Exchange Slav – Sample Puzzles from new PaperBack Book

My ebook Exchange Slav – Strategy and Tactics is now available in paperback format, so you can order a physical copy and have it delivered to you like most chess books you probably already own. Here is a sample set of exercises from the “Pressure on c6” chapter. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see solutions.

Kramnik, Vladimir - Anand, Viswanathan
   2007.11.21   

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. d4 Nc6 6. Bf4 a6 7. Rc1 Bf5 8. e3 Rc8 9. Be2 e6 10. O-O Be7?!

( 10. ... Bd6! )

11. Qb3

11. ... Na5?

( Correct was 11. ... Qd7! 12. Na4 Na5! 13. Rxc8+ Qxc8 14. Qb6 Nc4 15. Qa7 although White still maintains some pressure. )

12. Qa4+ Nc6

White's turn

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The following examples have colors reversed, as it is Black who is putting pressure on 'c3'.

Babu N Sudhakar - Sriram, Jha
   2002   

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Nf3 e6 8. Bb5 Nd7 9. O-O Be7 10. Rc1 Rc8 11. Ne5 Ndxe5 12. Bxe5 O-O 13. Bg3 Qb6 14. Qe2 a6 15. Ba4 Bg6 16. Bd1 Nb4 17. Qd2 Qa5 18. Be2 b5 19. a3?

Black's turn

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Khropova, Larisa - Shumilina, Alexandra
   2008   

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bf4 a6 7. e3 Bg4 8. Be2 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 O-O 12. Rc1 Rc8 13. Qd2 b5 14. Qd3 Qb6 15. Rfd1 Rfd8 16. Be2 Na5 17. Qb1 Nc4 18. Bd3 h6 19. b3 Na3 20. Qb2 Qa5 21. g4 Bb4 22. Ne2 Qb6 23. Kg2 Qb7 24. Kg1 a5 25. Bg3 Ne4 26. Bh2 Ng5 27. Kg2 Nc4 28. Qb1 Nd2 29. Qb2 Rxc1 30. Rxc1 Ndf3 31. Nc3 Rc8 32. Bg3?

Black's turn

 

 

Solutions

Kramnik, Vladimir - Anand, Viswanathan
Wch Blitz 3rd   2007.11.21   

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. d4 Nc6 6. Bf4 a6 7. Rc1 Bf5 8. e3 Rc8 9. Be2 e6 10. O-O Be7?!

( 10. ... Bd6! )

11. Qb3

11. ... Na5?

( Correct was 11. ... Qd7! 12. Na4 Na5! 13. Rxc8+ Qxc8 14. Qb6 Nc4 15. Qa7 although White still maintains some pressure. )

12. Qa4+ Nc6

13. Bxa6! Ra8

( After 13. ... bxa6 14. Ne5 Qb6 15. Ne2 Qb5 16. Qxb5 axb5 17. Rxc6 +/- White remains up a pawn. )

14. Bxb7 Rxa4 15. Bxc6+ Kf8 16. Nxa4 Ne4 17. Bb7 Nd6 18. Bxd6 Qxd6 19. Rc6 Qd7 20. Rc8+ Bd8 21. Ne5 1-0

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Babu N Sudhakar - Sriram, Jha
Chhattisgarh Trophy   2002   

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. e3 Bf5 7. Nf3 e6 8. Bb5 Nd7 9. O-O Be7 10. Rc1 Rc8 11. Ne5 Ndxe5 12. Bxe5 O-O 13. Bg3 Qb6 14. Qe2 a6 15. Ba4 Bg6 16. Bd1 Nb4 17. Qd2 Qa5 18. Be2 b5 19. a3?

19. ... Na2 20. b4

( 20. Rcd1 Nxc3 21. bxc3 Bxa3 would have left Black up two pawns, as the 'c3' pawn is also going to fall. )

20. ... Nxb4 21. axb4 Bxb4 22. Ra1 Bxc3 23. Rxa5 Bxd2 24. Rxa6 b4

Black came out of complications with an extra passed pawn and is winning here.

25. Rb6 Rc2 26. Bd6 Rfc8 27. Ba6 R2c6 0-1

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Khropova, Larisa - Shumilina, Alexandra
Moscow-ch   2008   

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bf4 a6 7. e3 Bg4 8. Be2 e6 9. O-O Be7 10. h3 Bxf3 11. Bxf3 O-O 12. Rc1 Rc8 13. Qd2 b5 14. Qd3 Qb6 15. Rfd1 Rfd8 16. Be2 Na5 17. Qb1 Nc4 18. Bd3 h6 19. b3 Na3 20. Qb2 Qa5 21. g4 Bb4 22. Ne2 Qb6 23. Kg2 Qb7 24. Kg1 a5 25. Bg3 Ne4 26. Bh2 Ng5 27. Kg2 Nc4 28. Qb1 Nd2 29. Qb2 Rxc1 30. Rxc1 Ndf3 31. Nc3 Rc8 32. Bg3?

32. ... Ne1+ 33. Rxe1 Bxc3 34. Qe2 Bxe1 35. Qxe1 b4 -+ 36. Bd6 Rc3 37. Qe2 Ne4 38. Bxe4 dxe4 39. Bc5 e5 40. Kh2 exd4 41. Bxd4 Qc7+ 42. Kg2 Rd3 43. Bb2 Qc6 44. Kg1 a4 45. bxa4 Qxa4 46. Bd4 Ra3 47. Qc4 Qd1+ 48. Kh2 Qf3 0-1

Black’s Pawn Storm in the Exchange Slav

I covered the Slav Exchange structure in my Exchange Slav - Strategy and Tactics ebook, but here are a couple of fresh examples I’d like to bring up to illustrate some ideas in this structure.

Rusev, K. - Ni Hua
XXIV Rapid   2009.07.25 , D14

1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Qb3 Bb4 9. Bb5 O-O 10. O-O Bxc3 11. Qxc3 Rc8 12. Rfc1 Ne4 13. Qa3

13. ... g5

The remoteness of white heavy pieces from the kingside allows Black to begin the hunt for the white bishop.

14. Bg3 f6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Qxa7 h5 17. h4 g4 18. Nh2 Nxg3 19. fxg3 Qd6 20. Nf1 Ra8 21. Qc5 Qxc5 22. Rxc5 Rfb8

Black's initiative persists into the endgame while the White's extra pawn is not very useful at this point.

23. Rxc6 Rxb2 24. e4 Bxe4 25. Ne3 Raxa2 26. Rac1 Kf7 27. Rc8 Rb1 28. Rc7+ Kg6 29. Rxb1 Bxb1 30. Rc6 Bf5 31. Rc8 Re2 32. Nxf5 Kxf5 33. Rh8 Kg6 34. Rg8+ Kf7 35. Rh8 Rd2 36. Rxh5 Kg7 0-1

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Aleksandr Rakhmanov - Dmitry Jakovenko
13th European Individual Championship   2012.03.22 , D14

1. c4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. cxd5 cxd5 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bf5 7. e3 e6 8. Bb5 Nd7 9. Qb3 Be7 10. O-O

10. ... g5

It turns out that White just castled into a full blown pawn storm on the kingside.

11. Bg3 h5 12. h3 g4

13. hxg4 hxg4 14. Nd2 Kf8 15. Rfc1 Kg7

Black has connected the heavy pieces by getting the king out of the way, and the doubling of queen and rook along the h file is a serious threat now.

16. Ne2 Rc8 17. Bxc6 bxc6 18. Qb7 Rh7 19. Bf4 c5 20. e4

After intense complications the game was eventually drawn.

20. ... dxe4 21. Nxe4 e5 22. N4g3 Be6 23. Bxe5+ Nxe5 24. dxe5 Bg5 25. Rd1 Qb6 26. Qe4 Qb4 27. Qxb4 cxb4 28. Nd4 Bd7 29. Nf3 gxf3 30. Rxd7 Bf4 31. e6 Kg6 32. e7 Bxg3 33. fxg3 Rc2 34. gxf3 Re2 35. Rd2 Rxe7 36. Rc1 f6 37. Kg2 Rd7 38. Re2 Rhe7 39. Rxe7 Rxe7 40. Kf2 Rh7 41. Kg2 Rd7 42. Rc2 b3 43. axb3 Rd3 44. Rc3 Rd2+ 45. Kh3 Rxb2 46. Kg4 Rd2 47. f4 Rd4 48. Kh4 a5 49. Rf3 a4 50. bxa4 Rxa4 51. g4 Ra1 52. f5+ Kh6 53. Rh3 Kg7 54. Rb3 Ra7 55. Kh5 Rc7 56. Rb6 Ra7 57. Rc6 Rb7 58. Ra6 Rc7 59. Re6 Ra7 60. g5 fxg5 61. Kxg5 Ra1 62. Re7+ Kf8 63. Kf6 Rf1 64. Ra7 Kg8 65. Ra8+ Kh7 66. Ra2 Kg8 67. Ra8+ Kh7 68. Rf8 Ra1 69. Rf7+ Kg8 70. Re7 Rf1 71. Re5 Kf8 72. Ra5 Kg8 73. Ra8+ 1/2-1/2

Kramnik - Aronian - the Olympic Struggle - Deadly Pin in the Slav

Kramnik - Anand - Quick Win in the Slav

Grischuk - Kamsky - Rapid Victory in Slav Defence

Botvinnik - Denker - Opening Disaster in the Slav Defence

Karpov - Kramnik - blindfold game in Slav Defence

In this game Kramnik creates an instructive example where knights end up stronger than bishops because they manage to occupy key squares and invade White's weaknesses, especially on the light squares. White's bishops  remain passive throughout the game.

Positional Chess – Exploiting the Open File

This game, played 10 years ago still brings pleasant memories, and recollections of how easy it can be to a win a chess game if your opponent does not have a plan.
Lee – Jiganchine, 1999
 Black to Move

White played very passively in the Exchange Variation of the Slav Defence, and Black is in control. 26… Qc4! 27. Qxc4 dxc4! This transforms the advantage of an open file, into an advantage of a better pawn structure, where Black has a dangerous majority on the queenside. White’s queen was an important defender that was traded off, and White’s pawns on b2 and a3 now can be attacked by both Black bishop and rook.

Black is winning here already – due to the threat of c4-c3. Out of desperation my opponent played 28. Be5, dropping the f2 pawn and White Resigned a few moves later. Otherwise the game could have developed like this:

28. Kg1 c3! 29. bxc3 Rxc3

White can’t save the a3 pawn. 30.a4 bxa4 31. Rb8+ Kh7 32. Rb6 a3 33. Rxa6 Rc2 34. Kh2 a2 35. e4 Bb4 36. d5 Bc3 37. Ra7 exd5 38. exd5 a1=Q 39. Rxa1 Bxa1 -+

The position after 27… dxc4 however, reminds me of the Jurgis-Botvinnik, 1931

Black to move. The future world champion won beautifully by 1... Rc4!! 2. bxc4 Bc5 3. Kg2 Bxf2 4. Kxf2 b3 0-1

What if in my game against Jason Lee, Black also tried to win with 3 pawns and a bishop against the rook after the game move 28. Be5  ? The sac is completely unjustified, insane, but apparently Black might be able to hold a draw!

28... Rxb2 ?!?! 29. Rxb2 Bxa3
Just for fun, could Black sacrifice a rook?

  30. Rc2! a5 31. e4 a4 32. Kg3 f6 33. Bc7 Bf8 34. d5 a3 35. d6 b4 36. d7 Be7
Both sides have advanced their pawns, but Black has 3 of them!! They are so dangerous that White has to bail out with 37. Ba5!? b3
37. Ba5 b3 38. Bb4 bxc2 39. Bxe7 c1=Q 40. d8=Q+ Kh7 41.Qa5 e5 42. f3 c3 43. Bxa3 Qf4+ 44. Kf2 Qd2+ with a draw.

Replay the game in the viewer:

Paul Keres Memorial 2009 - overview

Jack Yoos had a great tournament this year, only a month after moving to Vancouver from Montreal. Welcome back, Jack!

Just like I gave an overview of my BC Closed games last October, here are some little notes with quick impressions of my play.

Round 1: LeBlanc – Jiganchine (0-1)

Black to move.

White is a bit better: 16… Rxd6 is not good due to 17. c5 and the knight on d6 is strong.. Since my bishop is also attacked, I decided to move it with a gain of tempo, playing 16… Bg4. White responded with a big blunder – 17.f3??. After Qxd4+, black picks up up two pawns, so the game ended pretty quickly: 17… Qxd4+ 18. Kh1 Bxf3 19. Rad1 Qxd1 20. Qxd1 Bxd1 21. Rxd1 Ne8 0-1

This surely reminded me of my game against Paul from last year’s Keres where after my blunder he had a winning position, but blundered back and lost.

Round 2: Jiganchine – Orlov (1-0)

If you live in BC, Canada then - basically Georgi Orlov is the strongest player you get to regularly see. And after playing in Keres Memorial 6 times – I never actually got to play him – until the 7th tournament. Jack Yoos and Sergei Sokourinski used to have an argument about whether Orlov and Spraggett were of similar strength, and while Jack was convinced (based on his own score against each) that Spraggett is stronger, the very fact of comparison being made speaks volumes.

Black risked a bit more than he should have in the opening, and the ‘star’ move definitely came here, after Black played … c5.

White to move

19. Bc6!

No, this is not me drawing the arrow on the diagram incorrectly - the bishop actually did stop one square short from taking the rook. The rook is not running away (taking it would give Black compensation), instead White totally dominates central squares and increases pressure against c5 pawn with Qd5 coming. After the game Georgi admitted having missed this move. He then had to give a rook for a dark squared bishop, and my light squared bishop live to tell the tale, the game ended after some complications in this position:

White to move

38. Rbf7! and Black resigned since Bf3 mate can’t be prevented without giving up the queen.

After this game – the tournament kind of ended for me – I took a bye, and then still could not play normally since the feeling of having done something special overwhelmed me. This was the first time I played an International Master in my entire life, so to score a win from the first attempt felt quite extraordinary. I realized that Georgi was rusty, and that he comes to Keres Memorial to play risky chess against local amateurs like myself which does mean he loses a game like this once every couple of years, but I still could to get back to my senses (I did try quite hard).

Round 3:  bye (1/2) I was quite exhausted after the previous game, and having been tired before the tournament (this programmer’s been very busy at work recently) – I had planned to take a bye anyway, so this seemed like a good moment for that.

Round 4: Jiganchine – Gentes (1/2-1/2)

24… Qb6

After some manoeuvring by both sides, in this position Kevin offered me a draw, which I accepted. During previous few moves I was mostly focused on keeping positional balance.

Round 5: Pechisker – Jiganchine (1/2 – 1/2)

This was the game that really threw me off balance and probably had to do with my dismal play the next day. Alfred has a style that I find hard to adjust to, so every game against him is usually hard for me. Just like in our last game in the BC Closed, I got a great position out of the opening (Slav defence), but failed to convert.

Black to move

23… Bd5! White has to give up a pawn with 24. e4 just to rescue his tied up pieces.

However a few moves later, the game was somewhere between winning for Black, and a draw and I made a humongous error:

35… a6? allowed 36. Nc5, and suddenly my pawns are weak, pieces are passive, and I am low on time.

That kind of move is hard to explain, but I think, I had planned c6-c5, and was concerned about a5-a6, and Nb3-a5-b7 with counter play. Fortunately this time my desperate measures worked, and in the complications Alfred offered a draw, which I accepted. I was terrified however that I allowed such massive counter play in a technical position.

Round 6: Jiganchine - ChangeHe Li (1/2 – 1/2)

White to move

Another Sicilian Scheveningen, just like in round 4, and again my understanding of position was lacking.
In my quick preparation the morning before the game I had anticipated something similar (an early e4-e5 break), but did not look deep enough.
Here apparently 12.Bxb7 Qxb7 13.Qh5! scores around 90%. I instead played 12. Bf4 and after 12…Nc6 took the knight and offered a draw. I was uncomfortable playing a young improving player, but also getting increasingly worried that I misplayed something (which was kind of true). I also wanted to get some rest before the final round (but had I known that after a draw I would get to play Jack, I would have re-considered).

Round 7: Yoos – Jiganchine (1–0)

I had not lost to Jack Yoos since 1999, but I still remembered the feeling of getting blown off the board before the opening was over. I really wanted to avoid that, so instead of my main opening as Black – I played the line in the Caro-Kann, which I believed to be passive but solid.
Jack played very energetically and still had a very dangerous initiative:

Black to move

Being tired from defending for the last couple of hours - I missed the most obvious threat created by 19.Nc2 – which is Bxc4, and knight has to keep guarding d7, so White gets his pawn back with great position. Trying to get Nh6 into the game - I played 19…f7-f6? (instead Rd8 was better) and after 20.exf6 gxf6 21.Bxc4! and Rhe1 – I made a few more blunders and lost fairly soon (but things were really going downhill at that point). I was very impressed by the way Jack treated this opening variation (and wished I had put up a better resistance).

Gelfand - Korchnoi, Biel 2001

Replay Game

B. Gelfand (2704) - V. Korchnoi (2617) [D18]

GM/Biel SUI (1) 2001

One of the first games played by Korchnoi that I saw was Korchnoi-Kinteros, 1973, where White very convincingly refuted Black's strategy in the Benko gambit. Here is another example of Korchnoi refuting a pawn sacrifice, but in a game played 3 decades later:

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 8. O-O Nbd7 9. Qe2 Bg4

10. e4 I am sure that Gelfand was aware that this move involves a pawn sacrifice, and also that Korchnoi is particularly known for being a greedy defender- accepting sacrifices and then displaying great creativity in surviving opponent's initiative. Going through the game, it is not too clear what he missed in his preparation, as White's compensation never looks quite sufficient. 10. h3 Bh5 (10... Bxf3 11. Qxf3 O-O 12. Rd1) 11. Rd1 O-O 12. e4 Qe7 13. e5 Nd5 14. Ne4 h6 15. Ng3 Bg6 10... Nb6 White's pi eces and pawns are placed very prettily on c4, d4, and e4, but every one of them is under attack, and also both knights on f3 and c3 are under attack. This is a great example of a pawn centre collapsing under intense piece pressure. 11. Bb3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3 Qxd4

13. Rd1 Qe5 14. Bf4 Qh5 15. Qd3 15. Qxh5 Nxh5 16. Be3 Nf6 17. a5 Nbd7 15... Nbd7 16. e5 Nxe5 17. Qd4 Bxc3 18. bxc3 Ng6 19. Bd6 Qa5 20. Bc5 b6 21. Bb4 Qe5 22. Qxe5 Nxe5 23. Bd6 Ned7 24. a5 Ne4 25. axb6 Nxd6 26. Rxd6 Ke7 27. Rxc6 axb6 28. Rb1

28... Rhc8 The rest of the game is mostly a display of Black's technique in converting the extra pawn. 29. Ba4 Nc5 30. Bb5 Rxc6 31. Bxc6 Ra2 32. h4 Kd8 33. Rd1+ Kc7 34. Be8 f6 35. Bb5 Ra3 Black neutralized the counterplay and now himself begins to attack weak pawns. 36. c4 e5 37. Kf1 Ra2 38. Rd5 e4 39. h5 h6 40. Kg1 Ra3 41. Kh2 Rd3 The main pr oblem with defending this kind of positions is that when you are a pawn down, you cannot trade rooks, so you are forced to retreat your pieces into passive squares. 42. Rf5 Kd6 43. Rf4 Ke5 44. Rg4 Ne6 45. Bc6 Ng5 46. f4+ desperation. 46... Kf5 47. Rh4 Ne6 48. g4+ Kxf4 49. g5+ Kxg5 50. Rxe4 Nd4 0-1