Ivan Sokolov and how to defeat the Nimzo-Indian

Bahasa Indonesia di bawah.

A joy of staying in Singapore is there are many community libraries around. For chess enthusiast a chess books can be found in every branch. Some library also has chess periodic like CHESS and Chess Life. After become a library member this year I already borrowed many chess books and yesterday I come across a book called “Sokolov’s Best Games” by Ivan Sokolov. It is a collection of 50 win by GM Ivan Sokolov, born in Bosnia but stay in Holland now.

What really make me happy about the book is there are all 1.d4 win by Ivan whenever he play white. The opening I really into it, in fact I almost never play 1.e4. There are 24 games on how to defeat the Nimzo-Indian as well, almost 50% of 50 games previewed. What was inside Ivan opponent’s brain by keep playing Nimzo-Indian against him. is there are no database in 90’s , can they see that Ivan always win this defence? Or don’t they know that he even write a book on this defence? Curious about this I search his recent games and still found many won with Nimzo Indian. Back to the book, what not make this a perfect book to me is, there are no Sicilian games being played.

Here is some search on www.chessgames.com , beside win against Nimzo-Indian, Ivan still has many many win with 1.d4.

Ivan is now playing in six player round robin format Bosna Tournament. See http://tournaments.chessdom.com/bosna-chess-2009/round-4 .

Enaknya tinggal di Singapore adalah adanya banyak perpustakaan di mana-mana. Perpustakaan ini dikelola oleh pemerintah dan tiap orang bisa jadi anggota. Tentunya bagi Singaporean biaya menjadi anggota sangat murah, malah hampir gratis. Di perpustakaan ini juga banyak buku catur. Kemaren saya meminjam satu buku, Ivan Sokolov's Best Games, dan menemukan banyak hal seru di sini. Antara lain semua partai di mana Sokolov pegang buah putih selalu dimainkan dengan 1.d4, jadi buku ini hampir mirip manual tentang gimana mengalahkan lawan pakai 1.d4. Lebih detail lagi hampir setengahnya adalah partai melawan pembelaan Nimzo-India. Setelah melihat-lihat buku ini, saya coba cari partai lain di internet dan menemukan menang si Ivan ini jago dalam hal mengatasi Nimzo-Indian. Berikut link-linknya dan terakhir saksikan partai miniaturnya melawan si Ibrahimov tahun lalu.

vs S Sulskis,2004 36th Olympiad E39 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, Pirc Variation
vs Kurajica, 2004 Bosnia E39 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, Pirc Variation
vs Bologan, 2004 Bosnia E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
vs Miroshnichenko, 2007 European Club Cup E49 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Botvinnik
vs Hou Yifan , 2007 Ruy Lopez Festival E49 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3, Botvinnik
vs K Lie, 2007 European Team Chess Champ. E37 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
vs S Sulskis, 2007 5th Gibraltar E39 Nimzo-Indian, Classical, Pirc Variation
vs R Ibrahimov , 2008 President's Cup E32 Nimzo-Indian, Classical
vs N Abasov , 2008 President's Cup E47 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3
vs S Maze, 2009 10th European Indiv. Champ. E28 Nimzo-Indian, Samisch Var.


The game against Ibrahimov can be nominated for today's shredding chess move because of its excellent attacking game, and finished only in 21 moves.

Sokolov,I - Ibrahimov,R - President Cup 2008,Baku, Round 8


1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. Bg5 c5 6. e3 cxd4 7. exd4 h6 8. Bh4 d5 9. cxd5 Qxd5? (D) the knight on f6 now can be taken and the h6 pawn became very weak. dengan langkah ini sang ratu tidak bisa lagi mempertahankan kudanya di f6. setelah terjadi pertukaran di f6, bidak di h6 sangat sulit dipertahankan. 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Nf3 Nc6 12. Qd2 now the h6 pawn is now hard to defend. Rd8 (D) 13. Qxh6 e5 14. Bd3 e4 15. Bc2 Bf5 16. Bb3 Qd7 17. Nh4 Nxd4 18. Rd1 Bg4 19. O-O Bf8 20. Qg6+ Kh8 21. Bxf7 1-0

US Championship 2009 and many more

An epic month for chess now. Azerbaijan is enjoying playing chess against FIDE "World" team here, the Chinese held a big banquet with many grandmasters including Pinoy rising star Wesley So (Mr. Su Weili) playing in team league,report on blog here , Topalov and his gang in MTEL master kick off on 21 May here.

Closer to home, GM Utut Adianto made appearances in chessbase for .... his success on Indonesian Senate Election. Let's hope he still have many times for chess. Also next week will be held in Phillipine 8th Asian Continental / Individual Men’s and Women’s Chess Championship where Indonesian first WGM Irene Kharisma Sukandar will be playing.

For now let's enjoy some show for United State where US Chess Championship 2009 started in Saint Louis Chess Club.

This year the championship kick off with 24 players. The official website provide a very good booklet and nice bios.

Live games should be provide here if everything okay.

Round 1, Friday, May 8, 2:00 pm
in USCF rating

from susanpolgar.blogspot.com

UPDATED:
US Champ Round 4 Result

1. GM Gata Kamsky (2½) 2798 ½-½ GM Joshua Friedel (2½) 2568
2. GM Yury Shulman (2½) 2697 ½-½ GM Hikaru Nakamura (2½) 2757
3. GM Alexander Onischuk (2) 2736 ½-½ IM Robert Hess (2) 2545
4. GM Varuzhan Akobian (2) 2664 1-0 GM Julio Becerra (2) 2672
5. GM Gregory Kaidanov (1½) 2662 ½-½ GM Jaan Ehlvest (2) 2649
6. IM Michael Brooks (1½) 2419 ½-½ GM Joel Benjamin (1½) 2650
7. GM Melikset Khachiyan (1½) 2632 1-0 IM Irina Krush (1½) 2496
8. IM Enrico Sevillano (1½) 2549 0-1 IM Samuel Shankland (1½) 2464
9. GM Larry Christiansen (1) 2681 ½-½ GM Alexander Shabalov (1) 2620
10. IM Ray Robson (1) 2542 1-0 GM Ildar Ibragimov (1) 2628
11. Tyler Hughes (1) 2293 1-0 Charles Lawton (0) 2350
12. GM Boris Gulko (0) 2631 1-0 FM Doug Eckert (0) 2278

Round 5 - Tuesday, May 12, 2:00 pm
Board White Rating Result Black Rating

1. GM Hikaru Nakamura (3) 2757 - GM Gata Kamsky (3) 2798
2. GM Joshua Friedel (3) 2757 - GM Yury Shulman (3) 2697
3. GM Jaan Ehlvest (2½) 2649 - GM Varuzhan Akobian (3) 2664
4. IM Samuel Shankland (2½) 2464 - GM Alexander Onischuk (2½) 2736
5. IM Robert Hess (2½) 2545 - GM Melikset Khachiyan (2½) 2632
6. GM Julio Becerra (2) 2672 - IM Michael Brooks (2) 2419
7. IM Ray Robson (2) 2542 - GM Gregory Kaidanov (2) 2662
8. GM Joel Benjamin (2) 2650 - Tyler Hughes (2) 2293
9. IM Irina Krush (1½) 2496 - GM Larry Christiansen (1½) 2681
10. GM Alexander Shabalov (1½) 2620 - IM Enrico Sevillano (1½) 2549
11. GM Ildar Ibragimov (1) 2628 - GM Boris Gulko (1) 2631
12. FM Doug Eckert (0) 2278 - Charles Lawton (0) 2350

Round 1 GM Yuri Shulman win over IM Enrica Sevillanoafter dispelled a Benoni game here:

Surreal Sicilian in Dubai

We move the attention a bit to Middle East where Dubai host the 11th Chess Championship, happened from 25 April to 05 May 2009. Final standing is belong to three players with tie break :

1. GM Kotanjian, Tigran ARM 2552 7,0
2. GM Bocharov, Dmitry RUS 2606 7,0
3. GM Anastasian, Ashot ARM 2554 7,0

and many more players followed with 6,5 points.

From many games with sicilian opening, here are two selected as they are played by higher rate players. Surreal Sicilian is a collection of recent Sicilian games won by black in less than say 30 moves. Let see how this girls went out:

Nino Gurieli - Valeriy Neverov
B22 2.c3 Alapin variation

Khayala Isgandarova - Alex Fedorov
B30 Nimzovich-Rossolimo variation

Top finisher of the tournament, GM Tigran Kotanjian, photo from http://www.arabfide.com/dubaiopen2009/webalbum1/index.htm , curiously many of the chess set come without a cross affixed on the king piece, as on this photo.

Levon Aronian Win (again) in Nalchik 2009 GP

Smashing Leko in last round, Aronian emerged as winner of 2009 Nalchik Fide Grand Prix. Final standing :

1. Aronian Levon ..................... 2754 ...ARM 8½

2. Leko Peter ............................ 2751 ...HUN 7½

3. Akopian Vladimir ................ 2696 ...ARM 7½

4. Grischuk Alexander ............ 2748 ...RUS 7

5. Bacrot Etienne .................... 2728 ...FRA 7

6. Alekseev Evgeny .................. 2716 ...RUS 6½

7. Gelfand Boris ...................... 2733 ...ISR 6½

8. Kamsky Gata ...................... 2720 ...USA 6

9. Svidler Peter ....................... 2726 ...RUS 6

10. Karjakin Sergey ................ 2721 ...UKR 6

11. Mamedyarov Shakhriyar ..2725 ...AZE 6

12. Ivanchuk Vassily............... 2746 ...UKR 5½

13. Kasimdzhanov Rustam .....2695 ...UZB 5½

14. Eljanov Pavel .................... 2693 ...UKR 5½

For best caption of this photo see Susan Polgar's blog. Photo from Chessbase.

2009 Nalchik Grand Prix games statistic :

Number of games = 91
White won = 28 (30.76 %)
Black won = 9 (9.89 %)
Draw = 54 (59.34 %)
Decisive games = 28+9 = 37 (40.66 %)

All games can be viewed here, especially if you understand the language being in used there.

Singapore celebrate chess with GM Antoaneta Stefanova

As mentioned before, GM Antoaneta Stefanova was doing a visit to Singapore last week, she takes on 55 simuls at Northland Primary School. Among her opponents are two-time National Women Champion WFM Jeslin Tay, an alumni of Northland and three-time National Women Champion WFM Liu Yang. Singapore doing quite good with six of the participants managed to draw with the GM among them is WFM Liu Yang.

Before this, together with FIDE Vice-President Mr Zurab Azmaiparashvili and General Secretary Mr Ignatius Leong, she visit local happening tournament. Singapore is doing well in organizing chess tournament with upcoming event like NATIONAL BLITZ AND NATIONAL JUNIOR BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009 , 3RD THOMSON CUP INTERNATIONAL CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2009, TCA Junior Chess Open Championship 2009 and going on this week is MAY DAY WEEKEND FIDE/SCF RATING TOURNAMENT 2009.

Can check all of this on http://www.singaporechess.org.sg/

Here the report from the school website. Oh, what a lucky kids they are.

And here the photo collection of the GM in action. > Flickr <

1.d4 Rules in Heavyweight Chess Match

The recent match of heavyweight chess between Var Akobian and Yuri Shulman just over. Var Akobian won the rapid match with 3.5 to 2.5 of six games and blitz match 6.0 to 2.0 of eight games.


We have five wins for rapid match all games started with 1.d4. The opening choices as as follow :

R 1 : Akobian-Shulman 1-0 E61 King's Indian 3.Nc3
R 2 : Shulman-Akobian 1/2-1/2 E11 Bogo Indian Defence
R 3 : Akobian-Shulman 0-1 E61 King's Indian 3.Nc3
R 4 : Shulman-Akobian 0-1 D12 Slav 3.Nf3
R 5 : Akobian-Shulman 1-0 D43 Semi-Slav
R 6 : Shulman-Akobian 1-0 E04 Catalan, Open 5.Nf3
White 3.5 - Black 2.5

For blitz match games started with 1.d4 are :
R 1 : Shulman-Akobian 0-1 D12 Slav
R 2 : Akobian-Shulman 1-0 D35 QGD Exchange
R 3 : Shulman-Akobian 1-0 D12 Slav
R 4 : Akobian-Shulman 0-1 missing
R 5 : Shulman-Akobian 0-1 A40 unnusual reply to 1.d4
R 6 : Akobian-Shulman 1-0 D63 Queens Gambit Accepted 7.Rc1
R 7 : Shulman-Akobian 0-1 D34 Tarrasch Defence, Main Line
R 8 : Akobian-Shulman 1-0 A80 Dutch
White 4 - Black 4

Very well, the myth that 1.d4 is dulled and positional are a topic of myth-buster now :) . As it can be seen this move lead to a decisive result for five rapid games and all blitz games.


Duel Varuzhan Akobian dan Yuri Shulman di California dimenangkan Var Akobian. Dia menang 3.5 lawan 2.5 di partai catur cepat dan menang 6-0 di partai catur kilat. Yang seru adalah semua partai di catur cepat dimainkan dengan 1.d4 dengan hasil menang kalah dan hanya satu kali seri.


Here the blitz game from round 5 where Akobian played unnusual reply to 1.d4, a popular trick to do in blitz game to surprise your opponent.

http://www.chessmastered.com/

Varuzhan Akobian vs Yury Shulman Heavyweight Chess Match

Bahasa Indonesia ada di bawah.

America is also a land where chess being played. It was an arena where Paul Morphy, Harry Pillsbury and Frank Marshall unleashed their martial art in pre law era. It was the opposition block against USSR chess dominated world captained by Bobby Fischer, Larry Evans, Pal Benko & Walter Browne in James Bond times. The land where Alexander Shabalov, Alexander Yermolinsky, Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, Anjelina Belakovskaia and many other Alex'es flee from USSR to seeks new hope, along with them, in this post Cold War era are giants like Yasser Seirawan and Gata Kamsky. In this modern age (or internet age) top names like Susan Polgar, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Alexander Onischuk still continue to become part of American chess. And finally we have latest wave of players made up by rojak* generation like Hikaru Nakamura (Japanese descendent), Fabiano Caruana (Italian, and play for Italy now), Irina Krush (Ukraine blood) and two chess names Varuzhan Akobian, who have something related to Mongolia, and Yury Shulman of Belarus bloodline.

(rojak = indonesian salad made up by many many fruits and ingredients..)

Still with this rich chess activities, hard to believe that this continent looks ignored by top chess celebrity like Anand, Kramnik, Topalov and friends. They can travel to anywhere in Europe even to some remotest city where Chessbase usually needs to put a google map into their preview (Nalchik what? Elista where? :) ). I think issue like lack of reputation, money and international lobbying are reason for this. I can't remember reputable chess event happen in USA similar to Wijk aan Zee, or Linares. So good news is mean plenty room to improve from Americans!

Back to story, this week the two Americans, Var Akobian and Yuri Shulman are going to do a duel for four days in eight rapid matches. The first impression when I saw the poster is this looks like a heavyweight boxing events where the two boxers posed for their bout.So far results in my hand are 2.5 vs 1.5 in Akobian favor. So here today preview, the California no.1 vs US Champion.

Di Amerika catur juga dimainkan. Ini adalah tanah dimana Paul Morphy, Harry Pillsbury dan Frank Marshall sama-sama main catur di warung kopi di jaman hukum rimba. Waktu Uni Soviet menjajah dunia catur Amerika tampil jadi oposisi dikapten oleh Bobby Fischer dan kawan-kawan seperti Larry Evans, Pal Benko dan Walter Browne. Lalu setelah lewat masa James Bond (perang dingin) orang-orang bernama depan Alex seperti Alexander Shabalov, Alexander Yermolinsky, Aleksander Wojtkiewicz, dan Anjelina Belakovskaia ramai-ramai hijrah ke Amerika. Di samping juga ada nama-nama kesohor seperti Yasser Seirawan dan Gata Kamsky. Di abad lebih modern si Susan Polgar, Alexandra Kosteniuk dan Alexander Onischuk cukup berhasil bermain catur di sini dan menjadi bagian dari dunia percaturan Amerika. Lalu paling mutakhir adalah pemain-pemain yang berdarah campuran seperti Hikaru Nakamura (Jepang), Fabiano Caruana (orang Italia dan main di Serie A sekarang), Irina Krush (cewek Ukraina) dan dua lagi nama beken Varuzhan Akobian (orang Mongolia) dan Yuri Shulman (pendekar dari Belarus).

Tapi walaupun banyak hal-hal menarik terjadi di sini, pendekar catur dunia kayak Anand, Kramnik, Topalov dan kawan-kawan jarang mau mampir ke Amerika. Mereka bela belain mampir di kota di antah berantah kayak Nalchik (ayo ada di mana?? atau Elista ?? ) tapi nggak mau main ke Texas.

Dah, ujung cerita, hari ini berita caturnya adalah dari dua nama itu, si Akobian duel lawan Shulman. Publikasi pertandingannya mirip di tinju, Heavyweight Chess Match. Hasil terakhir si Akobian unggul 2.5 - 1.5, partainya bisa diliat di bawah, cuma ronde 1 dan 4 yang saya tampilkan sementara. Enjoyyyy...

Round 1:

Akobian - Shulman 1-0
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. Nf3 O-O 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 c5 7. e3 cxd4 8. Nxd4 Nc6 9. Be2 d6 10. O-O Bd7 11. Rc1 Rc8 12. a3 Ne5 13. Qb3 Bc6 14. Rfd1 Qa5 15. Qa2 Qb6 16. b4 Rfe8 17. Bxf6 exf6 18. Nb3 Qc7 19. Qd2 b6 20. Qxd6 Qb7 21. Bf1 Re6 22. Qd2 Bf3 23. Re1 f5 24. c5 Ree8 25. Nd4 Rcd8 26. Qc2 Be4 27. Nxe4 fxe4 28. c6 Qc8 29. c7 Rd7 30. Bb5 *

Round 4 :

Shulman - Akobian 1 - 0
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. Qb3 Qb6 6. Nc3 Bxf3 7. gxf3 e6 8. e4 Nbd7 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Bb5 dxe4 11. Nxe4 Nd5 12. Nc3 Bb4 13. Bd2 Qxd4 14. O-O-O Bxc3 15. Bxc3 Qf4+ 16. Kb1 O-O-O 17. Bxg7 Rhg8 18. Bd4 Kb8 19. Rhe1 Qd6 20. f4 a6 21. Bc4 Ka8 22. Bxd5 exd5 23. Bc3 Nc5 24. Qb4 Qg6+ 25. Ka1 Nd3 26. Rxd3 Qxd3 27. Bd4 Rge8 28. Rg1 Qb5 29. Qxb5 axb5 30. a3 Re4 31. Bb6 Rde8 32. Rg5 R4e6 33. Bd4 b6

http://www.chessmastered.com/

last editted : wrong result