Friday, November 19, 2010

Caro-Kann Advance

     Space and Dark-Squares in the Caro-Kann Advance
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Submitted by GM thamizhan Chess.com
by GM Magesh and GM Arun
We have studied the Caro-Kann advance variation before in our articles, but after seeing a game today I was compelled to get back to this variation. The game was played by none other than the creative genius Alexey Shirov. He is known for his imaginative and enthusiastic play. Obviously white gains a good amount of space in the advance variation from the early 'e5' advance. This space is the key for white to fight for any advantage. Another important factor would be black's dark squared bishop, since that plays a key role in defending his weak squares.
Our first game was between Alexey Shirov against the Ukrainian Grandmaster Pavel Eljanov played a few days back in the Tal Memorial tournament.

Shirov, A. (2735) vs. Eljanov, P. (2742)
Tal Memorial | Moscow RUS | Round 8| 13 Nov 2010 | ECO: B12 | 1-0
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 ( 5... Nd7 6. O-O Ne7 7. Nbd2 h6 8. Nb3 Bh7 ( 8... Nc8 9. a4 Be7 10. a5 a6 11. c4 Na7 12. Be3 ) 9. Bd2 Ng6 10. c4 dxc4 11. Na5 Rb8 12. Nxc4 Nh4 13. Nxh4 Qxh4 14. f4 Nb6 15. Nxb6 axb6 16. Be3 Be4 17. Bd3 Bxd3 18. Qxd3 Qe7 19. f5 ) 6. Be3 Nd7 ( 6... Qb6 7. Nc3 Qxb2 8. Qb1 Qxb1+ 9. Rxb1 c4 10. Rxb7 Nc6 11. Nb5 Rb8 12. Rxb8+ Nxb8 13. Kd2 a6 14. Na7 Kd7 15. Rb1 Kc7 16. Ng5 Nh6 17. g4 Bg6 18. Kd1 Be7 19. Bd2 Nc6 20. Nxc6 Kxc6 21. h4 f5 22. Nxe6 Nxg4 23. f3 Nf2+ 24. Ke1 Bxh4 25. Kf1 Bf7 26. Nc5 Nh1 27. Kg2 Ng3 28. Bd1 c3 29. Bxc3 Nh5 30. Ba5 Nf4+ 31. Kf1 Bd8 32. c3 Bxa5 33. Rb7 ) ( 6... cxd4 7. Nxd4 Ne7 8. Bg5 Qd7 9. Bxe7 Bxe7 10. Nxf5 exf5 11. Bf3 Qb5 12. Qxd5 Qxb2 13. O-O Nc6 14. Qb3 Qxb3 15. axb3 ) 7. O-O Ne7 8. c4 dxc4 ( 8... cxd4 9. Nxd4 Bxb1 ( 9... Nxe5 10. cxd5 Qxd5 11. Nc3 ) 10. Rxb1 Nxe5 11. Qa4+ Nd7 ( 11... Qd7 12. Nb5 ) 12. Bf3 ) 9. Na3 c3 10. Nb5 Nd5 ( 10... cxb2?? 11. Nd6# ) 11. Nxc3 Nxc3 12. bxc3 Be7 13. dxc5 Bxc5?! ( 13... O-O 14. Nd4 Nxc5 15. Nxf5 exf5 16. Qc2 ) 14. Qa4! Bxe3 15. Rad1!! a6 ( 15... Bb6 16. Rxd7 Qxd7 17. Bb5 ) ( 15... O-O 16. Rxd7 Qb6 17. fxe3 Qxe3+ 18. Rf2 ) 16. fxe3 b5 17. Qf4 Qc7 18. g4 Bg6 19. h4 h5 20. Rd6 hxg4 21. Nd4 Nc5 22. Qxg4 Qe7? ( 22... O-O 23. h5 Be4 24. h6 Bg6 ( 24... g6 25. Qg5 Kh7 26. Qf6 Rg8 27. Qxf7+ Qxf7 28. Rxf7+ Kxh6 ) 25. Qf4 gxh6 26. Qxh6 ) 23. Bf3 Rxh4?? ( 23... O-O 24. Bxa8 Rxa8 25. h5 Be4 26. h6 g6 27. Rf6 ) 24. Bc6+ Kf8 25. Qxg6
Chess inherently has several strategic ideas and most good players have studied these ideas. The difficult part is actually prioritizing these strategies and paying attention to the ones that matter the most in a particular position. It would be reasonable to say king safety is definitely a high priority and in the game we just saw the Intermediate move Rad1 from Shirov is easy to find if we focus on king safety. But like I mentioned earlier, everything is right in front of us, seeing the right thing at the right time is not as simple as it sounds!
Our second game today is between Grandmaster Evgeny Najer and Grandmaster Alexander Lastin. Najer dominates the whole game with the extra space and the control of the dark squares.

Najer, E. (2627) vs. Lastin, A. (2621)
TCh-RUS | Dagomys RUS | Round 11| 13 Apr 2008 | ECO: B12 | 1-0
Hopefully our readers enjoyed these two instructive games that are entertaining in their own ways. The first one being very sharp and tactical and the second one a thorough domination, but both had the same positional idea behind them: more space and dark square weakness.
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