Friday, May 13, 2005

luck favors the aggressor

i was thinking back to some of my more brilliant games (draw v. hugh morrison for example) and i recalled that luck favors the aggressor. i think i may go back to 1.e4. But C, i can hear you asking, aren't you afraid of the French, particularly the Winawer? not anymore

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qg4


luck favors the aggressor...there's an article on this line (or a line like it) in the NIC yearbook i have...also i bought a subscription to New In Chess...i'm a sucker...they sent me a pamphlet and ig ot it. jane got a job today at Sauble Beach and i hope she likes it...may gimme some more time for chess. which reminds me...there's a tournament in hamilton coming up soon....i'm thinking about unassing the king's gambit and 1.e4. we'll see

1 comment:

Craig said...

i did find the article in my NIC yearbook.

FR 8.2 French Defence Winawer Variation

A Ticket to the Zonal


In the early nineties I had great difficulties in the French Winawer with 4.e5, both because of the countless possibilities Black has and because I found it hard to keep up with the ever increasing flow of information about them. Therefore I became interested in 4.Qg4. After exploring the theoretical assessments I was surprised to find only one of them correct.

I got my opportunity to launch my ideas in 1994, against the German IM Markus Schafer. As a result he thought for an hour after the 8th move! At that moment I could not guess that I would be able to play 4.Qg4 both in the first (v. Berovski) and last round (v. Dragiev) of the 1995 Bulgarian championship. The latter was decisive for qualification to the 1995 Odorheiu Zonal.

There is a well-known proverb in chess that "all is new that is well forgotten". The same applies to 4.Qg4, which in my opinion is at least not worse than any other White continuation on move 4. In fact, the featured game shows that the new plan with 12.Qf4! and 13.Nh3! puts 10. ...Qb6 (in many books touted as the refutation of the entire 4.Qg4 line) under a cloud. It is very important that on f4 the white queen is protected (see the note to 13. ...Nc6) and that is controls e3, necessary for the preparation of f2-f3! It is remarkable that in the two other games in which my opponents chose 4. ...Nf6, they could not find a safe path to equality either. GM Dimitrov's attempt to restore 4. ...Kf8!? is noteworthy!

4.Qg4!? undoubtedly deserves further practical application.

Nikolai Ninov (2435) - Veselin Dragiev (2330)
BUL-ch 1995

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qg4 Nf6 5. Qxg7 Rg8 6. Qh6 c5 7. e5 cxd4 8. a3 dxc3 9. axb4 cxb2 10. Bxb2 Qb6 11. O-O-O Rg6 12. Qf4 Ne4 13. Nh3 Nc6 14. c3 Bd7 15. Bd3 Rxg2 16. Bxe4 dxe4 17. Rxd7 Kxd7 18. Qxf7+ Kc8 19. Rd1 a6 20. Qe8+ Nd8 21. Nf4 Rxf2 22. Nxe6 Rf1 23. Rxf1 Qxe6 24. Qxe6+ Nxe6 25. Rf7 h5 26. Re7 Nc7 27. c4 b5 28. e6 Kd8 29. Rh7 bxc4 30. Be5 Ra7 31. Kd2 h4 32. Bd4 c3+ 33. Kc2 e3 34. Bxa7 e2 35. Bf2 Nxe6 36. Bxh4+ Kc8 37. Kxc3 Ng5 38. Rh8+ Kb7 39. Kd2 Nf3+ 40. Kxe2 1-0