French Game in Alekhine Memorial 2013

A French Defence game was played during the Alekhine Memorial 2013 tournament:
Direct Link to the game @ chessgames.com: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1715459

The game was played between Peter Svidler and Nikita Vitiugov, and was played in the Winawer variation of the French Defence

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4  
Standard moves in the Winawer variation. Black now put pressure on Whites center because of the absolute pin on the knight.

4. e5 c5
Whites center is still under attack, attacking the d4 (regular occurring theme in French Defence).

5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3
Some pressure off from center and Blacks "good" bishop has been traded.

6...Ne7 7.Qg4 cxd4 8.Qxg7 Rg8 9.Qxh7
Poison Pawn variation

9.Qxh7 Qc7 10.Ne2 Nbc6 11.f4 dxc3 12.Nxc3

White has more space and blacks king side is open. Blacks only castling option is queen side.

12...Nd4 
Threatning Kc2+ and winning the rook, but the queen is defending the c2 square. White can't move the queen of this diagonal before the threat of Nd4 is gone. 


13.Bb2 Bd7 14.O-O-O
White removes the threat of Kc2+ and get his king in some type of security.

14...Qb6 15.Qd3
Threats to win the knight at d4 since white attacks the knight twice (Queen and Rook) but black defending with just one piece (Queen).

 ... Ndf5 16.Nb5 Rc8 17.g3 a6 18.Nd4 Ba4 19.Rd2 Rc4 20.Bg2 Nxd4 21.Bxd4 Qb5 22.Bf1 Qc6 23.Qe2 Nf5 24.Bb2 Rh8 25.Qf2 Nxg3 

White can't take the Knight since 26.Qxg3 Rxc2+ 27.Kb1 (27. Rxb2?? Qxb2#) Rxd2


26.Bxc4 Nxh1 27.Qa7 Qxc4 28.Qb8+ Kd7 29.Qxh8 Bxc2 30.Rxc2 Qf1+ 

31.Kd2 Qf2+ 32.Kd3 Qf3+ 33.Kd2 Qf2+ 34.Kd3 Qf3+ 35.Kd2
and the game was drawn by Threefold repetition rule. My analysis engine declares white as leader here with +3.39. but after 35...Qf2+ 36.Kd3 Qf3+ 37.Kd4 Qe4+ 38.Kc3 Qxf4 the computer says 0.00 and the draw is correct.

Norway Chess 2013 6th round result

Karjakin got a draw against Anand and is still in the lead with 4.5 point out of 6. Carlsen is close behind with 4 out of 6 points.

Aronian won against Ludvig Hammar and now has 3.5p out of 6.
Topalov and Wang got a draw and now Topalov has 2.5p out of 6 and Wang 2p out of 6.

After round 6:

	Players		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	KARJAKIN Sergey	RUS		0		1	½			1	1	1	4,5
2	CARLSEN Magnus	NOR	1		½		½	½	½	1			4
3	NAKAMURA Hikaru	USA		½		0	1	½	½		1		3,5
4	ARONIAN Levon	ARM	0		1		½	½		½		1	3,5
5	ANAND Viswanathan	IND	½	½	0	½		½	1				3
6	SVIDLER Peter	RUS		½	½	½	½				0	1	3
7	TOPALOV Veselin	BUL		½	½		0			½	½	½	2,5
8	RADJABOV Teimour	AZE	0	0		½			½		½	1	2,5
9	WANG Hao	CHN	0		0			1	½	½		0	2
10	HAMMER Jon Ludvig	NOR	0			0		0	½	0	1		1,5

Tomorrow: 

WANG Hao		ARONIAN Levon
HAMMER Jon Ludvig		CARLSEN Magnus
SVIDLER Peter		TOPALOV Veselin
RADJABOV Teimour		ANAND Viswanathan
KARJAKIN Sergey		NAKAMURA Hikaru

Karjakin lost in 5th round of Norway Chess 2013

Carlsen outplayed Karjakin in the 5th round, and is now only one point after Karjakin in the total standing.
Karjakin is still in the lead, but Anand and Nakamura is still to be played. Carlsen has already played them and should soon meet the players Karjakin won against.

Nakamura has earlier beat Karjakin with 5 to 2, and 10 draws and Anand has 2 to 0 wins and 6 draws against Karjakin.

Hammar also got his first win of the tournament against Hao Wang, the best chinese chess player. Before the tournament he promised Norway to win at least 1 game of the tournament.

	Players		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	A	B	C
1	KARJAKIN Sergey	RUS		0		1			1		1	1	4	8	4	2
2	CARLSEN Magnus	NOR	1		½		½	½		½			3	9	1	1
3	NAKAMURA Hikaru	USA		½		0	1			½	1		3	6,5	2	1
4	ARONIAN Levon	ARM	0		1		½	½	½				2,5	6,75	1	0
5	ANAND Viswanathan	IND		½	0	½		½		1			2,5	6	1	0
6	SVIDLER Peter	RUS		½		½	½				0	1	2,5	5,5	1	0
7	RADJABOV Teimour	AZE	0			½				½	½	1	2,5	4,5	1	0
8	TOPALOV Veselin	BUL		½	½		0		½			½	2	5	0	0
9	WANG Hao	CHN	0		0			1	½			0	1,5	3,75	1	0
10	HAMMER Jon Ludvig	NOR	0					0	0	½	1		1,5	2,5	1	0

Karjakin wins in fourth round

Karjakin won in the fourth round against Aronian. As mention earlier in another blog post, Aronian had before this game won against Karjakin 6 times against 1 and 13 draws.
Today Karjakin played the black pieces. 4 points out of 4 is a good summary after four rounds, but as mentioned earlier, he has yet to play the biggest names in the tournament. Today he won against one of the biggest names. Let see how he plays against Magnus Carlsen tomorrow!

Carlsen has yet to win in Norway chess tournament. 4 draws in 4 rounds isn't good enough if he wants to be in the top after the tournament. Today he got a draw against Svidler. Now Carlsen has some pressure on him to win in the next round.

Hammer got his first draw today, after three rounds of losing. Topalov had a big advantage after 35 moves, but blundered a little bit and only got a draw against Hammer.

Anand lost against Nakamura.

Before Round 4 in Norway Chess tournament

The leader of the Norway Chess tournament, Karjakin, will today play against Aronian.

They have played 2 games during 2013, both ended up in a draw (Karjakin white both times).
Their first game was played in the Tata steel chess tournament in January. The game was played in the Spanish opening (the game can be watched here: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1705175) 

The second game was an blitz game, in Norway. Before the Norway Chess tournament began, the order of players was decided by a blitz tournament. Their second game can be watched here: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1716658

According to chessgames.com Aronian and Karjakin has played 13 draws, Aronian has 6 wins and Karjakin has 1 win.

This puts Aronian in big favor to win this game and catch up Karjakin in total points.
Karjakin is aiming for a draw since he then keeps his lead in the tournament.
Karjakin plays black in todays game.

Norway Chess round 3

Karjakin is still leading the Norway Chess tournament, and he still has maximum points (3 out of 3 rounds).
Today he beat Hao Wang after a game in the Sicilian opening.

The question is, if his lead this early in the tournament will continue. He has yet to play the big names in the tournament, Carlsen, Anand, Topalov and Nakamura.

Magnus Carlsen drew Nakamura, Anand won against Topalov who just has 1 point after 3 rounds. 

	Players		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	KARJAKIN Sergey	RUS							1	1		1	3
2	ARONIAN Levon	ARM			½		1	½					2
3	ANAND Viswanathan	IND		½		½					1		2
4	CARLSEN Magnus	NOR			½		½				½		1,5
5	NAKAMURA Hikaru	USA		0		½				1			1,5
6	SVIDLER Peter	RUS		½						0		1	1,5
7	RADJABOV Teimour	AZE	0								½	1	1,5
8	WANG Hao	CHN	0				0	1					1
9	TOPALOV Veselin	BUL			0	½			½				1
10	HAMMER Jon Ludvig	NOR	0					0	0				0

Chess problems #1

Black to move and win!

Source:
Hammer, Jon Ludvig  (2608)   --   Carlsen, Magnus  (2868)
Game: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1716673

Sergey Karjakin only player with full point after two rounds

In the Super GM tournament in Norway, Sergey Karjakin is the only player, after two rounds, with full points. He beat Jon Ludvig Hammer, the second best player in Norway (after Magnus Carlsen).

Levon Aronian is second with 1.5 point after beating Kamura in a Slav Exchange game. 

The most interesting came before hand was of course the game between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand. The reason it was interesting was because of their World Championship match later this year, but the game ended in a draw.

Carlsen "Deeply Disappointed" by FIDE

FIDE made a decision to sign a match contract stating that the match between Anand and Carlsen will be held in Anands hometown Chennai 6-26 November 2013.

This made Magnus Carlsen to state that he was deeply disappointed by FIDE for signing a contract without going through the bidding process outlined in the WC regulations, and for not choosing neutral ground.

Magnus added in the statement that he and his team still will start preparing for the match.

Aronian wins Alekhine Memorial 2013

Last week one of my favorit player, Levon Aronian, won the Alekhine Memorial 2013 tournament that was played in both Franch (Paris, round 1-5) and Russia (Saint Petersburg, round 6-9).

Aronian won his final game against the player GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, while GM Boris Gelfand  only got a draw against World Champion Vishy Anand.
Aronian and Gelfand both ended up on 5.5 out of 9 point, but Aronian won on tie break.

Aronian (white) winning position.

French Defense: Knight Variation

When I play live blitz chess, i often mean this variation:

1. e4 e6 2. Sf3

This variation is the 3rd option (after 2. d4  and 2. d3 (King's Indian Attack)) on both chess.com (1824 games) and chessgames.com (740 games).
The reason behind this move is probably is that it is a naturell developing move, it develops the Knight to a good square.

Responses suggested by Opening explorers is:

2... c5

• 28,317 games on chessgames.com
• 66,854 games on chess.com 
• 62,423 games on chesstempo.com

2... d5

•  668 games on chessgames.com
• 1676 games on chess.com
• 1367 games on chesstempo.com

Playing 2... d5 can transpose to French Exchange variation, or the Two Knight Variation (Good live video with commentary on the Two Knight Variation).

My opinion on this opening is to play d5, because it stays in the french,  we can reach exchange variation or the advance variation with a knight on f3. Are you familier with The Sicilian opening feel free to place c5 here directly. 

French Defense: Exchange Variation

1. e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5

Other opening that can transpose to this position:
Caro-Kann Defense (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5)
Queen's Gambit Declined (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.cxd5 exd5)

Plus side for Black:

• No weakness in the pawn structure
• The light squared bishop is no longer a bad bishop! Since the blocking e6 pawn is gone!
• White strategic options is limited

Negative side for Black:

• White has the first move in a symmetrical position
• White can use the open e-file to double rook
• White has the e5 outpost (putting a Knight on e5 would be great)

Blacks plan is to defend the e5 square as much as possible since White want to use this as outpost (stated above).
This is a game, played by Paul Morphy against S. Smyth back in 1859 in a blind fold simul, that show what's going to happen if black ignore the e5 square threat: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1281985
Already at move 6..Be6 black is consided to do an inaccuracy.

White has two main continuations here:

• 4. Nf3 
• 4...Nf6 5. Bd3 Bd6 6. O-O O-O
• 4.Bd3
• 4...Bd6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6. O-O O-O

chessgames.com has a very nice collection on how to beat the French Defense Exchange Variation: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1019741
Some of the games in the collection is played in the "Delayed exchange Variation", where White plays 3. Nc3 instead of 3. exd5

And directly after Blacks 3. Bb4 (The Tarrasch Variation) White exchanges the pawns just like in the normal Exchange Variation.

French Defense Traps #1

A common trap in the French Defense Advance variation is the following trap:

 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 b6 4. c3 Ba6 5 Bxa6 Nxa6 6. Qa4+

  and the knight is lost!

French Defense basics

 French defense

The French Defense ranks second in popularity only to the Sicilian against white’s 1.e4 and is considers a very solid opening for black to play, and if played correctly you can destroy whites center a good percentage of the time.

Basics

Major plan for black:

• Attack whites center, the d4 pawn!

Common themes for Black:

• Pawnbreak c7-c5
• Pawnbreak f7-f6
• Less center control in the beginning 
• Black tends to keep king in the center as long as possible

The black bishop at c8 is considers a bad bishop. Black can play 3... b6 and Bb7 to avoid this, and eventually trade this bishop for one of Whites good pieces. Black can also play Bd7->Be8->Bh5 once the f7-f6 pawn break has been played.
Black keeps his king in the center, because of the pawn structure is closed, and the white pieces can't get to your king.

Major variations:

Tarrasch Variation 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 

Winawer Variation 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 

French defense game collection: Famous chess players losing against the French!

French is considerd being a boring opening, which tend to be drawish, according to chess.coms game explorer 35.3% of the games beginning with 1. e4 e6 ends in a draw.
I hope these game below can show that even grand masters can lose against the French:

Garry Kasparov:
vs Viswanathan Anand: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018264
vs Alexey Dreev: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1039605
vs Vassily Ivanchuk: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1060586

Anatoly Karpov:
vs J Cox: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1068296
vs Simen Agdestein: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1068840

Vassily Ivanchuk:
vs Magnus Carlsen: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1641014
vs W So: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1565184
vs Dreev: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1039665

Viswanathan Anand:
vs Nigel Short: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018193
vs Dreev: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018620
vs M Sisniega: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1017993

French Defense: Advance Variation

An brief introduction to French Defense: Advance Variation

The most common variation in the French Defense is the Advance Variation

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5

Most common reply by black in this position is 3... c5 attacking whites center directly.
Whites possible move here is:

• 4. c3 - Defending the d4 pawn 
• 4. Nf3 - Also defending d4 pawn

 Blacks plan here is to put pressure and undermine Whites center, by using c5 and f6 pawnbreaks, if d4 falls soon e5 also fall.Also try to exchange c8 bishop with one of Whites good pieces by playing moves like ...Bd7 and ...Bb5.

Also possible third move for black is 3... b6.
This prepares ... Ba6, which is a good way to exchange the light squared bishops but also gives black the chance to recapture ... bxc5 if white plays d4xc5 after blacks move ... c5.
 
Very good video on the advance variation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cF2ZawEV_U (not my video) 

Positional play...

"Positional play will lead to tactics because your pieces are on good squares. Tactical play may leave your position in ruins while trying to force the issue. Then you lose....."

Chess Problems in French Defense #4

Black to move and win!

White:	Denoyelle Arnaud (2218)
Black:	Zimmermann Walter (2225)
Event:	Ch France (accession)
Site:	Montpellier (France)
Score:	0-1	Date:	1991

Chess Problems in French Defense #3

Black to move and win!

Source: 

White:	Matteucci Guido
Black:	Castaldi Vincenzo
Site:	Milan (Italy)
Score:	0-1	Date:	1938

Chess problems in French Defense #2

Black to move and win!

White:	Karklins Andrew (2223)
Black:	Popel Stephan (2150)
Event:	It (open)
Site:	Chicago (USA)
Score:	0-1	Date:	1966