Understanding the KID

Botvinnik's Move

2011-08-19T12:03:08Z

My article on the Botvinnik's 9.Be3 in the Fianchetto King's Indian is published today at Chess-News.ru:

http://www.chess-news.ru/node/3638
or
http://www.chess-news.ru/node/3639

Analysis only:
http://chess-news.ru/sites/default/files/u5/Games/Obzory/magagulg0.htm

Kramnik - Nakamura, Dortmund 2011

2011-07-31T21:43:36Z

Notes for Chess-News.ru
http://chess-news.ru/sites/default/files/u5/Games/Obzory/kramniknakag0.htm ("Informator style")
http://www.chess-news.ru/node/3344 (+ text in Russian)

From Chess Today, Issue 3762

2011-05-28T22:15:49Z

Chess Today, 25.02.2011
"Attacking Chess. The King's Indian Volume 1" by David Vigorito, Everyman Chess 2010. (REVIEW by GM Mikhail Golubev).
This fresh book by David Vigorito, who is now responsible for the King's Indian section at the ChessPublishing website, must be a pleasant surprise for the true King's Indian fans. Essentially, it is a very detailed repertoire book for Black which deals with always the most popular system for White, The Classical, and with another very important White's system against the King's Indian, The Saemish. The Bibliography section provides a long list of sources, which occupies more than one page, and he indeed used them as it is clear from the book's content. (Alas, Chess Today is not in his list, which is maybe the most important omission).
Below I will provide some lines, in order to show Vigorito's basic recommendations for Black and will also show a couple of curious long variations. Before that I shall underline that the overall amount of the author's work impresses, and the book must be extremely useful for the Black players who are interested fully or partially in the proposed repertoire by Vigorito. The main drawback of the book is what also its strongest point - it is very detailed! In comparison to a book by Panczyk & Ilczuk "The classical King's Indian uncovered" (Everyman, 2009), which is also very detailed, the presentation of the material in Vigorito's book is more reader-friendly, as I believe.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3
On pages 264-363 the author deals with the Saemisch System 5.f3 against which he suggests the Panno Variation 5...0-0 6.Be3 Nc6. After 7.Qd2 a6 8.Nge2 both 8...Rb8 (historically the main move) and 8...Re8 are examined, but I think it could have been useful to add also 8...Bd7!? which was recently played by Fedorov and Smirin. The Panno is a strategically risky system for Black, it makes sense to show one more option for him. By the way, one possible line 9.g4 Re8!? transposes to Van Beers-Golubev, Leuven 1994 which followed 10.h4 h5 - after that game I had a feeling that 11.g5!? Nh7 and now 12.f4 might be worse for Black, but this position is still to be tested. White always played 11.gxh5 so far.
Another Saemisch remark is about the subline 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Qd2 a6 8.Nge2 Rb8 9.h4 h5 10.Bh6 Bxh6 (the main move, 10...b5 'is the simplest' - Vigorito) 11.Qxh6 e5 12.d5 Nd4 13.0-0-0 c5 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.Nxd4 exd4 16.Rxd4 Rxb2 (as in Khomyakov-Golubev, Ostrava 1992). Vigorito follows analysis from my 2006 book: 17.c5 Rb8 18.Rxd6 Qa5 19.Kc2 Be6 20.Rxe6 Qa3 21.Rd6 Rb2+ 22.Kd3 Qxc5 and now he gives preference to 23.Qf4 ... Last year, in CT-3581, I returned to this old game of mine: 23...Ne8! (planning ...Ng7-e6) and White cannot convert his extra piece easily, some massive research is needed.
5...0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0
The Classical system is examined on Pages 10-263. Vigorito tends to give clear suggestions for Black what to play at all the basic crossroads. The main exception is the Exchange Variation 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8 9.Bg5 (Pages 238-263) - here he considers many various lines for Black. By the way, not long ago I was interested in the line 9...Na6 (usually considered to be dubious) 10.Nd5 Rd6 11.Nxf6+ Bxf6 12.Bxf6 Rxf6 13.Nxe5 Re6 14.f4 and now 14...Re7!? which is not in Vigorito's book. In other systems, Black is advised to play 7.Be3 Ng4, etc. (Pages 168-201) and 7.d5 a5!, etc. (Pages 202-237).
7...Nc6
Vigorito suggests for Black to play this main move, which is discussed on Pages 10-166! There are tons of theoretically important variations; I will limit myself with some remarks about the following line:
8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Be3 f5 11.f3 f4 12.Bf2 g5 13.a4 a5 14.Nd3 b6 15.b4 axb4
This position is examined on Pages 69-75.
16.Nxb4
After 16.Nb5 Nf6! 17.Be1 g4! 18.Bxb4 g3 (18...Ng6!?) 19.h3 Bxh3 20.gxh3 Qd7 21.Qc2 Vigorito correctly points that the 2003 analysis by Matamoros Franco in New in Chess with 21...Ng6! (Instead of 21...Qxh3 22.Bd1 Ng6 23.Qg2) 22.Rfb1 Qxh3! (etc) was somehow missed by many authors.
16...Nf6! 17.Nd3
Note that another way to the same is 17.Be1 h5 18.Nd3 g4 19.Nb5 Ng6 20.a5 bxa5.
17...h5 18.Nb5 Ng6 19.a5 bxa5 20.Be1 g4
Vigorito mentions also 20...a4.
21.Rxa5
This is an almost untested, but sensitive position.
21...Rb8
This is most likely wrong. Vigorito proposes 21...Bd7 instead, as an improvement. Frankly, I am still curious about the assessment of 21...Rxa5 22.Bxa5 Rf7 23.c5 g3! (briefly analysed by Ponomariov and I in 2000, and later given in my 2006 book) with ideas like 24.Nxd6 Nxd5 or 24.cxd6 Nxe4!?.
22.Nb4 Rb7 23.Nc6 Qe8 24.Ra8 +/- (Kozul-Rogic, Bled open 1997).
Those who wish to know more about the Vigorito book are advised to visit the Everymanchess website (where sample pages from the book are available) and the ChessPublishing forum, where the book is discussed.

My 10 selected King's Indian games

2011-02-06T21:21:27Z

Bogdanovich-Golubev, Odessa (Podgaets Memorial) 2010
Esen-Golubev, Moscow (Aeroflot Open A2) 2006
Bunzmann-Golubev, Bethune Open 2002
Piket-Golubev, Baden-Baden (Bundesliga) 2002
Golubev-Kochetkov, Nikolaev (Zonal) 1995
Adorjan-Golubev, Alushta (Cat XIV) 1994
Borovikov-Golubev, Nikolaev (Zonal) 1993
Khomyakov-Golubev, Ostrava Open 1992
D.Gurevich-Golubev, Biel Open 1992
Bogdanovski-Golubev, Skopje GM 1991

From Chess Today, Issue 3679 (4 December 2010)

2010-12-28T03:37:23Z

Bogdanovich,Stanislav (2479) - Golubev,Mikhail (2492) E99
Podgaets Memorial Odessa UKR (10), 29.11.2010
Mikhail Golubev (www.chesstoday.net)
Never say never - but already in 2009 I decided that 2010 will probably be the last year that I'll play in the classical/long tournaments. Additionally since I'm still in the top 1,000 players it is a good time to go. I'm glad then, that there were a couple of well played King's Indians in the November Odessa event.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Ne1 Nd7 10.Nd3 f5 11.Bd2 Nf6
Calmer is 11...Kh8 and, especially, 11...fxe4. There is also 11...f4 which is usually considered to be dubious but maybe things are not that clear.
12.f3 f4 13.c5 g5 14.cxd6
Topical here is 14.Rc1 Ng6 and now 15.Nb5!?. The old main line is 15.cxd6 cxd6 16.Nb5 Rf7 17.Qc2 Ne8 18.a4 h5 19.Nf2 where dubious for Black is 19...a6?! 20.Na3! as in Ivanchuk-Golubev, Armiansk ch-Ukr jr 1983, this game, which is not yet in databases, opened my 2006 book on the K.I.D.
14...cxd6 15.Nf2 Ng6
The alternative 15...h5 invites White to insert h3 or to switch to positions with an early Ra1-c1, because 16.Qc2? is answered by 16...g4!. After the text White possibly has a larger choice, which is not necessarily good in a practical game.
16.Qc2 Rf7
After 16...h5 17.Nb5!? (usual is 17.h3) it can be dubious for Black to go for 17...g4 18.Nc7 g3 19.Nxa8 Nh7 though it deserves to be checked.
17.Rfc1 h5
After 17...Ne8 18.a4 h5 the unusual 19.Ncd1!? led to a long manoeuvring fight in Aronian-Nakamura, Bursa 2010. Eventually, White won that complex game.
18.Nb5!?
18.h3 leads to the main position of the Rfc1 set-up. (It occurred, as I remember, in my 1982 Ukrainian junior championship game against M.Gluzman, now an IM and chess coach in Australia ... During the last few years, I've been collecting all my preserved games at my web page. Alas, the majority of games from the junior tournaments have been lost). After the text, Nc7 must be prevented.
18...Ne8 19.a4
Not 19.Nxa7?! Bd7! (much stronger than 19...Rc7? 20.Ba5) 20.Nb5 g4! with Black attacking (as in B.Maksimovic-J.Todorovic, Yugoslavia 1991).
19...Bf6!?N
A move, which can be useful in attack and defence (still, in some lines Black may regret that the bishop interferes in the development of the queen to h4 or g5). Premature is 19...a6?! 20.Na3!; 19...Bf8 is, generally, more typical than the text; 19...Nh4?! is also a typical move, but here it allows 20.Nxa7! Rc7 21.Ba5 Rxc2 22.Bxd8 +/-. After 19...Bd7 there was a recent game, as the database shows: 20.h3 N (I was not sure about 20.Ra3 a6 21.Nc7 but 21...Bxa4 is maybe OK for Black) 20...Bf6 21.Ra3 Qb8 22.a5 Bd8 23.Nc3 Matlakov-Baryshpolets, Chotowa Wjun 2010: it looks playable for Black who could have tried 23...Nf6!?.
20.Ra3
A tempting move. White correctly avoided the line 20.Nxa7 Rc7 21.Ba5 (a better chance is 21.Nc6! bxc6 22.dxc6 which is quite unclear at first glance) 21...Rxc2 22.Bxd8 Rxe2 (it is good for Black to have a bishop on f6 here!) 23.Bxf6 Bd7-/+ where Black wins a piece. Other options were 20.a5 and 20.h3 and a shift to a position from Matlakov-Baryshpolets is not improbable.
20...a6 21.Rc3 Bd7
Not 21...axb5? 22.Rxc8 +-.
22.Na3
In the variation 22.Nc7 Nxc7 23.Rxc7 Bxa4! Black should be OK.
22...b5!?
The start of the attack which at least gives Black serious practical chances. The line 22...Qb8 23.a5 Qa7 24.Nc4 Bd8 did not attract me (but maybe was playable?). There were 'short' moves like 22...Rb8 where White cannot play 23.Nc4? (23.h3!? is normal) because of 23...b5 -/+.
23.axb5
A curious idea was 23.Rc6 - sometimes White can play like this.
23...axb5
Already here White had a complex choice.
24.Rb3
After 24.Nxb5!? g4 25.fxg4 Black can consider 25...Bh4 (after the obvious 25...hxg4 26.Nxg4! Black cannot win a piece without losing an exchange. For example, 26...Bxb5 27.Bxb5 Qb6+ 28.Kh1 Qxb5 29.Nh6+ Kg7 30.Nxf7 Kxf7 and White can be somewhat better here) where 26.g3 can be checked (Avoiding 26.gxh5 Bxf2+ 27.Kxf2 Qb6+ 28.Kf1 f3!). If 24.Bxb5 Black plays 24...Rxa3! and should be OK as I thought. Again possible was 24.Rc6!?.
24...g4
I also examined 24...b4 25.Rxb4 g4 26.fxg4 Bh4 but was afraid that it can be too much. In particular, I was far from sure whether Black has enough after 27.Be1 Bxf2+ 28.Bxf2 hxg4.
25.fxg4
Also a serious move is 25.Bxb5 where I intended to continue 25...Bh4!?.
25...Bh4 26.gxh5?!
Critical was 26.g3! where after 26...b4!? (I disliked 26...hxg4 27.Nxg4!?; after 26...fxg3 27.hxg3 which was what I intended to check first, maybe Black can even try something like 27...Nf4) 27.Nc4 (avoiding 27.gxh5 fxg3 28.hxg3 Nf4!) 27...fxg3 28.hxg3 Ba4 29.Qd3! is engine's suggestion for White. All this is very compex.
26...Bxf2+ 27.Kxf2 Nh4
Probably correctly abstaining from 27...Qb6+ 28.Kf1 Nh4.
28.Rg1?!
It is tempting to involve the rook in the defence, but after this move the white pieces lose co-ordination and things are getting even more dangerous for White. 28.Kg1!? could have been preferable, after which Black has a number attractive options.
28...Kh8
Again abstaing from the check 28...Qb6+ 29.Kf1 Kh8 (or 29...Ng7).
29.Kf1 Nf6
29...Qb6 ('very strong' - Bogdanovich) was not clear to me, so I activated one more piece. 30.Bd1!? is a suggestion by 'Fritz' then (30.Bf3? Nxf3 31.Rxf3 b4 -/+; 30.Be1 f3 31.Bxf3 Nxf3 32.Rxf3 Rxf3+ 33.gxf3 Bh3+ 34.Rg2 Qe3! =/+) and if 30...f3 31.g4.
30.Be1 Rc8
It is at least logical to exchange rooks before pushing ...f3.
31.Rc3 Rxc3 32.bxc3 f3!
32...Nxd5? 33.exd5 Nf5 34.Bf2 Ne3+ 35.Bxe3 fxe3+ was considered by me as an alternative, but I could not see the full compensation there. In fact, even 36.Bf3 (36.Ke1! Qh4+ 37.Kd1 +/- was the main reason why I did not go for that line) 36...Qh4 37.Qe2! turns out possible, because 37...e4?! (37...Qa4!?) fails to 38.Qxe3 with the idea of 38...exf3 39.Qh6+ +-.
33.Bxh4
Not 33.gxf3?? Bh3+. After 33.Bxf3 Nxh5!? Black has a strong attack for not so much sacrificed material.
33...fxe2+
33...Ng4?? is nice, indeed, but it does not work at all: 34.Bxd8 Nxh2+ 35.Kf2 Ng4+ 36.Kg3 +-
34.Kxe2 b4! -/+
Sacrificing one more pawn (in order to have access to the d4 square) is the key move, otherwise Black might have had problems. For example, 34...Qb6? 35.Rf1 Bg4+ 36.Kd2 Nxd5 37.exd5 Rxf1 38.Qg6 where Black should fight for a draw by 38...Rf2+! 39.Bxf2 Qxf2+ 40.Kc1 b4!. Or 34...Bg4+? 35.Kd3!.
35.cxb4
After 35.Qd2 bxa3 36.Qh6+ Kg8 37.Qg6+ Kf8 38.Qh6+ Black, importantly, has 38...Ke8 -/+. My main intention after 35.Nc4 Bb5 36.cxb4 was 36...Qc8 (36...Rc7! -/+ and if 37.Rf1?! Qc8!! 38.Bxf6+ Kh7) 37.Bxf6+ Rxf6 but here it is not clear whether Black can win after 38.Rc1! (my idea was 38.Kd3? Rf2!! -+).
35...Qb6! -+
Stronger than 35...Bg4+?! 36.Kd3 Qb6. After the text it is hard to suggest anything for White.
36.Bf2 Qa6+!?
The Engine at least for a while prefers other moves, but the text is certainly good enough.
37.b5
37.Qd3? loses instantly to 37...Bg4+! 38.Kd2 Nxe4+!; After 37.Nc4 my main idea was to continue 37...Nxe4!? 38.Qxe4 Rf4 39.Qxf4 exf4 40.Bd4+ Kh7 41.Rc1 Bb5 42.Kd3 and here White is firmly lost: for example, 42...Qa2 should win a piece for Black (42...Qa3+!? can be even stronger).
37...Bg4+!
Simplest.
38.Kd3
Or 38.Kd2 Qa5+ (for example) and wins.
38...Qxa3+ 39.Qc3 Qxc3+
I did not expect that White would try to resist, being two pieces down. After 39...Be2+ 40.Kc2 Qa2+ 41.Kc1 it is not hard to see that 41...Nxe4! decides, so it could have been a shorter win under the circumstances.
40.Kxc3 Nxe4+ 41.Kd3 Nxf2+ 42.Ke3 Nd1+ 43.Kd3 Nb2+ 44.Kc2 Na4 45.Ra1 Rf2+ 46.Kb3 Nc5+ 47.Kc3 Bf5 48.Ra8+ Kg7 49.Rd8 Rc2+ 50.Kb4 Rb2+ 51.Kc4 Bd3+ 52.Kc3 Rb3+ 53.Kd2 Bxb5 54.g4 e4 0-1

From Chess Today, Issue 3581 (28 August 2010)

2010-08-28T14:40:00Z

Khomyakov,Vladimir (2345) - Golubev,Mikhail (2490) [E84]
Ostrava Open Ostrava CZE (4), 08.09.1992
Mikhail Golubev (www.chesstoday.net)]
This game was annotated in my book "Understanding the King's Indian" (2006). The reason to show it now, rather briefly (as I did earlier this year on the ICC, and recalled when I watched Alex Baburin's interview), is to share doubts regarding the interesting deviation on the 17th move.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Bg5 Nc6 7.Nge2 a6 8.Qd2 Rb8 9.h4 h5 10.Bh6 e5!? 11.d5
This is not a popular line but, incidentally, several days later the solid 11.Bxg7 Kxg7 12.d5 was played in Spassky-Fischer, St Stefan/Belgrade 1992 (Game 8).
11...Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Nd4 13.0-0-0 c5 14.dxc6 bxc6 15.Nxd4 exd4 16.Rxd4 Rxb2 17.Kxb2
After 17.e5!? Bf5! Black is, most likely, OK in the complications. Quite important is 17.c5 Rb8 (or 17...Rb7 Bjerke-Westerinen, Gausdal 1987 18.Rxd6) 18.Rxd6 Qa5 19.Kc2 Be6 (19...Qa3 20.Qc1!) 20.Rxe6 Qa3 (20...fxe6? 21.Bc4!) 21.Rd6 Rb2+ 22.Kd3 Qxc5. With a position that puzzles me now. In the book I assessed it in White's favour, but, possibly, Black can go for it? After 23.Rd4 (The alternative is 23.Qf4 Ne8) the move 23...Qa7!?, preparing ...Nd7 can make sense. At least, it is a clear attacking plan (the absence of which worried me in 2006 more than the engine's predictable +- assessment). And if 24.e5 (here, an alternative is 24.Qc1 Rfb8) then 24...Nd5!? ...As often happens, engines are underestimating the long-term dangers for the white king. But to prove Black's chances, stronger engines than I use may be needed.
17...Qb6+ 18.Nb5?!
Safer is 18.Kc2 Qxd4 19.Qd2.
18...axb5!
With excellent compensation for the exchange.
19.Qd2
After 19.Rxd6 bxc4+ 20.Ka1, 20...Qb4! is dangerous for White.
19...bxc4+ 20.Ka1 d5
Black has consolidated and is threatening, by the way, ...c5.
21.Qc3
Or 21.exd5 cxd5 22.Be2 (Debnar-Berek, Slovakia 2008) 22...Re8!? and Black is better.
21...Be6 22.Rd2 Nd7 23.Be2
Black's attack appears to be faster after 23.g4 Ra8!? 24.gxh5 Nc5 25.Rb2 Nb3+ 26.Kb1 d4 27.Qc2 c3 28.Rxb3 Bxb3 29.Qxb3 Qa7.
23...Ra8 24.Rb1 Qa7 25.exd5 cxd5 26.Bd1 Nc5 27.Qd4 Bf5! 28.Rb5 Bc2!-+
A memorable move for me, surely.
29.Qb2
Otherwise: 29.Bxc2 Qxa2#; 29.Rxc2 Nb3+.
29...Nb3+ 30.Rxb3 cxb3 31.Bxc2 Qxa2+ 32.Qxa2 Rxa2+ 33.Kb1 bxc2+
White resigned because of 33...bxc2+ 34.Kc1 Ra1+! 35.Kxc2 Ra2+, etc.
0-1

***
The game at ChessGames.com:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1553325

Resuming the blog

2010-08-28T14:36:34Z

After annotating 121 games, in May 2010 I resigned as the King's Indian observer at ChessPublishing.com.

IM Vigorito is curerently doing a great job there: http://www.chesspublishing.com/content/9/index.htm

So probably I will begin to post some games here from time to time.

My new personal page

2009-11-03T01:01:54Z

http://mikhailgolubev.wordpress.com/

ChessPublishing.com

2009-02-26T01:34:50Z

On 18 February 2009 my second monthly update of the KID section was posted at www.ChessPublishing.com. In the near future, besides the usual journalistic work, I will be involved in covering the King’s Indian Defence at this unique, in its own way, chess openings site. ChessPublishing has a free forum at www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl. (In 1997, when I became familiar with the internet, I tried to find the same kind of chess theory forums, but with very moderate success at that time!). It would be illogical to concentrate on two specific King’s Indian projects simultaneously. So, starting from now I will stop updating mikhail-golubev.livejournal.com, a small blog, devoted to my book UNDERSTANDING THE KING’S INDIAN, published by Gambit Publications in the beginning of 2006. I hope that this blog was (and will remain) helpful for readers, who wish to get more information about this book in which I chronicled my accumulated experience with the opening. The blog certainly helped me to get more reader’s feedback, for which I am very grateful. Note that my main homepage remains www.geocities.com/mikhail_golubev

For the record, below is a list of my King’s Indian-related publications in English (not including other languages, or Informator-style) from the period January 2006 - February 2009 that are not available online.

Yuferov-Golubev 1-0 Chess Today #1920 (9 Feb 06)
Topalov-Radjabov 0-1 Chess Today #1935 (24 Feb 06)
Khudyakov-Golubev 0-1 Chess Today #1988 (18 Apr 06)
Tishin-Golubev 0-1 Chess Today #2046 (15 Jun 06)
Beliavsky-Golubev 1-0 Chess Today #2067 (06 Jul 06)
Navara-S.Novikov 0-1 Chess Today #2098 (06 Aug 06)
Ivanchuk-Radjabov 1-0 Chess Today #2255 (10 Jan 07)
Kramnik-Radjabov 0,5-0,5 Chess Today #2272 (27 Jan 07)
Ponomariov-Topalov 0-1 Chess Today #2279 (03 Feb 07)
Berkvens-Inarkiev 1-0 Chess Today #2526 (08 Oct 07)
Shimanov-Chuprov 0-1 Chess Today #2718 (17 Apr 08)
Ivanchuk-Cheparinov 1-0 Chess Today #2743 (12 May 08)
Korobov-Yevseev 0-1 Chess Today #2790 (28 Jun 08)
Kasimdzhanov-Cheparinov 1-0 Chess Today #2973 (28 Dec 08)
Vovk-Golubev 0.5-0.5 Chess Today #2984 (08 Jan 09)
Fridman-Prusikin 0-1 Chess Today #3021 (14 Feb 09)
Opening for White According to Kramnik. Volume 1b (Review) Chess Today #2208 (24 Nov 06)
Beating the King's Indian and Gruenfeld by IM Taylor (Review) Chess Today #2289 (13 Feb 07)
My Best Games in the King's Indian, DVD by GM Shirov (Review) Chess Today #2347 (12 Apr 07)
Beat the KID by GM Markos (Review) Chess Today #2986 (10 Jan 09)
Bayonet Attack - Pieces move back! (Article) Chess Today #2894 (10 Oct 08)
Korchnoi-Smirin 1-0 British Chess Magazine, August 2007
Carlsen-Ivanchuk 1-0 British Chess Magazine, August 2008
Bayonet Attack with 10.g3 (Survey) New in Chess Yearbook 90 (2009)

Korchnoi-Golubev 1-0 Chess Today #2766 (04 June 08) can be found here

Some of the games, annotated in Chess Today, were re-published in this blog with permission from the CT editor, GM Baburin. Please find them in the previous postings, below.

FROM CHESS TODAY - 2931 (16th November 2008)

2008-12-02T00:19:42Z

Van Wely,Loek (2618) - Radjabov,Teimour (2752) E97

38th Olympiad Dresden GER (3.5), 15.11.2008

Mikhail Golubev (www.chesstoday.net)
The first 23 moves of this game between leaders of the Dutch and Azerbaijani teams were known to me, but while looking at the rest of the game I did not understand much.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.g3

From 2005-2007 there were four (!) Van Wely vs Radjabov games in the variation 10.Re1 f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.f3 Kh8 13.Ne6 Bxe6 14.dxe6. Now Van Wely returns to 10.g3, the old line, which he has played often in the past.

10...f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.f3 f4!? 13.b5

There are other options, for example 13.Kg2 which Van Wely preferred in the 1990s.

13...h6

After 13...fxg3 14.hxg3 Nh5, the novelty 15.Kf2!? N was introduced in Van Wely-Dyachkov, Russian ChT Dagomys 2008 (1-0, 26). Instead, 14...h6 should transpose to our main game. In several games Black tried 13...Ne8 14.Ne6 Bxe6 15.dxe6 Qc8 16.Nd5 Qxe6 17.Nxe7+ Qxe7 18.Qd5+ Kh8 19.Qxb7 Nf6.

14.Ne6 Bxe6 15.dxe6 fxg3 16.hxg3 Qc8! 17.Nd5! Qxe6 18.Nxc7 Qh3 19.Rf2

Avoiding the draw 19.Nxa8 Qxg3+ = as in Pacmann-Taimanov, Havana Capablanca mem 1967 and other games.

19...Nxe4

Instead, 19...Rac8 20.Rh2! Qxg3+ (20...Qd7 21.Nd5 Nexd5 22.cxd5 Nh5 23.Kg2! +/= followed by Be3) 21.Rg2 Qh3 (21...Qh4? 22.Ne6 Rf7 D.Hamilton-Marcinkiewicz, ICCF corr. 1988 23.Rh2! Qg3+ 24.Kh1 Nh5 25.Be3 +/- Van Wely, Informator 79) 22.Qxd6! Rf7 23.c5 was Van Wely-Golubev, Romanian ChT Sovata 2000. Relatively best here is 23...Nf5! 24.exf5 Rfxc7 but now I see that perhaps White is better after 25.Be3! Qxf5 26.Rf1!?. 19...Rad8 20.Rg2 Qd7 21.Nd5 Nexd5 22.cxd5 Qc7 23.Be3 +/= is one of lines from my book 'Understanding the King's Indian' where I discussed this line. (See CT-1972 for more).

20.fxe4 N

A novelty, which has already been discussed in several publications. Black had a fully playable position after 20.Rh2 Qd7 21.Nxa8 Nxg3! 22.Bxh6 Bxh6 23.Rxh6 Kg7 24.Rh2 Nef5! in Van Wely-Degraeve, Mondariz Zonal 2000.

20...Rxf2 21.Kxf2 Rf8+ 22.Ke3!

22.Ke1 gives Black an additional possibility of 22...Qh1+!? 23.Kd2 Qxe4 and now 24.Qg1 (Shipov, KasparovChess.com, 2000), is quite complex.

22...Qxg3+ 23.Kd2

A crazy line, indeed. Black's minor pieces are relatively passive, which gives hope for White to consolidate his advantages.

23...Rf2

After 23...Nf5?! 24.exf5 e4 25.Qb3! (Shipov) 25...Qxb3 26.axb3 Bxa1 27.fxg6 Black has problems in the endgame.

24.Ne8!

Not dangerous for Black is 24.Qb3?! Qg2 25.Qd3 (or 25.Qe3 h5! Gallagher, 'Play the King's Indian') 25...Nf5! (even stronger than Van Wely's suggestion 25...h5 with the idea of 26.Bb2?! Bh6+ 27.Kd1 h4 -/+) 26.exf5 e4 - Gallagher.

24...h5!?

The first really new move. Van Wely himself provided the following line in Informator 79: 24...g5 25.Qb3 Qg2 26.Qe3 Ng6 27.Ba3 (a possible improvement is 27.Bb2, or maybe to take on g7 earlier - MG) 27...Nf4 28.Re1 g4 29.Nxg7 Rf3 30.Qxa7 Rd3+ 31.Kc2 Qxe4 32.Bxd3 Qxd3+ 33.Kb2 Qd2+ 34.Kb3 Qxe1 35.Ne8 Qb1+ = . Here Loek stops, but the line can be continued with 36.Ka4 Qc2+ 37.Ka5 Qxa2 38.Qe3 Qxc4 39.Nxd6, is not White somewhat better here?

25.Nxg7

Not 25.Nxd6?? Bh6+ 26.Kc2 Bxc1 27.Rxc1 Qe3 -/+.

25...Kxg7 26.Qb3 Qg2 27.Qe3 Ng8! 28.c5! dxc5

After 28...Nf6?! White plays 29.cxd6! Nxe4+ 30.Kd3 +/- with a big advantage: 30...Rf6 (or 30...Nxd6?! 31.Qxe5+ Kf7 32.Qxd6 Rxe2 33.Qf4+, developing the bishop then) 31.Bb2 Rxd6+ 32.Kc4 Kh7 33.Rg1 Nd2+ 34.Kb4 and so on.

29.Bb2 Qh2?!

Possibly critical is 29...Nf6! 30.Re1! (not 30.Bxe5? Rxe2+ 31.Qxe2 Qg5+ -/+) and now 30...Ng4!? (rather than 30...Nxe4+ 31.Kd3!? c4+ 32.Kxc4) 31.Qd3 deserves serious investigation.

30.Re1 Nf6 31.Kd1 b6?!

A much better chance was 31...Ng4 32.Qxc5 Qf4 33.Qe7+ (33.Qc7+ Kf6! 34.Qd6+ Kg7 35.Qd7+ transposes) 33...Kh8 34.Qd8+ Kg7 35.Qd7+ Kh6!? (35...Kh8? 36.Qc8+; 35...Kf6 36.Bc3! is complex, but better for White) 36.Bc1 Ne3+ 37.Bxe3 Qxe3 and here, at least, not dangerous for Black is 38.Bxh5?! (there are several alternatives: 38.Qd2!?; 38.Qd8!?; 38.Qd5!?) because of 38...Qc3! 39.Be2 Qa1+ 40.Kd2 Qb2+ 41.Ke3 Rh2 42.Qd3 Qxa2 =.

32.Bc3 +/- 32...Kh7

It is already hard to suggest anything for Black: 32...Qf4 33.Qxf4 Rxf4 34.Bxe5 Rxe4 35.Bf3!? Rxe1+ 36.Kxe1, winning the a7 pawn soon; or 32...Ng4? 33.Bxg4 hxg4 34.Bxe5+ Qxe5 35.Qxf2.

33.Qg5 Nxe4

After 33...Qg2 34.Qxg2 Rxg2 35.Bxe5 Nxe4 Black should not survive: 36.Bf3!? Rd2+ 37.Kc1 Ng5 38.Bf4 Rf2 39.Bxg5 Rxf3 40.Re7+ Kg8 41.Rxa7, etc.

34.Qe7+! Kh6 35.Bxe5! Rf7 36.Qe8!

Stronger than 36.Qxf7 Qxe5 37.Bd3 +/-.

36...Rd7+

A slight practical chance was 36...Rf4!?.

37.Kc2! +-

But not 37.Qxd7? Qxe5 and Black is doing well.

37...Rd2+ 38.Kb1!

Not 38.Kc1? Qf2 39.Rf1 Rc2+ 40.Kb1 Nd2+ 41.Kxc2 Nxf1 and the fight continues.

38...Qf2 39.Rf1! Rxe2

If 39...Qxe2? 40.Qf8+ Kg5 41.Qf4#.

40.Qh8+?!

This does not spoil the win, but 40.Rxf2 was simpler, indeed, as there is no mate after 40...Nc3+ 41.Ka1 Rxa2+ 42.Rxa2.

40...Kg5 41.Rxf2 Rxf2

The rest is not especially interesting.

42.Bb8 Rf5 43.Bxa7 c4 44.Bxb6 Rxb5+ 45.Kc2 Rxb6 46.Qe5+ Kh6 47.Qxe4 g5 48.a4 Rf6 49.a5 g4 50.Kc3 Kg5 51.Qe5+ Kg6 52.Qe4+ Kg5 53.Qb7 g3 54.a6 1-0

Game Annotations by FM Andrey Terekhov

2008-11-17T12:59:13Z

Terekhov,Andrey (2322) - Raykhman,Alexander (2262) [E68]

Munich op 28th 2008 (6), 16.10.2008

[FM Andrey Terekhov]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0–0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.0–0 e5 8.e4 a6 9.h3 exd4 10.Nxd4 Re8 11.Be3 Rb8 12.b3 c5 13.Nde2 b5?! [Better is 13...Qe7!?] 14.Qxd6 b4 15.Na4 Nxe4 16.Bxe4 Bxa1!? [16...Rxe4 - Informator 82/494] 17.Rxa1 Rxe4 18.Nxc5 Re8! [18...Rb6?! 19.Qd2 Qf6 20.Rd1 Nxc5 21.Bxc5 Rbe6 22.Nf4 Re8 23.Bxb4 with an initiative; 18...Rxe3? 19.fxe3 Qe8 Informator - 88/(468) 20.e4! Rb6 21.Qc7 Rf6 22.Rd1 +/-] 19.Rd1 Qa5?? [19...Qe7 20.Qxe7 (20.Qc7!? Nxc5 21.Qxb8 Qe4! 22.Qf4 (22.Rd4 Qf3 23.Nf4 Rxe3 24.Rd8+ Kg7 25.fxe3 Qxg3+ 26.Kf1 Bxh3+ 27.Nxh3 Qxh3+ 28.Ke2 Qg2+ 29.Kd1 Qf1+ 30.Kc2 Qf5+ 31.Kb2 Qf2+=) 22...Bxh3 23.Qxe4 Nxe4 24.Nf4 Bg4 25.Rd3 +/=) 20...Rxe7 21.Nf4 Nxc5 (21...Nf6? 22.Rd6! +/-) 22.Bxc5 Re8! Terekhov (22...Rd7? 23.Nd5 Kg7 24.Bd4+ f6 25.Bxf6+ Kf7 26.Be5 Rb6 27.Rd4 +/- A.Kiss 2435 - M.Tratar, Austria 1996) 23.Nd5 (23.Bd6 Rb7 24.c5 (24.Nd5 Re2 - 23.Nd5 Re2 24.Bd6 Rb7) 24...Bd7 25.Nd5 Re6 26.Ne7+ Kg7 27.c6 Bxc6 28.Nxc6 Rb6 29.Be5+ f6 30.Rd7+ Kf8 31.Bd6+ Ke8 32.Rd8+ Kf7 33.Rd7+ Ke8=) 23...Re2! 24.Bxb4 (24.Bd6 Rb7 25.c5 (25.Ne7+ Rbxe7 26.Bxe7 Rxe7 27.Rd8+ Kg7 28.Rxc8 Re2 29.c5 Rxa2=) 25...Be6! 26.c6 Bxd5 27.cxb7 (M.G. 27.Rxd5!? Rb6 28.Rc5 Re8) 27...Bxb7 28.Bxb4 Rxa2 29.Rd8+ Kg7 30.Bc3+ Kh6 31.Rd7 Bc8 32.Rxf7 Bxh3=) 24...Be6 25.Nf6+ Kg7 26.Bc3 Rc8 27.a4 +/=] 20.Nxd7 Bxd7 21.Qxd7+- Qxa2 [21...Rbd8 22.Rd5! Qxa2 23.Qxd8 Rxd8 24.Rxd8+ Kg7 25.Nd4+-] 22.Qd3 a5 23.Nf4 Red8 24.Nd5 a4 25.Qd4 a3 [25...Rxd5 26.cxd5 Qxb3 27.Rc1! a3 28.Qe5 Rf8 29.Bd4+-] 26.Ne7+ [26.Ne7+ Kf8 27.Bh6+ Ke8 28.Qh8+ Kxe7 29.Qe5#] 1–0

Two more Odessa games

2008-10-03T08:43:33Z

Reshetkov,Kirill (2138) - GM Golubev,Mikhail (2480) [E94]
4th Geller Memorial Open-A Odessa UKR (4), 12.09.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 Na6 7.0-0 e5 8.Be3 Ng4 9.Bg5 Qe8 10.h3 h6 11.Bh4 Nf6 12.dxe5 dxe5 13.Nd5 Nxe4 14.Be7 c6 15.Bxf8 Qxf8 16.Ne3 f5 17.a3 Nac5 18.Qc2 f4 19.Ng4 Bf5 20.Nh4 Ne6 21.Rad1 Rd8 22.Rxd8 Qxd8 23.Nxf5 gxf5 24.Bd3 Nd4 25.Qd1 Qg5 26.Nh2 Nc5 27.b4 Nxd3 28.Qxd3 e4 29.Qd2 e3 30.fxe3 fxe3 31.Qd3 Qg3! 32.Rxf5 Qd6! 33.Qe4 Ne2+ 0-1

GM Lutsko,Igor (2399) - GM Golubev,Mikhail (2480) [E71]
4th Geller Memorial Open-A Odessa UKR (8), 17.09.2008

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0-0 6.Be3 Na6 7.Bd3 Qe8 8.Nge2 e5 9.d5 Nh5 10.Qd2 f5 11.exf5 gxf5 12.Bg5 e4 13.Bc2 Nb4 14.g3 f4! 15.Bxf4 Nxf4 16.Nxf4 e3 17.fxe3 Bxc3 18.Qxc3 Nxc2+ 19.Qxc2 Qxe3+ 20.Kd1 Qxg3 21.Ne2 Qe5 22.Qc3 Qxc3 23.Nxc3 Rf2 24.Rg1+ Kh8 25.Ne4 Rxb2 26.Rc1 Bf5 27.Ng5 Rf8 0-1

From CHESS TODAY-2870 (16th September 2008)

2008-10-03T08:41:15Z

GM Drozdovskij,Yuri (2587) - GM Golubev,Mikhail (2480) [E68]

4th Geller Memorial Open-A Odessa UKR (6), 15.09.2008

Mikhail Golubev (www.chesstoday.net)

Yesterday I lost a game in the Odessa tournament, but at least there is something to annotate, and this is the most important thing.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 0-0 5.g3 d6 6.Bg2 Nbd7 7.0-0 e5 8.e4 c6 9.Be3!?

An old, but interesting line. Black has only one principled reply.

9...Ng4 10.Bg5 Qb6

Bronstein's 10...f6 is not sufficient for equality, perhaps.

11.h3 exd4

After 11...Ngf6 White may consider 12.c5 Qxb2 13.Na4 but the simpler 12.Qd2 and also 12.Rb1 both contend for the advantage.

12.Na4 Qa6 13.hxg4 b5 14.Be7

Instead, 14.Nxd4 bxa4 15.Nxc6 Qxc6 16.e5 Qxc4 17.Bxa8 Nxe5 was OK for Black is Botvinnik-Smyslov, Moscow (m/14) 1954. One more option is 14.e5.

14...Re8

After 14...bxa4 15.Bxd6 (15.Bxf8 Nxf8 16.Nxd4 Bxg4! 17.Qxg4 Bxd4 with compensation, Smejkal & Stohl, ECO) 15...Re8!? transposes to the main line.

15.Bxd6 bxa4 16.c5!?

Yuri of late always finds a way to surprise me in the King's Indian. At the Pivdenny Bank Rapid Cup he played 16.e5 (as in Yusupov-Kasparov, Linares 1992). I forgot the theory and quickly lost after 16...Bb7? 17.Qxd4 c5 18.Qf4 +/-. Yesterday I expected the possibility of that line being repeated, but 16.c5 came to my mind only during the game. And of course he played it.

16...a3 N

It was hard to decide between many options. A little existing theory, that I found after the game, is 16...Rxe4 17.Re1 (17.Ng5 is parried by 17...Re5!) 17...Rxe1+ 18.Qxe1 Nf8 19.Ne5! +/= Ornstein-Degerman, SWE-ch Borlange 1992 (unclear is 19.Qe8 Qb7 20.Ne5 Be6 21.Qxc6 Qxb2 22.Rd1 Rc8 23.Qxa4 - Smejkal & Stohl, ECO). And also 16...Qa5? 17.Nxd4 +/- Degerman-M.Jonsson, SWE-ch Haparanda 1994. After 16...Nf6 White can play 17.Ne5 (or 17.e5 Nxg4 18.Qxd4). 16...d3!? may transpose to the game after 17.e5 a3 18.bxa3 though there are other lines as well.

17.bxa3 d3 18.e5!?

Other options were 18.Qb3 and 18.Rb1.

18...Nxe5

As I understood from Yuri after the game, he was in his preparation up until now, but he looked at 18...Qxa3.

19.Nxe5!

Not 19.Bxe5?! Bxe5 20.Qe1 (if 20.Re1?? Bxg4-+) 20...f6.

19...Bxe5 20.Re1

After 20.Qe1 f6 Black is OK.

20...Bxg4

After 20...f6 21.Bxe5 White is better: 21...fxe5 22.Re3! +/-, Drozdovskij (22.Be4, which I disliked, is possible too).

21.Qxg4 Bxa1 22.Rxa1 d2 23.Rd1 Re1+ 24.Kh2

This was the position, which I intended to play when I made my 16th move. As it happened I failed to calculate it precisely even when it appeared on the board.

24...Qd3!

After 24...h5?! 25.Qf3 Rxd1 (if 25...Qa5, then White, crucially, has 26.Qxc6! +- Rxd1 27.Qxa8+ Kh7 28.Be5) 26.Qxd1 Qd3 27.Bxc6 +/- Black has an extra tempo ...h5, in comparison to the game though is not a big deal and hardly changes the assessment. While 24...Rxd1?! 25.Qxd1 Qd3 26.Bxc6! +/- directly transposes to the game. 24...Qa5?! 25.Bxc6 +/- clearly favours White, too.

25.Bxc6!

This seems to be the main move. After 25.Bf4 Black has counter-play: 25...Rxd1 26.Qxd1 Rd8 and 27.Bg5 is answered by 27...f6! with the idea of 28.Bxf6?? Rf8.

25...Rxd1?

Panic! I saw that 25...Rae8? 26.Bxe8 Qd5 loses to 27.Bxf7+! Kxf7 28.Qd7+ Kg8 29.Qd8+ Kf7 30.Qf8+ Ke6 31.Qe7+ Kf5 32.Rxe1 +-. I also rightly abandoned 25...Qc2?. There White wins by 26.Bxa8! (26.Rxd2 Qxd2 27.Bxa8 Qxf2+ +/-, which is quite bad for Black which I saw clearly. 26.Ba4?! complicates matters after 26...Qd3! 27.Bb3 Rae8 28.Qf4 Qxb3! 29.axb3 Rxd1 30.Qd4 Rh1+, post-mortem; even worse is 26.Bf3?? h5) 26...Qxd1 27.Qc8+ Kg7 and here I did not see the exact win for White, but it exists and involves g4 at some stage: even the immediate 28.g4 +- works. Alas, after my intended move 25...Rd8! I really did not see how to meet 26.Qf3. The right idea 26...Qd4!, threatening with ...Rxd1, Qxf2+ was proposed by Drozdovskij in the post-mortem (Otherwise: 26...Qxf3? 27.Bxf3 Rxd1 28.Bxd1 Re8 is always bad because of 29.c6! +-. 26...Rxd6? 27.cxd6 Qxd6 28.Bd5! +-; 26...Qc2? 27.Bd5! +-). Now, the most unpleasant is, possibly, 27.Bd5!? (other options: 27.Kg2 h5!? 28.Rxd2 Qxd2 29.Bd5, inclear; 27.Kh3, inclear) 27...Rxd1! 28.Qxf7+ Kh8 29.Be7! Rh1+! 30.Bxh1 d1Q 31.Bf6+ Qxf6 32.Qxf6+ Kg8 +/= but perhaps Black can hold this: 33.Bg2 Qd4 34.Qe6+ Kf8 35.c6 Re8, etc. In any case, it was a way to continue!

26.Qxd1?! +/-

Yuri even did not bother to calculate the forced win after 26.Bxa8! +- Re1 (or 26...Rh1+ 27.Bxh1 d1Q 28.Qc8+ Kg7 29.Qf8+ Kf6 30.Qe7+ Kg7 31.Qe5+, etc.) 27.Qc8+ Kg7 28.Qf8+ Kf6 29.Qd8+ Kf5 30.Qd7+! Kf6 31.Be7+. Anyway, after the text Black's position is objectively bad. I was also in the 'eternal' time trouble (a few remaining minutes + 30 seconds per move).

26...Rd8

26...Rc8 +/- hardly changes much.

27.Kg2 h5 28.Bf3 Qc3?!

28...Qxa3! with the idea of 29.Qxd2 Qxc5 was a slight chance.

29.Qa4

Or 29.Qe2 +-, I had no idea how to meet it.

29...Qc1 30.Qd4

I had some hope if 30.Bd1 Qb1 31.Qa5 Rxd6 32.cxd6 Qxd1 but even here White wins nicely with 33.Qd5!! +-.

30...Rc8 31.Be7! +-

Stronger than 31.Qf6?! d1Q 32.Bxd1 Qxd1 33.Be5 Qd5+ 34.Kh2 Kf8 35.Qh8+ Ke7 36.Qxc8 Qxe5.

31...Rb8 32.Bf6! Kh7 33.Qd7 Qc4 34.Bd5 Qf1+ 35.Kxf1 d1Q+ 36.Kg2 Rf8 37.c6 1-0

ChessDom article

2008-06-28T15:49:03Z

I wrote an article for the Featured Chess Author column at ChessDom.com

The link is:
http://books.chessdom.com/authors/mikhail-golubev

Introduction to my 2006 book

2008-01-28T11:41:39Z

Introduction:

The title of this book leaves no doubts that its topic is the King's Indian Defence - one of the most popular and controversial openings in modern chess. The author has used this opening with Black for more than 25 years. How I got started was slightly unusual. When I was 8 or 9, I played a training game with a friend from my chess club, Dima Novokhatko. After 1 c4 I noticed a certain weakening of the a1-h8 diagonal, and answered with 1...g6. The result of this game is not preserved in my memory, but probably it was positive enough, because I immediately started to seek information about 'my' opening and found that it was well-known as Staroindiskaya zashchita (the Russian name for the KI).

According to common classification, everything that begins with the moves 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 is called the 'King's Indian Defence', with the exception of cases when Black later continues ...d5, which is the Grünfeld Defence.

While the other KI lines (most importantly, the Fianchetto Variation with early g3) are covered in this book, most of material is devoted to the 'real' King's Indian lines which begin from 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6. Note that 4...0-0!?, which once brought a brilliant victory to Bobby Fischer in a famous game against Letelier, alas, does not have much independent significance, because Black will normally play ...d6 soon enough in any case.

It is obvious that White, in accordance with opening principles, has occupied the centre with pawns and enjoys a territorial advantage. So, we should discuss what Black is doing, and why.

First, of all, he has developed his pieces in such a way that they cannot be profitably attacked (e4-e5 is out of the question for the moment), and at the same time they occupy active positions. The weakening of the a1-h8 diagonal, mentioned above, is not a joke but a real factor which, as Black hopes, could somehow compensate him for White's territorial achievements.

The most vulnerable square in White's centre is d4, which can be defended by pieces only. And, not surprisingly, two main basic ideas for Black are related to attacking the d4-pawn (after castling) by ...e5 or ...c5, which lead to two different classes of positions. After either ...e5 or ...c5, White has the choice between keeping the d4-pawn in its place (in this case the support of minor pieces is required), exchanging this pawn for Black's pawn on e5 (c5), or moving the pawn forward by d5, stepping into the opponent's side of the board and increasing White's territorial advantage.

In the book we shall deal with all these types of structures (also including lines where Black delays the assault on White's centre). Black's methods of counterplay will be illustrated separately in each of the opening lines, and general observations will always be made when possible.

There should be no doubt that the King's Indian is not only a highly provocative opening (White is invited to occupy the centre) but also not an easy one to play with the black side. "It's a difficult opening, positionally it's very difficult," wrote the most successful King's Indian player ever, Garry Kasparov, answering a question from a visitor at his Website. The stakes are higher than in other openings and, basically, White gets some objective advantage from the very beginning. (Well, I can try to describe the word 'advantage' as a situation where the opposite site would be satisfied with a draw offer.)

How valuable is White's objective advantage in the King's Indian? The correct answer to this question is beyond our knowledge. There are grandmasters (even those who often use the King's Indian as Black), who have the opinion that with perfect play White should win. For my part, I firmly believe that Black, if he plays perfectly, should not lose. Some players, on the other hand, simply do not worry about such abstract theoretical questions.

A more practical question is: what does Black get in return for voluntarily giving his opponent an obvious (even if slight) opening advantage? In fact, he gets quite a lot. By playing the King's Indian, Black, as a rule, avoids early simplifications, which allows him to keep the position complicated (due, not least, to such a banal factor as the number of pieces remaining on the board!).

So, the King's Indian is a perfect opening choice for players who aim to 'outcalculate' the Opponent in a complicated struggle. The spirit of the King's Indian was best described in my memory by one of its regular practitioners, Croatian GM Cvitan. "I want to be dangerous", he said during the post-mortem analysis of one of his games.

Yes, Black's main strategy in the King's Indian is: to be dangerous, to keep the game as complicated as possible, and
to deny his Opponent the type of clear technical superiority that makes his position easy to handle in practice. Very importantly in the King's Indian (and this is atypical for most other openings) even in the case that Black makes a mistake and obtains an (objectively) bad position, he often, due the complexity of the Situation on the board, preserves reasonable practical chances not only for a draw, but also for a win.

It is not therefore surprising that a list of regular King's Indian practitioners (say, those who have more than a hundred KI games as Black in ChessBase's Mega Database 2005) features most of the brightest and most ambitious chess fighters of the 20th Century, including four world Champions - Kasparov, Fischer, Tal and (maybe some will be surprised by this) Petrosian. Also: Shirov, J.Polgar, Geller, Stein, Bronstein, Najdorf, Gligoric, Gelfand, Nunn, Uhlmann, Smirin and many other great
players. There are also young stars of the present day who may not have played as many KI games due to their age, but who use the opening regularly. It is enough to name Radjabov and Volokitin.

Here I should perhaps say a few words about the book's legitimacy (as I hold the view that opening books should be written by opening experts). I had some doubts when I started this work. Although according to the statistics I am among the 30 most active GM practitioners of the KI (168 games as Black in Mega 2005), it would seem strange to place my name along-side the illustrious players mentioned above, who are the great KI experts.

If most of the present King's Indian gurus (or Kasparov alone) were to reveal their secrets, I would possibly prefer to write not a book but a short article. In reality, however, the top players rarely show all what they know. They need their analysis for their practice. Here I have an advantage, because my career as a professional player at this moment is over (chess journalism, especially the work for Chess Today, which requires daily attention, occupies me more and more). So, I do not have any reason to hide anything - with exception of joint analysis with other players, which it would be improper to reveal without the agreement of the other party.

But also in this respect, I face fewer problems than most other grandmasters would face. In 2000, I helped the then very young Ruslan Ponomariov to include the King's Indian in his repertoire. His results (especially from the opening point of view) were quite good, but eventually Ruslan decided that the King's Indian did not fully suit his chess taste, and he stopped using it. He did not object to the inclusion of our analysis in this book.

Earlier, in 1996, thanks to efforts of Anatoly Karpov's coach IM Mikhail Podgaets who lives in Odessa, I was invited to a Karpov & Podgaets training session to help them prepare for the Karpov-Kamsky match. There our King's Indian analysis was limited in a very narrow direction, in a line that is not critical for current opening theory. I did not use our analysis of that specific line in this book, and have not indicated which line it was, but have provided an honest assessment around the place where today's official theory ends.

This book on the King's Indian is my third writing attempt, after Easy Guide to the Dragon and The Sicilian Sozin. All three books were bom in my cooperation with Gambit Publications (in the case of the Dragon in association with Everyman). Gambit's editor Graham Burgess, to whom I am endlessly grateful for his patience (alas, I seem unable to complete a major work within the agreed schedule) certainly has enough material to write a book entitled "Understanding Mikhail Golubev". I only can say in my defence that I would never have started any of these projects if in the beginning I had not been over-optimistic and unable to imagine the real amount of work required.

The key difference between this book and the two previous ones is in the size of the topic under consideration. The King's Indian database which I used (Mega 2005 games, joined with all other available material) consisted of more than 255,000 games (Kasparov was, perhaps, quite correct, when he stated that the KI "is not fresh any more"!), which makes it impossible to provide any complete, scientific coverage of the opening.

So, this book has a different concept. The coverage of all lines is based on my own games, while I have also provided additional theoretical material - enough to enable the reader to use the work as a repertoire book at the very least. I considered it important to offer a choice of different lines for Black wherever it was possible and appropriate. I believe that the best approach to playing the King's Indian is a flexible one -I would not like the situation when someone, knowing that his opponent owns my book, would be able to predict his opponent's first 20 moves. And, let's be completely honest, if I were able to construct a straightforward, perfect opening repertoire for Black (in the King's Indian or in any other opening), containing not even the slightest potential problem, I would have preferred to sell this repertoire to one of the participants in the San Luis world championship.(Well, this is a purely hypothetical idea - chess is alive, and White will always find ways to set new, unexplored problems for Black.)

I should say a little more about the selection of the main games for this book. It was not such a difficult task, because I had some clear criteria: quality, theoretical importance, instructiveness, and a balance in the number of games for each of the different lines. The additional theoretical material, as a rule, is placed not in introductions to chapters, but inside games (hence, some of games are a bit overloaded with notes - but the opposite approach would have had its own drawbacks).

References to many games, played by me and by other players, can be found inside the notes to the main games. In some cases I considered it appropriate to refer to blitz games, in those cases where I felt that the moves objectively deserved to be mentioned. I apologize to any chess purists who object to this. (I also apologize for cases where the moves are given without references to the actual games, which can be found in databases.) My attitude to the games that I lost was simple: I always included such games when they deserved it. Of the main games, you will find 25 games that were won by me, with 15 draws and 16 losses. So, to some extent these are selected games of myself and my opponents.

The notes to all games are new. Certainly, during the work I used my old notes from chess periodicals (New in Chess, Informator, Chess Today, etc.), but the differences and contradictions between the old and new notes are not analysed - it would be just a waste of space. Understandably, the notes to the older games were sometimes changed in more dramatic ways - before 1998 I did not make serious use of chess engines to help with analysis.

(On a separate note, I should mention that in 2001 ChessBase published a collection of surveys on the Classical King's Indian with "Glek/Golubev" in the annotator's field. In fact, I was responsible only for the E98-E99 part, i.e. the main line with 9 Ne1.)

On the whole, I have written this book as a practical player rather than a theoretician. Primarily, I worked with all the material I have accumulated over the years from my own games and from work on my repertoire - and only then started to add supplementary material. The book can be considered as a personal introduction to the world of the King's Indian. I am sure that it will be useful for players who are interested in this opening, but the usefulness will vary from player to player. There is no question that 'black' King's Indian players are my target audience and I am not even sure what to say to white players to encourage them to pay attention to my work. There is plenty of material here to help them to combat the KI with greater success... Perhaps I should say 'Please, never buy this book and allow us, the black KI players, to improve our statistics a bit!'.

The so-called Anti-King's Indians (i.e. lines where White does not play c4) are outside this book's scope. However, I feel that I should explain the point of the move-order 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 d6 (instead of the usual 2...g6), which I use very often. In the past I experienced some problems dealing with the seemingly innocuous line 2...g6 3 Bg5 (intending 4 Nbd2, 5 e4 and 6 c3). Therefore I started to use 2...d6 as an antidote. Krivoshei-Golubev, Ukrainian jr Cht (Dnepropetrovsk) 1988 continued 3 Bg5 Nbd7 4 Nbd2 e5 5 c3 Be7! 6 e4 0-0 7 Be2 h6! 8 Bh4 exd4! 9 Bxf6 (9 cxd4? Nxe4! and Black wins the pawn) 9...Bxf6 10 Nxd4 Nb6 11 0-0 d5 12 Bf3 c5 13 Ne2 d4 14 cxd4 cxd4 15 Nf4 d3 16 Nb3 Bxb2 17 Rb1 Bf6 18 Qxd3 Qxd3 19 Nxd3 Nc4. Black has a pleasant position with two bishops, and went on to win. Of course, the 2...d6 move-order has its own nuances and drawbacks. Thus, 3 g3 can be answered by 3..Nbd7!?, planning ...e5, ...c6 and ...e4. On the other hand, 3 Nc3 forces Black to choose between the Philidor (3...Nbd7 4 e4 e5), the Pirc (3...g6 4 e4) and lines with an early ...Bg4, which may not be to the taste of all KI players. I shall not enter into deeper details here, but will add that the 1 Nf3 d6 move-order (instead of 1...Nf6, the most normal move for KI players) is linked with the same idea (2 d4 Nf6) and, more importantly, allows Black to use lines with an early ...f5 if White opts for the English set-up with d3. Black should also be ready to meet 2 e4. Then 2...c5 is the Sicilian.

I am planning to launch a weblog devoted to the book. Reviews and letters from readers can be discussed there. Please, check the news at my webpage www.geocities.com/mikhail_golubev, where my contact data is available as well.

And finally: good luck in your King's Indian adventures!

Mikhail Golubev

Odessa, December 2005

My Games

2008-01-28T09:45:53Z

In January 2008 I posted all my preserved games in zipped CBV file at my site
www.geocities.com/mikhail_golubev

KID on the defensive

2007-11-10T16:35:27Z

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0–0 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Qd2 a6 8.Nge2 Re8 9.h4 h5 10.0–0–0 b5 11.Nd5 bxc4 12.Nxf6+ Bxf6 13.g4 hxg4 14.h5 g5 15.Bxg5 e5 16.Bxf6 Qxf6 17.fxg4 exd4 18.g5 Qf3 19.g6! Bg4!?
White has a clear advantage after 19...fxg6 20.Nxd4! (Lautier-Piket, Cannes 1990). While after 19...Qxh1 20.gxf7+! Kxf7 21.Qf4+ Black, at best, loses a queen for insufficent compensation: 21...Ke7 22.Ng3 Qh2 (in order to have 23...Kd7 after 23.Qg5+) 23.Nf5+ Bxf5 24.Qxh2 Be6.
19...Bg4!? was suggested by myself in my book, and later tried unsuccessfully against Lautier in The Odessa 2006 Pivdenny Bank rapid. The game was a disaster for Black, indeed. After looking at this position again afterwards, I realised that from the beginning I had underestimated the danger of Black's king position. Even with best play White's chances are better.

20.Rg1
Curious but hardly promising an advantage is 20.Nxd4 Qxd1+ 21.Qxd1 Bxd1 22.Bxc4 with some crazy play: 22...Kg7!? and 23.Rg1!? can be answered by 23...Bg4!! (not 23...Rxe4?! 24.h6+! Kf6 25.g7! and White is better!) 24.Nxc6 (Black's basic idea was 24.Rxg4 Ne5!) 24...Rxe4 25.Bd5 Rae8 26.Bxe4 Rxe4 and Black is OK.
The most critical, possibly, is 20.gxf7+! Kxf7 21.Rg1! Ne5! (really a sad necessity... White's very strong threat was 22.Nxd4! Qxd1+ 23.Qxd1 Bxd1 24.Bxc4+, while bad for Black is 21...Bxh5 22.Rg3! with the idea of 22...Qxe4 23.Bg2! Qxe2 24.Rf1+ or 21...c3 22.bxc3 and again there is no solution, for example 22...Ne5 is refuted by 23.Rg3 Qxe4 24.cxd4! or 21...d3? 22.Nc3 threatening 23.Bg2, 24.Rfd1) 22.Qxd4 with an important position, where White is somewhat better. His main idea is Nc3, which can be prepared by Kb1. Possibly, Black's best is 22...Qf6 (there are other options such as 22...Re6 but they fail to impress; note that the following forced line favours White 22...Nd3+?! 23.Kb1 Rxe4 24.Qd5+ Re6 25.Qxc4 Ne5 26.Qxc7+ Re7 27.Qc1! Rc8 28.Nc3 with the idea of 28...Qxd1? 29.Bc4+!) and now White has a choice. 23.Kb1!? (after 23.Nc3!? Bxd1 24.Bxc4+ Nxc4 25.Qxc4+ Qe6 Black possibly holds; still it is hard to be sure... curious is 26.Nd5!? Qxe4 27.Qxc7+ Ke6 28.Rg6+ Kxd5 and somehow Black survives: after 29.Qxd6+ Kc4 30.b3+ he has 30...Bxb3 31.axb3+ Kxb3) 23...Rab8 (activating a rook, at least) 24.Nc3!? (there are calmer possibilities such as 24.Rc1 where Black may try 24...c5!? 25.Qc3 Rb4 and 24.Ka1!? ) 24...Bxd1 25.Bxc4+ Nxc4 26.Qxc4+ Qe6 27.Qxc7+! Qe7 28.Qc4+ Qe6 and again it may seem that Black should hold, but there are no guarantees.

20...Rxe4?
Just a losing move. In some other lines such as 20.Re1 this capture could have been playable, but not here when White is ready for Bg2.
After 20...Ne5!? White maybe has nothing better than 21.gxf7+ . Which is good enough, indeed, and transposes to a line with 20.gxf7+ after 21...Kxf7.
Another possibility is 20...fxg6!? 21.hxg6 (or 21.Re1 c3!? 22.bxc3 and now 22...Bxh5! but not 22...gxh5?! 23.Nxd4 Nxd4 where White successfully attacks by 24.Bc4+! Ne6 25.Rgf1 Qg3 26.Qg5+ Kh8 27.Qh6+ Kg8 and here 28.Re3! Qe5 29.Rf6 Re7 30.Rg3!; in the line 21.Qh6?! Ne5! 22.Rg3 Qf8 Black should be fine) 21...Kg7 (after 21...c3 22.bxc3 Rab8 23.Nxd4! Black has problems) 22.Re1 d3! (probably best, though there are other serious moves) 23.Bg2 (after 23.Rg3 Qxe4 24.Bg2 Qf5 Black is doing well) 23...Qf2! (provoking White's next; less precise is the immediate 23...Qxe2?! ) 24.Rgf1! Qxe2! (favours White 24...Qxg2 25.Rf7+! Kxg6 26.Nf4+ Kxf7 27.Qxg2) 25.Rxe2 dxe2 with reasonable compensation for the queen.

21.gxf7+ Kxf7 22.Bg2 Rxe2
Now everything loses for Black. For example, 22...Qxe2 23.Qxe2 Rxe2 24.Bxc6 and after 24...Rg8 White has 25.Bd5+.

23.Bxf3 Rxd2 24.Bd5+ Ke7 25.Rxd2 c3 26.bxc3 dxc3 27.Rh2 Bf5 28.Bxc6 Rb8 29.Re2+
1–0 Lautier-Golubev, Odessa rapid 2006.

(The game can be viewed at www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1424066).

A (favourable) review at ChessTyro.com

2007-10-12T03:28:07Z

In June 2007 my book Understanding the King's Indian was reviewed at
http://chesstyro.com/blog/2007/06/20/161/

Chessville Reviews

2007-07-23T18:31:00Z

Understanding the King's Indian is reviewed by Bill McGeary at ChessVille.com:

http://chessville.com/reviews/UnderstandingKingsIndian.htm

Two quotes:

"I found the chapters on the Samisch and Fianchetto lines the most interesting. Golubev advocates the Panno Nc6 line against the Samisch, and the classical Nbd7/e5 line versus the Fianchetto. This is of course a matter of taste, but my experience is that players who play the Panno Samisch also play it against the Fianchetto. So, I was quite intrigued by this slight "change of stance" by a leading KI player. In any event, the material that the author presents in both variations should be more than enough to make the reader feel confident as well as comfortable when facing these lines."

"On the minus side he doesn't look at Taimanov's 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Bd2 or at the Larsen line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be3. Both of these lines are quite venomous if not known."

The Week in Chess

2007-04-08T23:01:58Z

A review (which is too favourable, but what can I do?) by IM John WATSON was published on 8th April 2007 at The Week in Chess website.

www.chesscenter.com/twic/jwatsonbkrev78.html

"The King's Indian Defence has been enjoying a revival at the top levels of play, and a variety of other products on it are appearing. An absolutely superb and exciting book is Mikhail Golubev's Understanding the King’s Indian. I've already used this extensively in my writing and teaching because of its analysis, but its real plusses are found in the philosophic ideas and sheer chess creativity that Golubev brings to the opening. The book is organised around the author's games, usually a poor idea. But here it works, amazingly well. Golubev's comments about the psychological factors surrounding games are entertaining and supplement the material. I should mention that although the book is not configured so as to form a complete repertoire with the King's Indian, the material as a whole (including some terrific notes) constitute the greater part of one, so much so that it's hard to find missing parts (although please note that 2 Nf3, 2 Bg5 and the like are not covered). Furthermore, many options are given for Black within the more important variations, so he is not constrained to play some forced sequence if he doesn't choose to be.
There is one drawback, a familiar one: the book is largely games and analysis, with relatively little of a directly instructional nature. The notes themselves are full of imbedded games and suggestions. Thus you need to really enjoy absorbing struggles, moves, and primarily casual commentary. So be forewarned about the level of difficulty, but rest assured that it's a rich book and the best of its kind. If you love this opening and/or have to face it as White, you'll definitely want a copy."

Recommended by Inforchess

2007-02-10T20:44:54Z

Understanding the King's Indian: recommended by Inforchess.com website.

Source: www.inforchess.com/catalogo/Libros16.htm

The King's Indian, CORUS 2007

2007-01-30T04:30:29Z

VAN WELY (2683) - RADJABOV (2729) [E97]
Corus-A Wijk aan Zee (1), 13.01.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.f3 Kh8 13.Ne6 ["Understanding the King's Indian": 13.c5... ;13.Be3 ...] 13...Bxe6 14.dxe6 Nh5 15.g3 Bf6 16.c5 f4 17.g4 Ng7 18.Bc4 Nc6 19.cxd6 cxd6 20.Ne2 Rc8 21.Bd5 Nxb4 22.Rb1 Nc2 23.Rf1 b6 24.Rb2 Ne3 25.Bxe3 fxe3 26.Qb3 Bg5 27.Nc3 Rc5 28.Na4 Rc7 29.Nc3 Qc8 30.Nb5 Rc1 31.Rb1 Rxf1+ 32.Rxf1 Qc5 33.Kg2 Rc8 34.Re1 a6 35.Na3 Qd4 36.Re2 Rc3 37.Qb2 h5 38.h3 Qd1 39.Bb3 Rxb3 40.axb3 Nxe6 0-1

Van Wely-Radjabov at ChessGames.com:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1444126

SHIROV (2715) - RADJABOV (2729) [E97]
Corus-A Wijk aan Zee (3), 15.01.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.f3 Kh8 13.Ne6 Bxe6 14.dxe6 Nh5 15.g3 Bf6 16.c5 f4 17.Kg2 (17.g4 Van Wely-Radjabov) 17...Nc6 18.cxd6 cxd6 19.Nd5 Nd4 20.Bb2 Nxe6 21.g4 Nhg7 22.Nxf6 Rxf6 23.Qd5 Qe7 24.Red1 Rd8 25.Qa5 b6 26.Qd5 Rff8 27.Rac1 h5 28.gxh5 Qh4 29.Rc6 g5 30.Rxd6 g4 31.Rxe6 Rxd5 32.Rh6+ Kg8 33.Bc4 gxf3+ 34.Kh1 Nxh5 35.Rg1+ Ng3+ 36.Rxg3+ fxg3 37.Rxh4 g2+ 38.Kg1 f2+ 39.Kxg2 f1Q+ 40.Bxf1 Rd2+ 41.Kg3 Rxb2 42.Bc4+ Kg7 43.Bb3 Rb1 44.Kg2 Rc8 45.Kf3 Rc3+ 46.Kg4 Rf1 47.Kh5 Kf6 0-1

Shirov-Radjabov at ChessGames.com:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1444597

NAVARA (2719) - RADJABOV (2729) [E61]
Corus-A Wijk aan Zee (5), 18.01.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Bg7 4.Nc3 0-0 ("Understanding the King's Indian": 4...d6 5.Bg5 h6...; 5...Nbd7...; 5...0-0...) 5.Bg5 c5 6.d5 b5 7.Nxb5 Ne4 8.Bc1 a6 9.Na3 Qa5+ 10.Nd2 e6 11.g3 exd5 12.Bg2 Nxd2 13.Bxd2 Qd8 14.cxd5 a5 15.Bc3 d6 16.0-0 Ba6 17.Qd2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Nd7 19.Rab1 f5 20.Nb5 Ne5 21.e4 Nc4 22.Qc1 a4 23.exf5 Qd7 24.fxg6 Bxb5 25.Qg5 Ne5 26.gxh7+ Kh8 27.Rfe1 Bd3 28.Rb6 Rae8 29.Re3 Nc4 30.Rxd3 Re1+ 31.Bf1 Qh3 32.Qg8+ Rxg8 33.hxg8Q+ Kxg8 34.Rb8+ Kg7 0-1

Navara-Radjabov at ChessGames.com:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1444679

PONOMARIOV (2723) - TOPALOV (2783) [E71/A65]
Corus-A Wijk aan Zee (7), 20.01.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.h3 0-0 6.Bg5 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Bd3 exd5 9.cxd5 Re8 ("Understanding the King's Indian": 9...Bd7!?...) 10.Nge2 Nbd7 11.0-0 h6 12.Be3 Ne5 13.a4 Nxd3 14.Qxd3 b6 15.Ng3 Nh7 16.f4 h5 17.f5 h4 18.fxg6 fxg6 19.Nge2 g5 20.Rf2 a6 21.Raf1 Ra7 22.Nb1 g4 23.hxg4 Bxg4 24.Nd2 Bxb2 25.Nc3 Rg7 26.Nc4 Bxc3 27.Qxc3 Bh5 28.Bf4 Rxe4 29.Ne3 Qf6 30.Qc2 Bg6 31.Ng4 Qd4 32.Nh6+ Kh8 33.Bc1 Re1 34.Qd2 Rxf1+ 35.Kxf1 Bd3+ 36.Kg1 Ng5 37.Kh2 Ne4 38.Rf8+ Kh7 39.Qf4 Nc3 40.Qxd4 cxd4 41.Nf7 Ne4 42.Bb2 Bf1 43.Rh8+ Kg6 44.Rxh4 Kxf7 45.Rf4+ Kg8 46.Rxf1 Rh7+ 47.Kg1 d3 48.Rd1 Rh1+ 49.Kxh1 Nf2+ 50.Kg1 Nxd1 51.Bc1 Nb2 52.Kf2 Nxa4 53.Bf4 Nc3 54.Kf3 a5 55.Bd2 Nb1 56.Bf4 a4 57.Bxd6 d2 58.Ke2 Nc3+ 0-1

Ponomariov-Topalov at ChessGames.com:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1444740

KRAMNIK (2766) - RADJABOV (2729) [E92]
Corus-A Wijk aan Zee (11), 26.01.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 Ng4 8.Bg5 f6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 Nh6 11.d5 Nd7 12.Nd2 f5 13.exf5 Nf6 14.Bd3 ("Understanding the King's Indian": 14.Nde4...) 14...Nxf5 15.Nde4 Bh6 16.0-0 Kh8 17.c5 g4 18.Nxf6 Qxf6 19.Nb5 Qe7 20.Qe2 Bg7 21.cxd6 cxd6 22.Qxg4 Nxg3 23.Qxg3 Bd7 24.Nc7 Rac8 25.Ne6 Bxe6 26.dxe6 Qxe6 27.Rad1 d5 28.Bb1 Rcd8 0.5-0.5

Kramnik-Radjabov at ChessGames.com:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1448453

MOTYLEV (2647) - RADJABOV (2729) [E92]
Corus-A Wijk aan Zee (12), 27.01.2007

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.Be3 Ng4 8.Bg5 f6 9.Bh4 g5 10.Bg3 Nh6 11.dxe5 dxe5 12.Qd5+ ("Understanding the King's Indian": 12.0-0...) 12...Kh8 13.0-0-0 Qe7 14.Qa5 c6 15.Nd2 b6 16.Qa4 Bd7 17.f3 c5 18.Qa3 Nc6 19.Nd5 Qf7 20.Bd3 Be6 21.h3 f5 22.Nb1 Nd4 23.Nbc3 Rfd8 24.Be1 f4 25.Kb1 Ng8 26.Ne2 Ne7 27.Nxd4 exd4 28.h4 g4 29.Nc7 Rac8 30.Nxe6 Qxe6 31.Bd2 gxf3 32.gxf3 Nc6 33.Bxf4 Rf8 34.Bc1 Rxf3 35.Rhg1 Nb4 36.Qxa7 Rg8 37.Qa3 b5 38.e5 Rxd3 39.Rxd3 Qf5 40.Rg5 0-1

Motylev-Radjabov at ChessGames.com:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1448484

More Links:
Some less successful King's Indian games can be found here
Kramnik on Radjabov's King's Indian (64.ru; in Russian)
Ivanchuk annotates Ponomariov vs Topalov game (RCF; in Russian)
Radjabov on his performance in the tournament (Day.Az; in Russian)

Radjabov's Corus Victories (Notes from Chess Today)

2007-01-17T03:04:50Z

Grandmaster Teimour Radjabov won two King's Indian games in Rounds 1 and 3 of the Wijk aan Zee 2007 super tournament. These games were annotated in Chess Today, the first Internet-based daily Chess newspaper.

Van Wely,L (2683) - Radjabov,T (2729) [E97]

Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (1), 13.01.2007

Notes by GM Mikhail Golubev (Chess Today - 2259, 14th January 2007)

Six days ago, in Odessa, I said to Radjabov that I will be looking for his next King's Indian games. Thanks Teimour. I really did not have to wait long.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 f5 On the same day in Corus-B tournament another famous King's Indian expert, Viorel Bologan, opted for 10...a5 11.bxa5 Rxa5 12.Nd2 Nf4 13.Bf1 Ra8!? (Bologan's speciality) 14.a4 Nh5N (Werle-Bologan) and eventually won the game. 11.Ng5 Nf6 One of the key positions in the modern theory of the King's Indian. In the last 11 years Van Wely has played it in at least 7 games with White, while Radjabov played it at least 13 times with Black (and also twice with White). 12.f3 A principal, safer alternative is Kramnik's trademark 12.Bf3. 12...Kh8 13.Ne6!?

The only previous game where this move occurred was... Van Wely-Radjabov from the 2005 FIDE World Cup. Later Van Wely's novelty 13.Ne6 won the contest "The Most Important Novelty of Chess Informant 96" (see www.chesscafe.com/text/informant51.pdf). The game had huge publicity, and it was annotated, for example, by Grandmaster Kavalek in the Washington Post. In the NiC Magazine 1/2006 Van Wely explained his 13th move in the following way: "After basically trying all White's moves in this position, I came to the conclusion that White hasn't any useful waiting moves until Black plays ...h6 and forces the knight to go to e6." 13...Bxe6 14.dxe6 Nh5 Radjabov follows my suggestion from CT-1853. Well we at CT are not always right but sometimes we have sensible ideas. Alexander Grischuk told me that at the Tal Memorial blitz 2006 Magnus Carlsen defeated him, by using IM Maxim Notkin's suggestion in CT from the notes to one of Grischuk's recent games. In Van Wely-Radjabov, Khanty Mansyisk 2005 White was better after 14...fxe4 15.fxe4 Nc6 (curious but also insufficient for equality is 15...Qc8 16.Nd5 c6, trapping the knight after 17.Nxe7 Qxe6) 16.Nd5! and so on. GM Viktor Mikhalevski at ChessPublishing.com observed that 14...Qc8?! is senseless in view of 15.Nd5. 14...Nc6 also looks promising for White: 15.Nd5! (GM Shipov at ChessPro.ru). In the book "Opening for White according to Kramnik Vol. 1B " alternatives to 14...fxe4 are not examined at all. The editorial team probably did not have enough time to study this very fresh line. 15.g3 Suddenly transposing to an encounter from last year's All China Games. If 15.Bg5, then Black can play 15...Bf6 (CT-1853). 15...Bf6N The second novelty in the game. 15...Nc6 was Ju Wenjun-Wu Xibin, Suzhou 2006. 16.c5 f4 17.g4? This advance seems to be a serious mistake. After preserving his king on the g1-a7 diagonal White will have no time to operate successfully in the centre, because in many lines his king would come under check. 17.Kg2! was much better, with a very complex position. After looking at it for a while, I could not come to a definite conclusion. Possibly, the critical line is 17...Nc6!? (17...a5 18.cxd6 cxd6 19.Nb5 d5 20.exd5 fxg3 looks too risky for Black; after the apparently premature exchange 17...fxg3 18.hxg3 the attempt 18...Nxg3? 19.Kxg3 Bh4+ is refuted not by 20.Kxh4?? Nf5+ where Black wins, but simply by 20.Kg2 Bxe1 21.Qxe1 +/-; finally 17...Ng7 18.Bc4!? looks promising for White at first glance) 18.cxd6 cxd6 19.Nd5, with mutual chances. 17...Ng7 Now the game has transposed to an encounter from the Dubai open 2002! So we will see a third novelty as well. Nothing sensational - in transpositional lines such things occur not too seldom. 18.Bc4 The attempt to attack the d6 pawn by 18.cxd6 cxd6 19.Nb5 fails because Black has the ...Qb6+ resource. 18.Nb5 also favours Black 18...a6!? 19.cxd6 axb5 20.dxe7 Qxe7. 18...Nc6 19.cxd6 cxd6 20.Ne2N Not worse, but perhaps not really better than 20.Nb5 Nxe6!-/+ (Bakre-A.Kuzmin, Dubai open 2002) with the idea of 21.Bxe6 Qb6+. 20...Rc8 -/+. Radjabov has gained an advantage, and played quite convincingly in the remaining part of the game. A dynamic initiative is certainly Teimour's element. 21.Bd5 Nxb4 22.Rb1 Nc2 23.Rf1 b6 24.Rb2 Ne3 25.Bxe3 fxe3 26.Qb3 Bg5 27.Nc3 Rc5 28.Na4 Rc7 29.Nc3 Qc8! 30.Nb5 Rc1! 31.Rb1 31.Nxd6? loses a piece after 31...e2! 32.Rxe2 Qc5+. 31...Rxf1+ 32.Rxf1 Qc5! 33.Kg2 Rc8 34.Re1 The most direct refutation of 34.Nxa7? is 34...Qa5! 35.Nxc8 Qd2+ 36.Kh3 Bf4 37.Rh1 Qf2, winning. 34...a6! 35.Na3 Qd4 Probably, 35...b5! was more precise. 36.Re2? Loek misses a chance to organise some resistance by 36.Rd1! and 36...e2!? (not forced, but probably Teimour planned this, making his previous move) does not win because of 37.Rxd4 e1Q (37...exd4?? 38.Kf2 +-) 38.Qd1! Qh4 39.Rc4! and White is in the game. 36...Rc3 -+ 37.Qb2 h5 The immediate 37...Qd1! was simpler. 38.h3 Here White could have prolonged the game by 38.Nb1, but Black is definitely winning anyway. 38...Qd1! 39.Bb3 Rxb3! 40.axb3 Nxe6 And Loek resigned. Well sometimes, The King's Indian dream comes true. The game is an interesting example of consistency in the opening. Very often in modern chess players are afraid to repeat their lines, with or without direct reasons. But as we see the Kamikazes in the chess elite still exist. 0-1

Shirov,A (2715) - Radjabov,T (2729) [E97]

Corus A Wijk aan Zee NED (3), 15.01.2007

Notes by IM Maxim Notkin (Chess Today - 2261, 16th January 2007)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 Nh5 10.Re1 f5 11.Ng5 Nf6 12.f3 Kh8 13.Ne6 Bxe6 14.dxe6 Nh5 15.g3 Bf6 16.c5 f4 17.Kg2 Let's start here as the previous moves were explained by Mikhail Golubev in CT-2259 in his annotations to the game of Round 1 Van Wely-Radjabov which saw 17.g4? Ng7 18.Bc4 Nc6 19.cxd6 cxd6 20.Ne2 Rc8 with Black's advantage. Shirov follows the line suggested by Mikhail. 17...Nc6 18.cxd6 cxd6 19.Nd5 Here Mikhail stopped evaluating the position as double-edged. Actually for a commentator there was no point to go deeply into variations as the play is not forced and the possibilities are many. But the players surely studied the position more thoroughly. 19...Nd4 To my mind it makes sense to recapture on e6 with the other knight - 19...Ng7 Perhaps Radjabov disliked 20.e7 but after 20...Bxe7 21.gxf4 Ne6 Black seems to be fine. 20.Bb2 Nxe6 Black spent three moves to gain material advantage and this is not surprising that White managed to activate his pieces. 21.g4 Nhg7 22.Nxf6 22.Bc4 deserved attention with a possible continuation 22...Bh4 23.Re2 h5 {with counterplay} Shirov prefers a more direct way. 22...Rxf6 23.Qd5 Qe7 24.Red1 Rd8 Black has protected his weakness. White needs a square for one of his pieces that are able to exert more pressure on the d6 pawn. 25.Qa5!? At the cost of two tempi Shirov provokes the advance of the b-pawn which provides his rook with the c6 square. 25.Rac1 looks a bit abstract, though, of course it is a possible continuation.; 25.b5 is less convincing as the dark-squared bishop's scope will be restricted by the knight in the line 25...Rff8 26.Ba3 Nc5 followed by Nge6 (in case of 26...Nd4 Black should reckon with the exchange sacrifice). 25...b6 26.Qd5 Rff8 26...Rf7 is a reasonable alternative in order to have an opportunity to protect the d-pawn by Rfd7 after the black queen is sent to the kingside. 27.Rac1 h5 Radjabov chooses a vigorous and spectacular way of launching the kingside attack rejecting the slow 27...Qg5. 28.gxh5 Qh4! In the event of 28...Qg5+ 29.Kh1 Qxh5 30.Rg1 White would be better e.g. 30...Ng5 31.Rc6 and the f3 pawn is untouchable. 29.Rc6?! Bad is 29.hxg6? Rf6. But to switch to the g-file wasn't a bad idea - 29.Rg1! Ng5 30.Kh1 gxh5 31.Rg2 with complex play (premature is 31.Rc6? Nh3). 29...g5! 29...Ng5? runs into the sudden advance of White's h-pawns - 30.h6! Qxh6 (if 30...Qh3+ 31.Kg1 Qxh6 32.Rxd6 and Black collapses) 31.h4! Nf7 {the only move} (31...Qxh4 32.Rh1) 32.Rc7 Kg8 33.Rxf7! Rxf7 34.Bc4 Rdd7 (34...Rdf8 35.Qxd6 Qxh4 36.Qxg6 +-) 35.Qa8+ Kh7 36.Bxf7 Rxf7 37.Qd8 with a winning position for White. 30.Rxd6? Shirov underestimated the power of his opponent's threats. Correct was 30.Kh1 when the position remained unclear for example 30...Rf6 (30...g4 31.Rg1 gxf3 32.Bxf3 Qf2 33.Qb3) 31.Rxd6 Rxd6 32.Qxd6 Rh6 33.Bc4 (or 33.Rd2). 30...g4! Black's idea is very simple - Qh3+ and g4-g3 and it transpires that White has no sufficient defence. 31.Rxe6 If 31.fxg4? f3+ 32.Bxf3 Nf4+ winning the queen; 31.Bxe5? Qh3+ 32.Kg1 g3! 33.Bxg7+ Kxg7 and White has only several harmless checks. In case of 31.Qxe5 Qh3+ 32.Kg1 Black should exchange the rook first by 32...Rxd6! and then g4-g3 decides. While the immediate 32...g3 leads to a fabulous draw after 33.Qxg7+! Nxg7 34.Rh6+ Kg8 35.Bc4+ Ne6 36.Rh8+ Kf7 37.Rh7+ Kg8 38.Rh8+ =, but not 38.Rg7+? Kh8 when the white pieces' harmony is broken and he loses even though looking at the position with the naked eye it's hard to believe that White has no perpetual anymore - 39.Rgd7+ (39.Rxg3+ Kh7; 39.Rf7+ Nd4!) 39...Ng7!. 31...Rxd5 32.Rh6+ Kg8 33.Bc4 gxf3+ 34.Kh1 Nxh5 The computer shows the stunning 34...Qh3! 35.Bxd5+ Rf7 36.Rg6 f2 37.Rg2 Qd3!!. But the tactical operation realized by Radjabov is also neat and well-calculated. 35.Rg1+ Ng3+! 36.Rxg3+ fxg3 37.Rxh4 After 37.Bxd5+ Kg7 38.Rxh4 g2+ 39.Kg1 f2+ White loses control of the f1 square. 37...g2+ 38.Kg1 f2+ 39.Kxg2 f1Q+! 40.Bxf1 Black's rook is no longer pinned and it allows him to obtain a decisive material advantage. The rest is easy. 40...Rd2+ 41.Kg3 Rxb2 42.Bc4+ Kg7 43.Bb3 Rb1 44.Kg2 Rc8 45.Kf3 Rc3+ 46.Kg4 Rf1 47.Kh5 Kf6 0-1

-- Chess Today (web site: www.chesstoday.net) is copyright 2000-2007 by GM Alexander Baburin. Reproduction of the material is prohibited without his written permission. My thanks to Alexander Baburin, and also to IM Maxim Notkin for permission to publish here his notes to the second game. --

Links
Chess Today web site: www.chesstoday.net
Corus Chess Tournament: www.coruschess.com
Odessa ACP Rapid World Cup: worldcup.pivdenny.com

The Washington Post

2006-11-28T12:19:35Z

My book "Understanding the King's Indian" is mentioned in the article "Notable Books" (The Washington Post, November 27, 2006).

Grandmaster Lubomir Kavalek:

[...] From other opening books I like works by authors who specialize in one particular approach. Mikhail Golubev's "Understanding the King's Indian" or Alex Yermolinsky's "Chess Explained: The Classical Sicilian" come immediately to mind. All the above books belong in any serious player's library.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/26/AR2006112600655.html

Odessa Rapid Game

2006-11-28T12:03:54Z

Beliavsky,A (2625) - Golubev,M (2467) [E97]

Pivdenny Bank Geller Mem Odessa UKR (5), 03.07.2006 [Mikhail Golubev] (Notes from Chess Today, Issue 2067).

Alexander Beliavsky has impressive statistics in his "White" games against the King's Indian. He wins most of the games. At the Odessa rapid tournament, he scored one more win: against me. At least, it was an interesting game, and the outcome remained unclear for a long time. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Nd2 Nd7!? 10.b4 f5 11.f3 Nf6 12.c5 This line may also arise via 9.b4 Ne8, etc. 12...f4 13.Nc4 g5 14.Ba3 Ng6 15.b5 dxc5 16.Bxc5 Rf7 17.Kh1 More often White plays 17.a4 (Tishin-Golubev, Alushta 2006, CT-2046).17...h5 18.d6!?N This advance was prepared by White's previous move. Now White is not afraid of ...Bf8. 18...Be6 19.Nd5 cxd6 20.Nxf6+ Critical was 20.Nxd6!. Beliavsky was not sure that after this move he would not lose a piece on the d-file. But in fact the position is complex and deserves serious study. 20...Qxf6 21.Nxd6 Here I felt Black should have sufficient (at least for equality) counterchances. 21...Rc7!? 22.Bb4 Bf8 23.Qa4 Bxd6 At this stage, there were many alternatives for both sides, especially for Black. In principle I wished to prevent Nf5. 24.Bxd6 Rd7 25.Bc5 Rc8!? I hoped that this pawn sacrifice would help me to activate pieces. After the immediate 25...Rd2 White has 26.Bc4. 26.Qxa7 Rd2 27.Rfe1 g4 28.Rad1 Rc2 29.Bg1 g3 30.Qb6 Nh4 Black's attacking chances have become very real. 31.Bf1 After 31.Rd6 Black has 31...Bh3! and if 32.Bf1 (32.Rxf6? Bxg2#) then, most likely, 32...Qg5!. If 31.h3, then 31...Nxg2! seems to be very strong. The idea is 32.Kxg2 R2c6! 33.bxc6 Qh4 and after 34.Rd8+ Rxd8 35.Qxd8+ Qxd8 36.cxb7 Qh4 37.b8Q+ Kh7 Black wins. 31...Nxg2! 32.Re2 Not 32.Bxg2? Rxg2 33.Kxg2 Rc2+. After 32.Rd6 the paradoxical 32...Nh4 is probably strongest (I planned 32...gxh2?! which is parried by 33.Bd4 or 33.Bc5), with the idea 33.Rxe6 Qg5. 32...Rxe2 33.Bxe2 Nh4? Missing White's next. After 33...Rc2! Black would have been better. 34.Bc5! Ng6 Again missing White's next. But there hardly was any good alternative. 35.Bc4! Nf8 36.Bb3 Also possible was 36.Bd5!?. 36...Qf7 37.Bxf8?! Stronger was 37.Rd8! Rxd8 38.Qxd8 Bxb3 39.axb3 with an advantage to White. 37...Bxb3 38.axb3 Rxf8 39.Rd6 Kh7 40.Qc5?! Ra8? A final blunder in mutual time trouble. 40...Qg7! was very good for Black. 41.Qxe5 +- The a1 square is under White's control. 41...Rc8 42.hxg3 fxg3 43.Rf6 g2+ 44.Kxg2 Rc2+ 45.Kh3 Qd7+ 46.Qf5+ Qxf5+ 47.Rxf5 Kg6 48.Kg3 Rb2 49.Kf4 Rxb3 50.Rg5+ Kh6 (and White won after a few more moves) 1-0.

The game can be viewed at:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1424074