This Week's ChessVideos Show: Quick Ruy XXXII: The Chigorin Variation
In this week's ChessVideos show, we examine one of the meatiest variations in the entire Ruy Lopez, the Chigorin Variation. (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.h3 Na5) This complex is too rich to be exhaustively covered in a single video (obviously!), but there is enough material here to get you started and then some. After 10.Bc2 c5 I examine both 11.d3 (but fairly briefly) and 11.d4, and after 11.d4 both 11...Nd7 and 11...Qc7 are covered in some depth. As a sort of ad for the video, I'll note that the research I did on the Graf Variation (11...Nd7 12.Nbd2 [12.dxc5 is examined as well] 12...exd4 13.cxd4 Nc6) helped me to win a pretty easy and devastating victory over a strong IM (albeit in blitz) - it's good material!
As always, the show is free. Two more to go in the Quick Ruy series: the Zaitsev is next, and then we'll finish up with the Breyer.