Chessville - Gruesome End for the Gruenfeld - by IM Larry Kaufman

Chessville

Today is

Site Map

If you have disabled Java for your browser, use the Site Map (linked in the header and footer).

Chessville
logo by
ChessPrints

Advertise
with
Chessville!!

Advertise to
thousands
of chess
fans for
as little
as $25.

Single insert:
$35
x4 insert:
@ $25 each.

From the
Chessville
Chess Store

Brought to you by

Available in English OR español!

Gruesome End

for the Gruenfeld

by IM Larry Kaufman

A few years ago, whenever I opened 1.d4, I feared the Gruenfeld more than any other defense. Now, at last, it seems that there is a weapon in White’s arsenal (4.Bg5 Ne4 5.Bh4) that leaves Black struggling for equality. In the Linares tournament, the world’s top rated Gruenfeld player, Peter Svidler, lost twice in this line, in both cases at least partly due to the opening. Moreover, after losing a third Gruenfeld (to another line), he gave it up entirely for the rest of the event. There have been other recent games with the line, but always it seems that White either won or at least had a path to some advantage. The line is quite old, but it has only become popular again quite recently. Let’s see why...

After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Bg5 Ne4 5.Bh4 Black can reply 5...c5 6.cxd5 Nxc3 7.bxc3 Qxd5 8.e3 cxd4 9.Qxd4 Qxd4 10. cxd4 e6 11.Rb1 Be7 (11 ...Nc6 12.Bb5 Bd7 13.Nf3 Be7 14.Bxe7 leads to similar play) 12.Bxe7 Kxe7.

This endgame may be “drawn”, but it is not equal. White’s well-placed rook, greater central control, and better bishop add up to a clear advantage. After 13.Bd3 Nc6 (The older 13...Nd7 14.Nf3 b6 15.Be4 Rb8 16.Kd2 leads to a similar pleasant ending for White.) 14.Nf3 b6 15.Ke2 Bb7 16.Rhc1 Rhc8 17.g4 h6 18.h4 Na5 19.g5

a b c d e f g h

White went on to win a nice endgame in Aronian-Svidler (Linares, 2006). Frankly, I don’t understand why a player of Svidler’s caliber would choose to defend such an ending.

Black doesn’t have to trade pawns on move 8; instead, he can choose 8...Bg7. Then White offers a similar ending by 9.Qf3 (9.Nf3 is also promising.). Black can avoid the trade by 9...Qd6 (9...Qd8 is similar.). Then, 10.Bb5+ Nd7 (10...Bd7?! 11.Qxb7) 11. Ne2 cxd4 12.exd4 0-0 13. 0-0 e5 13...Nf6 14.Rfe1 Qc7 15.Bg3 favors White 14.Rad1 exd4 15.cxd4 Nf6 16.Bc4 Qc6 17.Qb3 Bd7 18.Rc1 Qb6 19.Qxb6 axb6 20.Nc3

a b c d e f g h

This is obviously somewhat better for White, due to the superior pawn structure (Radjabov-VanWely 2005). Instead, Black can trade queens by 9...Qxf3 10.Nxf3 Nc6 11.Rb1 0-0 12.Bd3 Re8 13.Be4 cxd4 14.cxd4 e5 15.d5 (new move) Nd4 16.Nd2 f5 17.Bd3 h6 18.Bg3 g5

a b c d e f g h

As in Perelshteyn-Kriventsov, USA Ch, 2006. Then19.Nc4 f4 20.exd4 exd4+ 21.Kd2 fxg3 22.hxg3 b6 23.Nd6 would have been clearly better for White.

A quite different and more promising way for Black to play is to grab a pawn by 5...Nxc3 6.bxc3 dxc4 (6...Bg7 7.cxd5 Qxd5 8.e3 c5 transposes to the previous paragraph) 7.e3 Be6, as Svidler played right after the above loss to Aronian. This was seen first in Mecking-Fischer 1970. Ivanchuk played 8.Qb1 and Svidler tried a novelty, the countergambit 8...c5?!. However, after 9.Qxb7 Bd5 10.Qb5+ Nd7 (if 10...Qd7 11.Rb1 with an edge) 11.Nf3 Rb8 12.Qa4 cxd4 13.cxd4 Qc8 (If 13...Bg7 14.Bxc4 Bxc4 15.Qxc4 Qa5+ 16.Kf1 Black has very little compensation for the pawn.) 14. Rc1 e6 15.Bxc4 Rb4 16.Qa6 Bb7 (16...Qc7 17.Ne5)

a b c d e f g h

17.Qa5! f6 blocking the latent mate threat on d8 18.Nd2 White was a safe pawn up. After 18...Bxg2? 19.Rg1 Qc6 20.Rxg2! Qxg2 21.Bxe6 Bd6 22.Rc8+ White won in a few moves.

A strange but not bad option is 8...Qd5. Then, 9.Nf3 Qa5 10.Qb2 Nd7 11.Be2

a b c d e f g h

11...Nb6 (11...Bd5 12.0-0 Bg7 13.Nd2 Nb6 14.e4 Be6 15.Nb3!! Qb5 16.Rab1 gives huge compensation for the pawn.) 12.0-0 Na4 13.Qxb7 Bd5 14.Qb1 Nxc3 15.Qe1 Bg7 16.e4! Nxe2+ (16...Bxe4 17.Rc1 is dangerous for Black.) 17.Qxe2 Be6 was Atalik-Predojevic 2004. Here, Krasenkow’s suggestion 18.Rab1 c3 19.d5 gives White tremendous compensation for the pawn, which shortly should be recovered favorably.

After the usual 8...b6 9.Nf3 Black has a choice. The normal 9...Bg7 10.Ng5 Bd5 11.e4 h6 was met by the novelty 12.Nh3

a b c d e f g h

(The usual 12.exd5 hxg5 13.Qb5+ c6! leads only to equality.) 12...Bb7 13.Bxc4 0-0 in Arutinian- Sanikidze 2006. Here White played the dubious 14.e5 when 14...c5 would have been hard to meet (14...Bd5?? 15.Bxe7 and wins was the game). Instead 14.Qc2 c5 15.d5 should keep a small pull. At this writing this seems to be Black’s best option in the Bg5 line. Black could hang on to the pawn by 12...Be6 13.Nf4 Qd7, but after 14.f3 a6 15.Bg3 0-0 16.Be2 White has superb compensation with the bishop pair whenever he takes on e6, a dominant center and better pawn structure.

An alternative is 9...Bh6 10.Bg5 Bxg5 11.Nxg5 Qd5 12.Nxe6

a b c d e f g h

12...Qxe6 (After 12...fxe6 13.e4 Qa5 14.Qb2 Qa4 15.Be2, White has great compensation for the pawn.) 13.Qb5+ c6 14.Qxc4 Qxc4 15.Bxc4 e6 (15...Nd7 16.a4 was also pleasant for White in Macieja-Navara, 2005) 16.a4 a6 17.Be2 Ke7 18.Kd2 Nd7 19.Rhb1 Rhc8 as in Halkias-Timofeev, 2005. Now after the simple 20.c4 White is surely better.

Black can also choose the gambit continuation 4...Bg7 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.cxd5 c6. Here 7.e4 is pretty good, but a strong, safe continuation is 7.Rc1 0-0 (7...Qb6 8.e3 Qxb2 9.Bc4 [9.Nf3 is also good] Qb4 10.Qb3 Qxb3 11.Bxb3 0-0 11.Nf3 and White’s superior development and center must outweigh the bishop pair) 8.dxc6 Bxd4 9.c7 Bxc3+ 10.Rxc3 Qxd1+ 11.Kxd1 Nc6 12.e4

a b c d e f g h

12...Bd7 (12...Bg4+ 13.Be2 Bxe2+ 14.Kxe2 Rfc8 15.Nf3 Rxc7 16.Rd1 Rcc8 17.Rdd7 with an obvious edge was Azmaiparashvili-Sutovsky 2005) 13.Nf3 Rfc8 14.Bb5 Rxc7 15.Kd2 a6 16.Ba4 Rcc8 17.Rhc1 b5 18.Bb3 gave White a plus in Jobava-Miton 2005. White won both these endings.

In conclusion, it seems that Black needs an improvement if the Gruenfeld is to regain its reputation as a fully reliable defense to 1.d4, though the line with 8...b6 9.Nf3 Bg7 seems playable for Black, while the 8...Qd5 line deserves further investigation.

This article is an example of the excellent instructional material that can be found twice a month in the pages of Chess Chronicle, the First Ever Semi-Monthly Online Chess e-zine! It contains theoretical analysis, opening survey, chess novelties and well annotated games, plus instructive articles by Grandmasters and International Masters. Chess Chronicle is delivered right to your email inbox in PDF file format; you can read it on your computer screen or print it out and take it with you. Chess Chronicle also provides the PGN of all the games in each issue.

For more great articles & sample issues, check out Chess Chronicle today!!