 Novelties in Blitz Games
By by GM Gregory Serper
It's hard to imagine that chess theory could advance because of events on the internet. But the growing collective of world-class players on the Internet Chess Club has caused it to happen. Grandmaster Gregory Serper presents an experience related over three games in the Najdorf variation...
Novelties in blitz games? Why not!
The speed of our lives becomes faster every day. So does the speed of chess. Long gone are the days when we played using the good old time control of 2.5 hours for 40 moves and then 16 moves per hour. Ask today's child prodigy what an adjourned position is, and he most probably will answer that it's something that happened in Paul Morphy's games.
Today even "classical blitz" where each opponent gets 5 minutes, is not fast enough!
Can you guess what the most popular time control is on the ICC? It is 3 0, which means each player gets only 3 minutes for a whole game with no increment! Is it real chess or just a competition who moves faster? I'd say it is a little bit of both. Don't expect to find a beautiful endgame in such games, when players are down to their last seconds. But sometimes openings and middlegames are worth some study, especially if there is a theoretical novelty. You won't find it anywhere else, because Chess Informant doesn't publish games from the ICC (yet!).
I want to show you such games that in my opinion are important for the
theory of a popular Najdorf variation in the Sicilian. Don't let the funny handles
(Seinfeld, Indiana-Jones) trick you: both of them are GMs and Najdorf's experts!
We will examine the position that happens after moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qc7 8.Qf3 b5 9.0-0-0 b4.
Serper (2805) - Indiana_Jones (2840) [B96]
ICC 3 0 Internet Chess Club, 1999
10.Nd5!? Truthfully speaking, I'm not sure if this sacrifice
is sound. 10...exd5 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.exd5 Bb7 N Black covers the vital
c6 square and ready to develop his Nb8. An interesting try is 12...Ra7!?
after 13.Bd3 Qc5 14.Bf5 Bxf5 15.Nxf5 Rc7 16.Rhe1+ Kd8 17.Qe4 Kc8
18.Rd4 a5 19.b3 Na6 20.Rc4 Qb5 Black eventually won in Akopian-Lautier,Ubeda 1997.
13.Bd3 Nd7 14.Rhe1+ Kd8 15.Nc6+ White opens the d-file. 15...Bxc6
16.dxc6 Nc5 17.Bf5 At first sight it looks like Black is in a critical
situation. The threat 18.Qd5 is very unpleasant, but... 17...Rb8!
Now it is very difficult to find any follow up for the attack, besides
Black threats to eliminate the c6 pawn after Rb6. 18.Qe3? A
typical blitz move, but I don't see anything good for White anyway. If
18 Qd5 then 18...Rb5! holds the position. 18...Ne6?
18...Qxc6! 19.Qd4 Be7 And Black is most probably winning.
19.Bxe6 fxe6 20.Qxe6 Be7 21.Rxd6+! Now it is all over! 21...Qxd6
21...Bxd6 22.Qxf6+ Kc8 23.Qxh8+ Qd8 24.Re8+-.
22.Rd1 Black resigns.
22.Rd1 Qxd1+ 23.Kxd1 Kc7 24.Qxe7+ Kxc6 25.Qxf6+ And Black is
absolutely helpless against White pawns backed by the Queen.
Serper (2625) - mquinteros (2585)
ICC r 3 0 Internet Chess Club, 1998
10.e5 Bb7 [10...dxe5? 11.Ndb5! axb5 12.Qxa8 bxc3 13.Bxb5+ Nfd7 14.Rxd7! Nxd7 15.Rd1 cxb2+ 16.Kb1 Bd6 17.Bxd7+ Qxd7 18.Rxd6! Reminiscent of a famous
Morphy game.]
11.Ncb5! Qb6 For 11...ab see the next game. 12.Qh3 Here all books
about Najdorf Sicilian stop the variation with an evaluation that White
is much better. Unfortunately in real life it is not that simple.
12...dxe5 13.fxe5 Nd5 14.Nd6+ Bxd6 15.exd6 Qxd6 16.Bc4 0-0 These moves
were more or less forced. It is easy to see that White has good
compensation for the sacrificed pawn. 17.Rhe1 Nd7 18.Nxe6!fxe6 19.Rxe6?
19.Qxe6+! Qxe6 20.Rxe6 Rf5 21.Rd6 Rxg5 and now:
A) 22.Rxd7 Rc8! 23.Bxd5+ Bxd5 24.R7xd5 Rxg2 25.R1d2=
B) 22.R6xd5! Bxd5 23.Rxd5 Rxg2 (23...Nb6? 24.Rd8#!) 24.Rd2+ Kf8 25.Rxg2 and White is slightly better in the endgame thanks to his strong bishop.
19...Qc5 20.Qb3 Rf5?
20...N7b6! 21.Rxb6 Qxb6 22.Bxd5+ Bxd5 23.Qxd5+ Kh8 and Black has a very big advantage.
21.Be3!+- Qa5 22.Rd6 N7f6 23.Bb6! Qb5 24.Bxb5 axb5 25.Rd8+ 1-0.
Serper - mquinteros (2820)
ICC r 3 0 Internet Chess Club, 1999
10.Ncb5!? N This is an interesting idea to transpose to the well-known variation, but with Nb5 is already taken. 10...axb5
10...Qb6!? And I don't see anything better than 11 e5 Bb7 after which we have an exact position from the previous game.
11.e5 Bb7
11...Rxa2 12.exf6 and the position is absolutely unclear.
12.Bxb5+ Nbd7
If 12...Nfd7?! 13.Nxe6! fxe6 14.Qh3 Kf7 15.f5! And even Kasparov wasn't able to save this position with Black against Krum Georgiev in Malta 1980.
13.Qh3 b3 14.Qxb3 Bd5 15.c4 dxe5!? N ECO gives only 15...Ne4 16.Qc2! (16.Kb1 Bb7 17.Rhe1 Nxg5 18.fxg5 0-0-0 19.exd6 Bxd6 20.g3 Nc5Á Terent'ev-Sandler, USSR 1982) 16...Rxa2 17.Kb1 Qa7 18.Nb3 Ba8 19.c5! d5 20.c6 Bxc6 21.Qxc6! Rxb2+ 22.Kc1 Rc2+ 23.Qxc2 Ba3+ 24.Kb1 0-0 25.Bxd7 Bb4 26.Rd4!+- Klosterman-Isac,corr.1982
16.fxe5 Ne4 17.Kb1! Now, after the pawn exchange (de5 and fe5), 17 Qc2
is not that good because Bg5 is unprotected. But from the other side, the "d" file is open, and the move that was bad before is OK now! 17...Nec5
17...Bb7? 18.Nxe6!+- or 17...Nxg5? 18.cxd5 With a decisive attack.
18.cxd5!? A practically forced sacrifice. If the Queen moves, then after 18...Be4 Black gets an advantage. 18...Nxb3 19.dxe6 Nbc5
if 19...fxe6!? then White has a choice of:
A) 20.Nxe6?! Qxe5 21.Bxd7+ (21.Rhe1!? Qf5+! 22.Bd3 Qa5-+) 21...Kf7 22.Rhf1+ Kg6-+;
B) 20.Nxb3 Qxe5 21.Bxd7+ Kf7 22.Rhf1+ Kg6 (22...Kg8?? 23.Rde1+-) 23.h4 And White still can harass the Black King.
20.exd7+ Nxd7 21.e6 fxe6 22.Nxe6 Qa5 23.Bxd7+
Better was 23.Nc7+! Qxc7 (23...Kf7 24.Rxd7+ Kg6 25.Bd3+ Kxg5 26.Rd5+ Qxd5 27.Nxd5 is in White's favor) 24.Rxd7 Qxd7 25.Re1+ Kf7 26.Bxd7 and
White has an advantage in the endgame thanks to his connected passed pawns.
23...Kf7 24.a3 The game has lost its theoretical value already and we can simply enjoy the exciting struggle in time trouble.
24...Kg6 25.Bc1 Bxa3?! 26.Nf4+ Kh6 27.Ne6+?
27.Rd5!+-
27...g5 28.Bxg5+ Kg6 29.Nf4+ Kg7 30.Nh5+ Kg6 31.Nf4+ Kg7 32.Rd5 Qb4
33.Ne6+ Kg6
33...Kg8!
34.Nf4+ Kg7 35.Nh5+ Kg6 Draw.
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