01-01 Cover_Layout 1 22/02/2015 18:38 Page 1

available at the London Chess Centre - www.chess.co.uk/shop

A

“I have verified that this book is up-to-date on the latest theory, and yet the author has injected many of his own ideas. If you play with Black 1...e5 after 1.e4, you simply cannot ignore this theory work which announces a new era.”

Martin Rieger, SchachWelt

“A 28-page ‘Arsenal of Strategic Ideas’ is essential reading, setting the whole repertoire in context as regards pawn structures and important themes. This is a very impressive book indeed and one

which benefits greatly from the extra care and attention devoted on it from the design team.”Sean Marsh, CHESS Magazine (UK)

“It’s jammed-packed full of great stuff.”GM Glenn Flear, author of ‘Starting Out: Open Games’

“The book is really excellent. Not only is the analysis up to date but also the presentation is right to the point and very readable. Not many long variations but verbal explanations. Just the way opening books should be.”

GM Karsten Müller, author of ‘The Modern Scandinavian’

“There is a huge amount of theory in this book, but Bologan presents it in a lively manner and explains things simply and well. I give this book a strong recommendation for players of a wide range of

playing strengths from the club level (who will love the gambit coverage) to grandmasters.”IM John Donaldson, ChessToday

“Ambitious clubplayers who are looking for a reliable weapon against 1.e4 after playing 1...e5, can hardly leave this book unopened.”

Max Euwe Centre, Amsterdam

“The most user-friendly of any opening book I’ve seen in years. It is cutting edge, up-to-date, relevant, and bursting at the spine with content spanning 57 chapters in 528 pages. Endless variations

that can lose the reader are blissfully gone in favor of a warmer, more inviting approach.”John D. Warth, Chess Club of Southern Indiana

ChessCafe Book of the Year

finalist

paperback528 pages

£24.95

3 March 2015

ContentsEditorial.................................................................................................................4Malcolm Pein on the latest developments

60 Seconds with... ...........................................................................................7Grandmaster and author Tiger Hillarp Persson

Another Carlsen Conquest...........................................................................8Yochanan Afek watched Magnus Carlsen’s return to Wijk aan Zee

A Swedish New Year .....................................................................................16John-Paul Wallace opted for Stockholm rather than Hastings

Rock Stars .........................................................................................................20Matthew Lunn reflects on two top performances at Gibraltar

Slow Starter Prize .........................................................................................24Carlsen was again slowly away, but still won at Baden-Baden

Garry and the Lords .....................................................................................30Garry Kasparov visited the House of Lords and gave a simul

Find the Winning Moves .............................................................................32Several tricky endgames need solving this month

Back to Basics .................................................................................................35Nick Ivell on the concept of the short side and the long side

How Good is Your Chess? ..........................................................................36Daniel King takes a look at the Chinese super-talent Wei Yi

Forthcoming Events .....................................................................................39Where will you be playing in March and over Easter?

Never Mind the Grandmasters................................................................40Carl Portman returned after 10 years to the Shropshire Congress

The Komodo Files...........................................................................................42Danny Gormally decided it was time to finally work with an engine

Opening Trends...............................................................................................47Anish Giri has assisted the Sicilian Taimanov’s climb

Solutions............................................................................................................48

Bernard Cafferty ..........................................................................................49The leading English chess authority is 80 and still winning

Home News.......................................................................................................50Success for Adams, Ashton, Harvey, Hebden, Vakhidov et al

Overseas News ...............................................................................................52Ernesto Inarkiev took the Moscow Open by storm

New Books and Software...........................................................................54The latest reviews from Sean Marsh and Wil Lilburn-Quick

Saunders on Chess ........................................................................................58John reflects on the success of the Gibraltar Chess Festival

Photo credits: Alina l’Ami (pp.8, 11-12, 15), Calle Erlandsson (p.13),www.jewishupdate.com (p.5, right), Eteri Kublashvili (p.53), MOLA (p.5,bottom), Ray Morris-Hill (pp.1, 7, 10, 30-31, 50-51), John Saunders (p.5,top), Georgios Souleidis (pp.24, 27-28), Sophie Triay (pp.1, 4, 23, 36).

ChessFounding Editor: B.H. Wood, OBE. M.Sc †Executive Editor: Malcolm PeinEditors: Richard Palliser, Matt ReadAssociate Editor: John SaundersSubscriptions Manager: Paul Harrington

Twitter: @CHESS_MagazineTwitter: @TelegraphChess - Malcolm PeinWebsite: www.chess.co.uk

Subscription Rates:United Kingdom1 year (12 issues) £49.952 year (24 issues) £89.953 year (36 issues) £125

Europe 1 year (12 issues) £602 year (24 issues) £112.503 year (36 issues) £165 USA & Canada1 year (12 issues) $902 year (24 issues) $1703 year (36 issues) $250

Rest of World (Airmail)1 year (12 issues) £722 year (24 issues) £1303 year (36 issues) £180 Distributed by:Post Scriptum (UK only), Unit G, OYO Business Park, Hindmans Way, Dagenham, RM9 6LN - Tel: 020 8526 7779 LMPI (North America)8155 Larrey Street, Montreal (Quebec), H1J 2L5, Canada - Tel: 514 355-5610

Views expressed in this publication are notnecessarily those of the Editors. Contributions tothe magazine will be published at the Editors’discretion and may be shortened if space is limited.

No parts of this publication may be reproduced without the prior express permission of the publishers.

All rights reserved. © 2015

Chess Magazine (ISSN 0964-6221) is published by:Chess & Bridge Ltd, 44 Baker St, London, W1U 7RTTel: 020 7288 1305 Fax: 020 7486 7015Email: info@chess.co.uk, Website: www.chess.co.uk FRONT COVER:Cover Design: Matt ReadCover Photography: Sophie Triay & Ray Morris-Hill US & Canadian Readers – You can contact us via ourAmerican branch – Chess4Less based in West Palm Beach, FL. Call toll-free on 1-877 89CHESS (24377).You can even order Subscriber Special Offers online via www.chess4less.com

Printed in the UK by The Magazine PrintingCompany using only paper from FSC/PEFC

suppliers www.magprint.co.uk

03-03 Contents_Chess mag - 21_6_10 22/02/2015 19:52 Page 40

If you are looking for a Scandinavianescape and a White Christmas then you can’tgo wrong with the Rilton Cup held in lateDecember each year. The Swedish capital,Stockholm (no, Norway is not the capital ofSweden – a fact which is probably betterknown now thanks to Magnus), has abeautiful old town and is pretty laid back asfar as capital cities go. Of course, Sweden isexpensive, but compared to Norway it isactually pretty cheap. The Rilton Cup is a strong event,attracting many top GMs. I was struck onceagain by how old I am as a 38 year old on thechess circuit – many of my opponents were20 years my junior, and some of thoseteenagers were the top seeds. In the end theold guard proved that they can still compete,with Tiger Hillarp Persson sharing joint firstwith Magnus’ sparring partner, the youngNorwegian Jon Ludvig Hammer. I had a slowstart, but picked up in the last few games.

J.P.Wallace-P.LindgrenRilton Cup, Stockholm

2014/2015Pirc Defence

1 e4 d6 2 d4 Ìf6 3 Ìc3 g6 My opponent decided to surprise me withthe Pirc, which as far as I could tell in mypreparation, he had not played before.4 Íe3 c6 5 f3 These days everyone puts the knight onf3, the ‘150 Attack’, which has been madepopular by a number of English players inparticular. I have played similar ideas before,but this time decided on the ‘old school’approach, with the simple plan of throwingthe g-pawn up the board and going for a verycomplex middlegame.5...Ìbd7 Black is delaying ...Íg7, as otherwiseWhite may play Íh6 and in some variationsgain a tempo. However, matters are never sosimple – in this game I dropped this standardplan completely.6 g4 I didn’t see any reason why I should notattack immediately. Of course, 6 Ëd2 ispossible and I imagine it is more popular, butit isn’t necessary yet. Moreover, 6...b5 7 g4Ìb6 is an attempt to profit from 6 Ëd2.Black has time to post his knights on thequeenside, ready for a counterattack in thatsector after 8 g5 Ìfd7.6...b5

I was a little surprised by this naturallooking move. I thought Black would try andfind a way to take advantage of the earlypawn advance. Indeed, 6...e5 was a veryinteresting alternative.7 g5 An interesting idea. I simply scrap the Ëd2and Íh6 plan, and aim to sideline his knight. Itis very important that my pawn is still on h2,because I plan to bring a knight to g3 and takeback with the h-pawn. This is a very ambitiousapproach, and, put simply, Black needs to actfast and come up with something specialquickly in order to gain counterplay, otherwiseWhite will just be much better.7...Ìh5

8 Ëd2 An obvious move, but again not a simpledecision, because I also had the option ofimmediately bringing one of the knights to g3.

8 Ìge2 is no good due to 8...b4, but 8 Ìce2was interesting. Then I think Black shouldconsider 8...e5 immediately, and perhaps thebishop should stay on f8 for a while or even goto e7. Play could transpose to the game, but itcould also give Black some extra options.8...Íg7 This very natural move seemed to fall inline with my plans somewhat. 8...Ìb6! was amore fighting idea, to prevent Ìce2, at leastfor the moment.9 Ìce2! This nice and perhaps surprising move isthe whole point of my opening idea. Now I amsetting Black very concrete problems, and Iprobably have already won the openingbattle. 9 Ìge2 is more natural, but it is not aseffective as then the knight on c3 will beforced back to d1 and f2 after ...b4, and fromthose squares it can not participate in thecoming fight for control of f4. It is alsoimportant to note that by staying on g1 myknight protects f3 – see the next note.9...e5 After 9...c5 10 Ìg3! Ìxg3 11 hxg3 cxd412 Íxd4 White simply has the much betterstructure, and ...Ìe5 at some moment doesnot even carry a threat.10 Ìg3 Ìf4 11 Ì1e2 This was another difficult decision becauseit allows Lindgren the option of radicallyaltering the pawn structure. The alternativewas 11 h4, which may just transpose, but Iwas conscious of not making too many pawnmoves as Black has the idea of opening up thecentre with ...d5, as we shall see.11...Ìe6

March 2015

If you want to play chess over New Year, Hastings isn’t the only option as John-Paul Wallace explains

A Swedish New Year

16

Stockholm - The weather may be similar to Hastings, but that’s where the similarities end.

16-18 Rilton_Chess mag - 21_6_10 22/02/2015 20:04 Page 16

Declining the opportunity to take on g5,also after a long think. After 11...Ëxg5 12Ìxf4 exf4 13 Íxf4 Ëf6 the simplest choiceis probably 14 0-0-0 and it is clear thatWhite has a big initiative.12 h4

12...exd4?! It was too early to release the tension in thecentre. 12...Ìb6! was correct, threatening toplay ...Ìc4 and also to blow open the positionwith ...d5. In this case the position would havebeen extremely complicated.13 Ìxd4 Ìe5 14 Íe2 Ìxd4 15 Íxd4 c5 This tricky tactical idea, which I had notforeseen, was Lindgren’s idea. It is true that Icannot take on b5, but I still have a niceattacking position after the simple retreat to e3.16 Íe3 Ìc4?! This was also too early. It is of course easyto see in hindsight, but at this stage myopponent still thought I was going to castlequeenside, in which case a lot of Black’s movesthat I have criticised would make sense.However, by keeping my options open over thenext few moves, I rob Black of all counterplaywhilst retaining a powerful attack myself.17 Íxc4 bxc4 18 c3 0-0 19 h5 Îe8?! Perhaps this was, in a higher sense, the finalerror. I feel Black should have been looking tomeet hxg6 with ...fxg6, so to that end movinghis queen to e7 was a more logical move.20 hxg6! Played immediately and at a moment whenBlack must give me a completely open h-file.20...hxg6 21 Îd1!

After this move the position clarifies itself:Black is in grave danger. His next move

accelerates his defeat and funnily enough thekey weakness in his position is the d6-pawn.Specifically, I intend to take that pawn with mybishop, so that his king can not get out via f8.21...Ëa5 22 Ëh2 Íe6 23 Íf4! I can probably also win without this move,by just checking on h7, castling and chargingthe f-pawn up the board, but it doesn’t hurtto win material and I had not yet seen howgood castling would be.23...Îad8 24 Íxd6 Îxd6 25 Îxd6 Ëxa226 Îd2 a5 27 f4! An excellent decision. If I play slowly and tryto consolidate, my opponent could obtainsome chances; after all he has the two bishopsand some potential play on the queenside.However, I can just play straight for mate.27...a4 28 Ëh7+ Êf8

29 0-0 Of course this move was very enjoyable.29...Íxc3 30 f5 gxf5 31 exf5 Íxd2 32 fxe6 Íe3+ 33 Êh1 1-0 My favourite game from the tournament. Itwas nice that there were no obvious blunders andthat my strategy proved to be very powerful.

By the final round I had worked my way upto the live boards and was up againstrenowned grandmaster Mikhail Krasenkow. Iknew he was a great expert in the h3 systemsagainst the KID, but I did not realise just towhat degree. After the game I discoveredthat many people now even call this variationthe Krasenkow system.

M.Krasenkow-J.P.WallaceRilton Cup, Stockholm

2014/2015King’s Indian Defence

1 Ìf3 Ìf6 2 d4 g6 3 c4 Íg7 4 Ìc3 0-05 e4 d6 6 Íe2 Krasenkow has recently been ‘superfinessing’ by entering his favourite variationvia the Petrosian System. I can only imaginethat the reason is that after 6 h3 c5 Black canswitch to a Benoni. Most KID players arepretty die-hard and would not do this, butKrasenkow loves his system and so rules outthe possibility.

6...e5 Here 6...c5 does not lead to a Benoni asWhite can play 7 0-0 and if 7...Ìc6?! 8 d5.7 d5 a5 8 h3 Ìa6 9 Íg5 Íd7 This was my preparation. Earlier in thetournament Krasenkow had had this positionagainst Tiger, where the Swedish GM wonafter throwing in 9...h6. This pawn move hasa lot of plusses and minuses. At first I was infact going to play it as I thought the benefitsoutweighed the downsides, but the more Ilooked at it, the more I liked the idea of tryingto get away without the move.10 Ìd2 c6 11 g4 Ìc5 12 Íe3!

Right before the game I said to my wife,“Ah, I think he will play Íe3, and challenge meto come up with a better move than ...h6”,which would transpose directly into theHillarp Persson game. Unfortunately I hadno time to prepare in those remaining 10minutes, so when he did indeed play thismove after a 7-minute think I went into thetank, only to emerge 26 minutes later. Insuch a complex game and against a topopponent I probably should have tried tocome to a quicker decision as I did miss thattime later on.12...a4 The choice was between this, 12...h6 and12...Ìe8 with a quick ...f5. Again, they all hadtheir plusses and minuses. After 12...Ìe8then White has 13 Ìb3!, while after 12...h6it was clear that White could improve on hisplay against Tiger and it made sense to dodgeany prepared novelty.13 b4 An interesting and for me unexpecteddecision, as now White will have issues withhis king, as castling queenside is out. Ofcourse, in principle White’s queensideexpansion makes complete sense, but in factI am well placed to meet it here. Instead, I wasexpecting the usual kingside squeeze with 13g5 and h4-h5.13...axb3 14 axb3 Ìa6! (see diagram attop of next page) There were other options, but the text issimple and usually Black wants to keeprooks on in the KID – after all I am stillplanning to checkmate White. Now it wasmy opponent’s turn for a 27-minute think,and he came up with an interesting queenmanoeuvre.

www.chess.co.uk17

16-18 Rilton_Chess mag - 21_6_10 22/02/2015 20:04 Page 17

March 2015

15 Ëb1 Planning b4, but also it was something ofa relief for me that the queen is now furtherfrom the h-file.15...c5 16 Ìb5 Ìe8 17 h4 f5 Both players are playing right across theboard and the game is really heating up.18 gxf5 gxf5 19 Íg5 Íf6 20 Îg1 Íxg5 I am not sure about this move, as perhapsnow White should have taken with the pawn,which we discussed briefly after the game.21 Îxg5+ Êh8 22 Ëb2 Ëf6 Black has emerged from the earlymiddlegame with an excellent position.23 Ëc3 Ìg7 24 Ëg3 Ìb4 25 Îxa8Îxa8 26 Íd1 Îa1

Now it looks like I have at least a draw. Ihave purposely not annotated the precedingmoves too heavily, simply because theposition is extremely complex. After my lastmove I had 11 minutes left, plus the 30-second increment. Not enough for such aposition, but my opponent thought for five ofhis remaining 17 minutes and came up with:27 Ëc3?? Îc1! I had seen this one well in advance andplayed it immediately.28 Ëg3 Now I saw the forced win, but somehow,and I still do not know how, played it in thewrong order.28...Ìc2+? 29 Êe2 Here I already saw to my greatdisappointment what I had done, as the line29...Íxb5 30 axb5 Ìd4 31 Êd1 Ìxb5 withthe threat of ...Ìc3+, which is completelywinning, runs into 30 Íxc2. If I had startedwith 29...Íxb5, I would surely have won the

game. I don’t know what happened here;perhaps I thought I could play 29...Ìd4+ torepeat the position a couple of times and gaintime on the clock, but of course his knight onb5 is still on the board and controls thatsquare. This was, of course, a huge missedopportunity, but I had to get back on track –there were 11 moves to make and theposition was still open for either side to win.29...Íxb5 30 Íxc2 Îxc2 31 cxb5 fxe432 Êd1 Îa2 33 Ìxe4 Ëf7 34 Êc1

34...Îa1+ A bad move according to the computer, orso I have been told. I have not used the siliconbrain at all when annotating these games toprovide the reader with my ‘pure thoughts’from the play.35 Êb2 Îa8 36 Ëd3 b6 A very sharp move. My plan was just tobring the queen to a7 and mate him.37 Îg1! Now is a good time to mention that myopponent, after his error on move 27, playedthe rest of the game absolutely superbly.37...Ëa7 38 Ìg5! Ëa2+ 39 Êc3 Ëa5+40 Êc2 Ëa2+ 41 Êd1

Thankfully we had now reached the timecontrol, although the position remainsextremely sharp. I now had to do a lot ofcalculating – in some lines I can chase his kingall the way to the h-file, whilst in others, hismate on h7 threat is very serious. There werebasically two lines to choose from here: theway I played and the ending that arises byforce after 41...Ëa1+ 42 Êe2 Îa2+ 43 Êf3e4+ 44 Ëxe4 Ëf6+ 45 Êg4 h5+ 46 Êh3Ëf5+ 47 Ëxf5 Ìxf5. However, I rejectedthis position as I was concerned about 48Ìe4!, holding together his position andintroducing various threats such as Ìf6.41...e4! 42 Ëxe4 Ëxb3+ 43 Êe2 Ëxb5+! Actually all of my moves are forced.44 Êf3 Îf8+ 45 Êg2 Ìf5

The position has stabilised. How to assess it?I am a pawn up, but I did not feel verycomfortable. I did briefly check this position witha computer after the game and I believe it thinksBlack is a bit better. Funnily enough, during thegame I had the thought: ‘A computer wouldprobably think Black is slightly better, but inpractice this looks a lot easier for White’,especially as now I already had just 13 minutesleft. Moreover, my opponent continued hisstrong play, setting me tricky problems to solve.46 Êh1 Ëd7 47 Ìe6 Îf6 48 Ëg4 Ëf749 Ëa4 h6 50 Ëa8+ Êh7 51 Ëd8! At this stage in this very tense encounterwe both had seven minutes left on the clock,plus the increment. My opponent’s last movewas a touch of genius. He is not threateninganything, but he has tied up my pieces so thatnone of them can move, and combined withimminent time trouble I lashed out...51...Îxe6 Actually even after this move, objectivelyspeaking I am still holding, but the mainproblem is that the position now becomesmuch easier for White to play.52 dxe6 Ëxe6 53 Îg4! Ìe7 54 Îf4Ìd5 55 Îf3 Ëe4? My last two moves are typical timetrouble moves, trying to be active, but theysimply lose the game. Whereas, again, if I hadjust sat tight I would have been OK.56 Ëf8 Ëxh4+ 57 Êg1 Ëg5+ 58 Îg3 1-0 A really great fight. My opponent playedextremely well after his hiccup, whilst overallI was also satisfied with my moves and thefact that game was only decided in the last15 minutes of play.

18

Experienced Polish Grandmaster MichalKrasenkow has practically made the h3system against the King’s Indian his own.

16-18 Rilton_Chess mag - 21_6_10 22/02/2015 20:04 Page 18

www.everymanchess.com

available through the London Chess Centre www.shop.chess.co.uk

468 pages, RRP £19,99

512 pages, RRP £24,99

new titles out NOW