chess opening #5873 (23)Botvinnik #3: This time a GM game! Annotated by raskerino (1841): Here's a very modern game (NED championship 2005) in the botvinnik. This is a completely wild line, and Van Wely made a nice find in it, though it's quite a subtle move. This game is significantly more complicated than the previous two games I showed in the botvinnik. Here's a very modern game (NED championship 2005) in the botvinnik. This is a completely wild line, and Van Wely made a nice…Loek Van Wely (2680) vs. Jan Smeets (2540) |
chess opening #57466 (8)4NCL Holmes Chapel v Manchester M 2 Annotated by charleshiggie (2222): I won this game, but it took me a lot longer than it should have done, as I missed chances to win, on both the king side and the queen side. So he copies me. Queen's Gambit Slav variation. 3. Nf3 is usually played first, to stop the Slav Gambit, 3......e7-e5, but in fact it has never been played against me, and the game transposes. Natural development. White too follows the main line. The…CharlesHiggie vs. John D Lyth |
chess opening #4467 (7) |
chess opening #6270 (16)Shirov #1: Shabalov Attack Annotated by raskerino (1841): This game took place in Reykjavik in 1992 between the incredible attacker Shirov (who is Latvian like Tal! They've done a lot of analysis together) and a GM from Iceland. It features the Shabalov attack, which like the Botvinnik (see my previously analyzed games) is a fearless and wild way to try to storm the semi-slav. I will primarily try to explain ideas and plans instead of lots of…Shirov (2720) vs. Thorhallsson (2450) |
chess opening #44603 (6) |
chess opening #45638 (4) |
chess opening #4285 (9) |
chess opening #13188 (6)Botvinnik #5: 16.Na4 Annotated by raskerino (1841): The first 15 moves are discussed in two of my other botvinnik (#3&4) annotations, so I'm not going to re-discuss it here. 16.Na4 is where the annotation will begin. This is the alternative to Rb1. Rb1 stops the knight being taken because the opening of the b file is very powerful and so that black queen goes to a6, this brings the knight out of danger with tempo.…Kamsky vs. Kramnik |
chess opening #2255 (11) |
chess opening #4466 (4) |
chess opening #5863 (11)The Botvinnik Annotated by raskerino (1841): I almost always play 1.e4, but if I know my opponent will enter the botvinnik variation I'll play 1.d4 as it is a completely fascinating variation. My opponent in this game loves the semi-slav and he makes this move without hesitation. And we've reached the opening position of the botvinnik. Black ceded the center to white but he snags the c4 pawn. 7.e5 is also possible, it leads to…Me (1800) vs. Class B Player (1700) |
chess opening #55665 (5) |
chess opening #8998 (4) |