: Italian
Quite honestly his 3 Bc4 caught me by surprise. I had not seen a single game of his playing that move. So I played what I knew best 3…Nf6. His choice of 4 d3 cleared the matters- he just wants to play a positional slow and very non-theoretical chess. He didn’t know the latest theory on it (or the way Kramnik interpreted those positions as White) so I had a simple game with a few ways to equalize. Unfortunately there was not much more for Black. Not wanting to completely dry up the game by 8… Ne4!? 9 N:e4 d5 10 Bb5 d:e4 11 B:c6 e:f3 12 B:f3, I chose a more complex looking move that keeps pieces on the board. After his next move 9. Nd5 I regretted my desire to get more out of the position than it gives. The proceeding exchanges led to a slight edge for White where I almost blundered (when I played 8…Qd7 I had foreseen the position after the trades and meant to play 12… N:d5?? 13 Q:d5 c6 thinking I am winning the piece back as after 14 Qa5 b6 the Queen cannot defend the Bishop. Luckily I double checked it and to my horror saw 15 Qd2 and I am down a piece. The next few moves led to Whites small advantage (especially strong and a move I totally missed was his 16 Bb5! That stops Re8 trades and threatens Bd7 ideas). I decided not to tempt faith and offered a draw, seeing that we are doing well on boards 1 and 3 and board 4 while looking messy start looking favorable for us.
Board 3: FM Adamson- IM Pasalic
General Styles: Adamson solid but theoretical and aggressive, especially with White: Pasalic-mainly solid opening lines but some theoretical Sicilians and Kings Indians too.
Theoretical Importance: 8
Novelty: 6
Precision: 8
Opening: Sicilian Rauzer
Ever since Robby switched from Alapin Sicilian (1 e4 c5 2 c3) to main line Sicilians, I would not suggest players tackle that opening (or at least main lines) with Robby. It works to his advantage of being an FM (just like for Danny Rensch who seems like took more Sicilian GM scalps than in any other opening) when all the IMs and GMs decide to play those Sicilians trying to beat FMs. I don’t know those lines very well but having grown up reading Russian chess magazines in 1990’s, the Rauzer (where Black puts both knights out right away) was one of the lines I would always encounter reading about. I would go even as far as declaring that if the Sicilian isn’t the very best choice against Robby, the Rauzer is probably the worst of them all against him. I would direct your attention to how skillfully White disallowed Black’s general concept of pushing the h7 pawn as far as it can go. In either case, using super GM Leko’s Sicilian ideas and precise moves ( 13. Bh5 followed by transferring the rook to h3 and then to h5 ) and his own creativity, white got a very pleasant game with about 4 pawn targets, 6 pieces to use for the attack and 3 pawn breaks. Because of the Rook on h5- the “as far as it can go” was not too far: only to h6. The rest of the game went under White’s definite edge and while the time pressure for both sides added to the anxiety, I never doubted the Blitzmaster’s Blitz mastery. Game ended very miserably for Black.
Board 4 Magness-Adelberg
General Styles: Both players being young (especially Adelberg ), means that they have their preferred systems and openings that usually lead to complex games with chances for both sides.
Theoretical Importance: 9
Novelty: 7
Precision: 5
Opening: Najdorf Sicilian (English Attack)
As one of the spectators correctly noticed this game was an “absolute Magness!” I remember when in 1993 I told my coach I would like to play the English Attack as white and that I studied it for a while- he told me “you cannot play a side line like that and be ready in less than 2 years” The first part proved to be false as the line quickly replaced all others as the main line against Najdorf and is very popular now on every level. The other part of the prediction proved to be right- there are some unimaginably crazy and complicated lines in this variation that takes years to figure out. However, who else but young people with their ability to remember and memorize, combined with fearlessness that comes with age- is better suited to play this? Adelberg actually chose a relatively less popular line- very quick redeployment of the Nf6 to b6 square. I had seen that played in some other games (notably in GM Becerra- GM Novikov at the US Championship few years ago- right next to me) where both sides tried to out-remember the lines. In both games White courageously sacrifices a knight for 2 or 3 pawns. In this game however, White quickly found himself in an unfamiliar situation (it is hard to expect your young opponent to know all those lines!) and makes a very bad move (17. Rd2?) after exhausting his opening knowledge. According to RYBKA computer and some database games- after White’s best 17 Q:g7, we get a forced draw. At least that is what I see unless some RYBKA-killer shows up. Black ends up missing a very hard to find but a short and beautiful win (20…Ra6 21 Qd5 0-0!! 22 R:e2 Qa8! 23 Q:a8 Rf:a8 and White is losing a rook). After more complications (21 Bg5?? Instead of 21 Bb6!) Black was up 2 pieces. It should have ended right there if it weren’t for David’s blunder that nearly spoiled it. It all ended well however, and AppleBees got 6 happy customers half an hour later to celebrate a 3.5/ 0.5 win.
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