Friday, May 09, 2008

Anti-Moscow Gambit: 12.f3!?

A recent game in the Semi-Slav / Anti-Moscow 12.f3!? line.

[White "Bacrot"]
[Black "Dreev"]
[Site "Poikovsky"]
[Date "2005.??.??"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. h4 g4 11. Ne5 h5 12. f3 $5 { White wastes no time tearing open the kingside.} Nbd7 13. fxg4 hxg4 {Black's g-pawn is weak. It seems likely that White can regain the gambited pawn in this line.} (13... Nxe5 14. Bxe5 hxg4 15. O-O {Transposing to the mainline.} (15. Bxg4 {Another option. Since this line gives White more interesting options, Black should probably stick to the text.})) 14. O-O $6 { Doesn't this make White's h-pawn hard to defend?} Nxe5 (14... -- 15. Nxf7 $1 Kxf7 16. e5) 15. Bxe5 Nd7 $1 { Sac'ing the exchange... Dreev has done quite well with this line.} ({ Passive play here has been punished severely...} 15... Be7 16. Qd2 $1 Rxh4 17. Qf4 $1 $16 {Nechaev-Maksimenko, Alushta 1999. White has a devastating attack and is likely to convert.}) 16. Bxh8 Qxh4 17. Bxg4 (17. Be5 $2 Nxe5 $1 18. dxe5 $2 Bc5+ $1 {And mate to follow.}) 17... Qxh8 18. e5 $1 {Well calculcated.} O-O-O $1 $146 (18... Nxe5 $6 19. dxe5 Bc5+ 20. Rf2 Qxe5 21. Qe2 Qxe2 22. Bxe2 Rd8 23. Kf1 Bxf2 24. Kxf2 {A tough endgame in Kasparov-Dreev, Moscow 2004. Although Kasparov won and this line is now frowned on, I doubt many experts or even masters have the technique to convert this position as White.}) 19. Qe2 c5 20. d5 Nxe5 21. dxe6 Nxg4 22. Qxg4 Qd4+ 23. Qxd4 cxd4 24. Nxb5 fxe6 25. Rac1 Bh6 26. Rxc4+ Kb8 27. Re1 Be3+ 28. Rxe3 dxe3 29. Rd4 Rf8 30. Rd1 a6 31. Nc3 Rf2 32. Rd6 e5 33. Re6 Rf5 34. Rg6 Rf2 35. Rg5 Rxb2 36. Rxe5 Rxg2+ 1/2-1/2

It's important to remember 15...Nd7!, as it would be hard to find over the board. Both 18...O-O-O and 18...Nxe5 afford Black good chances.

5 comments:

Chessaholic said...

Very interesting. I really like these crazy imbalanced games.

Chessaholic said...

Chessbase has a new DVD out by Rustam Kasimdzhanov, check it out here. I am so tempted to get it :)

likesforests said...

Oh, man. That is hard to resist. A 3.5 hour overview of the Anti-Moscow by a GM... must... resist...

transformation said...

for you to see likeForests!

sample videos here (in no way am i suggesting that you buy this, just worth a passing glance).

warmest, dk

likesforests said...

Thanks David. Now I know I will end up buying this... it's only a matter of time. ;)