"Garry's Choice": A Great Predecessor

In the preceding post I reviewed Informant 113 and mentioned a new column, "Garry's Choice". In the column's initial installment Kasparov features the game Paragua - Debashis, taking special note of a spectacular missed possibility:

Black has enough extra material to win several games, but his king is in a world of trouble. In the game he played 24...Kf8, which allowed a forced mate, but what he missed was 24...Qg4!!, after which the best White can do is play 25.Rxg4+ Kxf7 26.Qxh7+ Ke6 27.Re4+ Kd7 28.Rxe7+ Bxe7 29.h4, with good drawing chances.

An even prettier version of that move was possible a couple of moves before.

Here White played 23.Bxf7+, but 23.Rg1 is more accurate and more frightening, cutting off the enemy king's escape.

The only move, as you've surely surmised by now, is 23...Qg4!! The queen can be taken four different ways, even with check, but in every case Black is at least equal.

Kasparov confesses that this move is unique to him, and the best he can do to come up with a vague predecessor is "Mitrofanov's Deflection", the crowning blow to a deservedly famous composition. The key moment comes here:

White plays the spectacular 1.Qg5!!, pulling Black's queen to a dark square, so that after 1...Qxg5+ 2.Ka6 it can't safely check White's king along the f1-a6 diagonal.

The other predecessor Kasparov suggests is even less compelling, so while I'll provide it in the replayable games section I won't bother with it here.

Nevertheless, while the (missed) ...Qg4 idea is indeed magnificent, it's not entirely unique, and Kasparov missed a far greater predecessor. First of all, it's from an actual game. Second, it wasn't found later on and possibly by a computer; it was found by the player himself and executed in the game. Third, it's far more similar, making it a genuine predecessor.

MacDonald-Burn, Casual Game 1910, position after 33.Bh5

White is down a piece for a pawn, but the bishop on g5 is a goner and Black's king is looking kind of crispy. But once again her majesty comes to the rescue: 33...Qg4!! and all is well (or at least almost all). The same piece, going to the same square, and for at least one of the same reasons - to obstruct the g-file. Another similarity is that all White captures but one give Black an immediately winning advantage.

MacDonald correctly played 34.Rxg4, and after 34...Nf3+ the accurate 35.Kg3 would have maintained some advantage. After 35.Kg2? Nxd2 36.Rxg5+ Kh6 Black was better (in the 35.Kg3 case White would have 37.Kg4) and went on to win.

You can replay all of these magnificent examples here.

A Quick Review of Informant 113

When I first started reviewing issues of the Informant a few years ago, this once great publication was a dying dinosaur. For those unfamiliar with the informant concept, it is most fundamentally a periodical, presenting hundreds of annotated games from a recent time period. Generally the period in question was many months ago by the time of publication, and while that was fine in 1966 when it first came out on through its heyday in the 1980s, it wasn't much good when people would watch the game live, see quick notes that night or the next day and detailed annotations in New in Chess Magazine or ChessBase Magazine a month or two later. What the Informant still had over those competitors was quantity: it would have hundreds and hundreds of games, often annotated by all the best players in the world. But by the mid-to-late 2000s, that was over too. Almost no really strong players bothered with the Informant, so elite games would be handled by staffers, offering nothing that wasn't available through other, speedier e-publications.

Happily, the Informant team started making changes - small, incremental ones at first, and now bigger ones - and the publication has returned to relevance. Among the small changes were the inclusion of sections on "Excellent Moves" (like combinations, but without starting with a sacrifice), endgame studies and problems.

They've also developed some special materials on openings. The format varied for a while, and in its current incarnation there are ten theoretical articles - all by grandmasters. Further, there is prose not only in the introduction to each article, but in the analysis itself - another innovation. This issue has articles on the English by Delchev (the Keres Variation) and Halkias (the Hedgehog), an article by Markus on the Benko Gambit, one by Perunovic on the Kan Sicilian, Pap on a gambit line in the Advance French, Erdos on the Rio de Janiero Variation of the Berlin, Sundararajan on the Berlin endgame, Cheparinov(!) on the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit, Sanikidze on the Vienna variation of the Queen's Gambit and Ivanisevic on the Classical King's Indian.

The Rising Stars mini-section continues from the previous Informant; this time featuring 19-year-old Greek IM and national champion Antonis Pavlidis, who annotates a couple of his own games.

Also in this issue - as in all the issues for a long time - are a recap of the Best Game and Best Novelty from the previous issue, a collection of annotated games from the relevant period (the last quarter of 2011), sections on combinations and endgames, a summary of results from all the significant FIDE-rated events from the relevant period, and a mini-Informant decided to a leading player (Morozevich this time around).

Now let's turn to what's new.

The featured attraction, which even gets mentioned on the cover, is "Garry's Choice". By Garry Kasparov, the column is subtitled "The 13th World Champion Dissects Top Games of Modern Chess". Ironically, the game presented in the inaugural column features a comparatively low-rated GM taking on an IM. The reason for the game's inclusion is aesthetic: Black had (but alas, missed) the chance for chess immortality when he missed a tactical blow that to Kasparov's recollection would have been unique in chess history.

After that comes another fine new section: "Top Five: Notable Achievements by Top Players". Five very strong players (four of whom are [well] over 2700, while the fifth is just under) deeply analyze their games - again, to continue the Informant's new trend, in English, not just symbols. The five this time around around Alexander Morozevich, Alexander Moiseenko, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Nikita Vitiugov and Ernesto Inarkiev.

All in all, it's an attractive issue, and I can happily recommend the Informant to strong club players and up.

You can find ordering info on the Informant site or, in the U.S., in the Chess Cafe shop.

Kramnik on the Berlin, vs. Aronian

You can find a short video here with Vladimir Kramnik discussing the Berlin Defense in the context of his match with Levon Aronian. One especially insightful remark notes that just because someone (e.g. Aronian) plays an opening successfully with one side doesn't necessitate being adept at that same opening (e.g. the Berlin) from the other side of the board. With some openings it's probably not so difficult, but with others, like the Berlin, he's probably spot on. I played a few Berlins with Black and felt pretty comfortable there, but it didn't translate into much when I played White. Conversely (and at a much, much higher level) I recall that for all the time Garry Kasparov put into meeting the Berlin with White, he was beaten badly when trotting it out against Judit Polgar. Considering both her generally less than sterling opening preparation (compared to Kasparov) and Kasparov's colossal plus score against her in their other head-to-head games (an otherwise undefeated 14-2 in his favor), Kramnik's comment is worth thinking about. Maybe we assume we'll know what to do when confronted with our own favorite openings, but this assumption might be misguided.

Karpov, Kramnik and Kasparov on Spassky

Their comments about Boris Spassky are fairly brief, but coming as they do from such legends of the game they are noteworthy nonetheless. (HT: Brian Karen)

This Week's ChessVideos Show: The Quick Ruy, Part XVI

This week's episode is part 16 overall, and the first part of a two part series on the 9.Nbd2 line of the Open Ruy. Both sides have some options here, and this time around I focus on the glamor line 9...Nc5 10.c3 d4 11.Ng5, as famously played by Karpov against Korchnoi in their 1978 world championship and successfully played by Kasparov against Anand in their 1995 title bout. In fact, Kasparov's spectacular win in game 10 of that match is the centerpiece of the show, both because it's a beautiful game and for its theoretical significance. As always, though, there's an antidote, and I show current theory's best answer for Black.

The show is free, as always, as long as you've gone through the simple, free, one-time only registration process, and will be available on-demand for the next month or so.

Enjoy!

Kasparov On Nakamura's Comments

Near the end of the London tournament, Hikaru Nakamura suggested that the main benefit he drew from his working relationship with Garry Kasparov was in the realm of openings, as he was "quite convinced there are other players who were better than he was" when it came to middlegames and endings. To no one's surprise, I think, it came out soon afterwards that they had terminated their work together, but some might be surprised by Garry Kasparov's rejoinder:

Happy to let my games speak for me for now. Start looking on move 20 if you like!

That's a remarkably collected response from Kasparov, whose comments on other players are often sharp and sometimes incendiary. Good for him! Even better, I think he's right, though Nakamura might rejoin that it's easier to play strongly in the rest of the game when you start off with a big advantage based on your opening prep.

(HT: Brian Karen)

Nakamura No Longer Working With Kasparov

After Hikaru Nakamura's recent comments about Garry Kasparov and the nature of their work together, it's not exactly earthshaking news to discover that they have ended their professional relationship.

That's too bad for Nakamura, I think, but if he uses what he learned from Kasparov and puts in the work - at chess rather than poker or online bullet and blitz - he can vindicate his decision. And it's good news for the next talented young player with a sponsor or money to burn. Will Fabiano Caruana or Anish Giri be next?