In the prewar years, there was a 'Vera Menchik Club' composed of males who had lost to Vera, then the strongest female chessplayer. Later, Fischer claimed he could give women's world champion Nona Gaprindashvili Knight odds to which Tal replied, 'Fischer is Fischer, but a Knight is a Knight'. The situation today is quite different- while the top chessplayers ARE male with the exception of Judit Polgar, there are many strong female grandmasters whom only a fool would take for granted.
A good example is 26 year old American grandmaster Irina Krush. Members of her 'Krush Klub' would include Akobian, Akopian, Becerra Rivero, Caruana, Cheparinov, Dreev, Ehlvest, Gormally, Gulko, Ikkonikov, Kaidanov, Korchnoi, Kudrin, McNab, Mikhalevsky, Nakamura, Nataf, Orlov, Sandipan, Serper, Shabalov, Thipsay, van der Wiel and Yudasin. This year Irina won the US women's championship for the third time. Part of her success was due to excellent opening preparation leading to a 100% score as White.
Krush, Irina (2465)- Melekhina, Alisa (2265) [E99]
US Women's Championship, St. Louis 2010
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6
The King's Indian Defense can arouse strong emotions. And why not? Black, a tempo behind, seemingly ignores his opponent and just does his own thing. Meanwhile, depending on his taste, White can play everywhere- center, Kingside, Queenside... Petrosian joked that he fed his family on points made beating the King's Indian although he played it himself too. As Larsen put it, 'When I say an opening is natural for a player I mean that he likes it and that he believes in it (which is not necessarily the same thing). I have never believed, or 'felt', that the King's Indian is a correct defense for Black, but I have often liked playing it.'
Indeed, Black's setup conceals tremendous dynamic potential as first demonstrated by Soviet grandmasters Boleslavsky, Bronstein and Geller as well as Gligoric and Najdorf in the '50s. Perhaps Korchnoi explains it best, 'The character of a person determines his chess style. Boring people play boring chess. Cheerful people value entertainment in chess. Striking personalities play brilliant chess... To play a solid opening aimed at equalising would be frankly tedious. But the King's Indian- this is an opening full of adventures!'
While many grandmasters nowadays include the King's Indian in their repertoire, only Teimour Radjabov plays it regularly at the top level. For a great philosophical discussion on the opening, see Hans Ree's essay 'In Praise of the King's Indian' in New in Chess magazine, 2007 #2.
5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O
Perhaps the most logical. Against the right opponent at the right time, the Queenless middlegame after 7. dxe5 dxe5 8. Qxd8 Rxd8 can bear dividends. Petrosian, the master of prophylaxis and blockade, preferred the immediate 7. d5 while Gligoric and Reshevsky popularized 7. Be3.
7... Nc6
Black in turn needs to make his choice. Besides the text, there are viable alternatives in 7... Nbd7, 7... Bg4 and 7... exd4. Another modern idea which Irina faced earlier in the tournament is 7... Na6. After 8. Be3 Ng4 9. Bg5 f6 10. Bc1 Kh8 11. h3 Nh6 12. a3 c6 13. dxe5 fxe5 14. Bg5 Qc7 15. b4 Nf7 16. Be3 Qe7 17. c5 White was better, Krush-Abrahamyan, USA ch w 2010.
8. d5 Ne7
With the locked pawn chains, the strategy for both sides is crystal-clear: attack on the side where you have more space. White, a move ahead already has a pawn in his opponent's court and can be expected to make faster progress. But herein lies the secret of the King's Indian- the best White can do with his Queenside attack is win material. Meanwhile, Black's Kingside attack may be slower but it is deadlier as its objective is checkmate! Some people appropriately call this the 'Death Variation' as it requires extreme accuracy and the slightest mistake will be catastrophic. Both Fischer and Kasparov happily played it as Black and between them only lost two games (Kasparov, against Kamsky and Kramnik) at regular time controls.
9. Ne1
In recent years, Taimanov's variation 9. b4 has become very popular, after Ivan Sokolov's discovery 9... Nh5 10. Re1 Nf4 11. Bf1 when White preserves his Bishop and the Rook is activated on the e-file.
9... Nd7 10. Be3 f5 11. f3 f4 12. Bf2 g5
Korchnoi: 'What does Black's play in this variation remind me of? In the Second World War, the Germans, and then also the Russians, employed the following method of warfare: after getting drunk before a battle, silently, with their weapons at the ready, standing up straight and making no effort to conceal themselves, they would automatically advance towards the entrenched enemy. Frightening, wouldn't you agree? This was the so-called 'psychological attack'. But look at the board! Black is advancing his pawns away from his king, leaving it completely without protection. If the opponent does not flinch, if the attack will be repulsed, then the checkmating of the bare black king will begin.'
The Yugoslav Chess Informant devised a set of opening codes with numbers 1-99 arranged in order of what they believed to be best play by both sides. This position is ECO code E99, i.e. the pinaccle to strive for after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6!
13. Rc1
The first grandmaster encounter to reach this position, Taimanov-Bronstein, USSR ch 1952 saw 13. Nd3 Rf6 intending Rh6 but White's Queenside attack proved faster. Trifunovic and Gligoric improved with the idea of attacking with the pieces behind the pawns by 13... Nf6 14. c5 Ng6 15. cxd6 cxd6 16. Rc1 Rf7 and Black follows up with Bf8 and Rg7. This is now the most popular strategy and Bronstein's Rook lift is relatively uncommon.
Other ideas are possible for White as well. The ever inventive Korchnoi came up with 13. Nb5 a6 14. Na7 Rxa7 15. Bxa7 b6 16. b4 in Korchnoi-Hulak, Zagreb itz 1987. The White Bishop may be trapped but it is not easily captured and meanwhile White has a raging attack. Later, Korchnoi came to the conclusion that it was even stronger to preface Nb5 by 13. a4. Julio Boudy Bueno gives an excellent historical survey of the Death Variation in New in Chess Yearbook #15, 1990.
13... Ng6
It is possible to prevent Nb5 by 13... a6 but it's unclear if Black can afford to expend a tempo like this. The alternative 13... Nf6 14. c5 allows White to continue his Queenside break without any sacrifices. Perhaps in this particular variation, Black's best is to revert to the Bronstein idea by 13... Rf6 when 14. c5 leads to sharp play.
14. Nb5
Special preparation by Irina! The most popular try is Kozul's idea 14. c5 Nxc5 (14... dxc5?! 15. b4) 15. b4 Na6 when White has speeded up his attack with a pawn sacrifice.
14... Nf6
Kicking the Knight by 14... a6?! allows the Korchnoi motif 15. Na7 while 14... b6 15. b4 only delays the inevitable c5.
15. c5 g4
After 15... a6? 16. Na3 h5 17. Nc4 White is ready to exploit the dark square weaknesses on c7 and b6.
16. cxd6 cxd6 17. Nc7
Amazingly the position after 16... cxd6 was repeated in the game Zhao-Robson played alongside in the US Junior Championship. Parker Zhao was a few moves behind and could have continued playing Irina's moves but felt it was unethical: 'If I'd won, it would be like Irina's win.' Obviously, Caissa punishes such noble sentiments. Although Parker would later play Nc7xa8 as does Irina, a series of inaccuracies led to his defeat:17. g3 h5 18. Ng2 h4 19. Nc7 (19. gxh4) 19... hxg3 20. hxg3 fxg3 21. Bxg3 Nf4 22. Bxf4 exf4 23. Nxa8 Nh7 24. fxg4 Ng5 25. Nxf4 (25. Qd3!) 25... Rxf4 26. Kg2 (26. Rxf4) 26... Rxe4 27. Bf3?? (27. Nc7) 27... Re3?? (27... Nxf3 28. Kxf3 Rd4-+) 28. Rc4?? (28. Nc7) 28... Bd7 29. Nc7 b5 30. Rc1 Qf6 (30... Bxb2) 31. Ne6 ?? (31. Rc3) 31... Nxf3 32. Nxg7 Nh4+ 33. Kg1 Qxg7 (33... Rg3+ mates) 34. Rc3 Rxc3 (34... Bxg4) 35. bxc3 Qxc3 0-1 Zhao-Robson, US ch j 2010.
The hapless Zhao,who'd led for much of the tournament, would go on to draw a won ending in the last round, allowing Sam Shankland and Ray Robson to catch up and force a playoff won by Shankland. Yes, Caissa can be a cruel taskmaster! Maybe Zhao is too young to remember the infamous Gothenburg Variation, where the Argentinians prepared an ultra-sharp line of the Sicilian Najdorf and sprung it on their three Russian opponents simultaneously at the Gothenburg Interzonal in 1955. The three games were exact copies but the Argentinians had overlooked a double piece sacrifice and all three went down in flames.
17... g3
He or she that enters E99 must be prepared to face such positions without flinching! White to move and win...
18. Nxa8 Nh5
Why Black players head for this position is a mystery, as White has scored heavily in praxis. It seems the Kingside threats are not strong enough to justify the sacrifice of a whole Rook.
19. Kh1 Qh4 20. Bg1 gxh2 21. Bf2 Ng3+ 22. Bxg3 fxg3 23. Nc7 Nf4
A picturesque position with interlocking chains across five files. White's King is completely trapped in a box, but unfortunately Black can't open the box either and the game will be decided elsewhere. Instead, the further sacrifice 23... Bh3 24. gxh3 Qxh3 is stopped by 25. Rc2 Nf4 26.Bd3 defending the g2 square.
24. Ne6 Re8 25. Rc7
Even stronger was 25. Qa4 with the idea Qe7 26. Rc7.
25... Bf8 26. Nxf4 exf4 27. Qc2 Bh3 28. gxh3 Qxh3 29. Ng2 Qh6 30. Rxb7 a5 31. Rc1 Re5 32. Qc8 Qf6 33. Qg4+ Rg5 34. Qe6+ 1-0
Tournament website:
http://saintlouischessclub.org/2010-us-womens-and-junior-closed-championships
Replay the game:
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