Contents

Symbols 6
Introduction 7

Part 1: Open Games 10

1 B King’s Gambit: Fischer 10
2 W King’s Gambit: Rosentreter 11
3 W King’s Gambit: Rosentreter: 4...g4 5 Íxf4 12
4 B King’s Gambit: 2...Ìc6, 3...f5 13
5 B King’s Gambit: Capablanca’s Barry 15
6 B Philidor with an early ...Ìb6 16
7 W Danish Gambit 17
8 B Scotch Opening: Malaniuk’s idea 18
9 B Scotch Four Knights: 5...Ìxe4 19
10 W Hamppe-Allgaier Gambit 20
11 W Hamppe-Allgaier Gambit: 8 Íc4+ 21
12 W Italian Game: 5 d4 and 6 0-0 22
13 W Italian Game: 9...Ëd3 23
14 B Closed Spanish: 9...a5 24
15 B Spanish: Berlin Defence with 4...Íe7 and ...d6 25
16 B Spanish: Bulgarian Defence 27

Part 2: Sicilian Defence 28

17 B Sicilian: Gaw-Paw 28
18 B Sicilian: Gaw-Paw (2) 29
19 W Dragon: Yugoslav Attack: 10...Ëc7 30
20 W Dragon: Yugoslav Attack: 10...Ëc7 (2) 31
21 B Sicilian: Pin Variation with 6...Ìe4 32
22 B c3 Sicilian: Sherzer’s line 33
23 B Sicilian: 2...Ìc6 and 4...d5 34
24 B Sicilian: Kupreichik’s 5...Íd7 35
25 W Kan Variation: 5 Íd3 g6 6 b3 37
26 W c3 Sicilian: Milner-Barry’s Other Gambit 39
27 W c3 Sicilian: Milner-Barry: 8...e4 9 0-0 41
28 B c3 Sicilian: an unrefuted line 42
29 B c3 Sicilian: 7...Ëc7 8 Ëe2 g5 44
30 W c3 Sicilian: Ivanchuk’s 8...g5: 9 e6!? 45
31 W Najdorf-Sozin: 10 Íg5!? 46
32 W Accelerated Dragon: Uogele: 9 a4 and 11 Ëh4 48
4 101 CHESS OPENING SURPRISES

33 W c3 Sicilian: 5...Íg4 6 dxc5 49

34 W c3 Sicilian: 5...Íg4 6 dxc5 Ëxd1+ 50

Part 3: Other Semi-open Games 51

35 B Caro-Kann: Gunderam 51
36 B Caro-Kann: 4...h6 52
37 W Caro-Kann: 3 Ëf3 53
38 W Caro-Kann: 3 Ëf3 dxe4 54
39 W Caro-Kann: 5 Ìf3 and 6 Ìc3 56
40 W French Winawer: Icelandic 58
41 W French Winawer: Paoli Variation 59
42 W French Winawer: Paoli, 11...dxc3 61
43 B French Exchange with 4 c4 62
44 B French Defence: Winckelman-Reimer Gambit 63
45 W Modern Defence: Accelerated Gurgenidze 64
46 B Modern Defence: 3...d5 65
47 W Scandinavian Defence: Portuguese Gambit: 5 Íb5+ 66
48 W Scandinavian Defence: Portuguese: 5 Íb5+, 6...a6 67
49 B Alekhine Defence: 2 Ìc3 with 4...f6 68
50 W Alekhine Defence: 3 Ìa3?!! 69

Part 4: Flank and Irregular Openings 70

51 B English Opening: Anti-Anti-Grünfeld 70
52 B Adorjan English 71
53 B English Opening: Botvinnik 6...f5 72
54 B Avoiding the Fianchetto King’s Indian 73
55 W Reversed Alekhine 74
56 W English Opening: Zviagintsev’s 4 g4 75
57 W English Opening: Pseudo-Sämisch 76
58 B Réti Opening: Wahls’s Anti-KIA/Réti idea 77
59 B Réti Opening: Wahls’s idea: Main line 78
60 W Réti Opening: Reversed Fajarowicz 79
61 B Anti-Sokolsky ideas 80
62 B English Opening: Myers Defence 81
63 B English Opening: Myers Defence with 2 d4 83
64 B A More Palatable Modern 84

Part 5: Queen’s Gambit 86

65 B QGD Tarrasch: a quick ...Íg4 86
66 W Semi-Slav: 7 a4 Ëb6 with d5 87
67 W Semi-Slav: 7 a4 Ëb6 (2) 88
68 W Semi-Slav: Ragozin Gambit 89
69 W Chigorin Queen’s Gambit: Costa’s idea 90
 101 CHESS OPENING SURPRISES 5

70 B QGD Tarrasch: The Chandler Variation 91

71 W QGA: 7 e4!? pawn sacrifice 93
72 W QGA: 7 e4!? Ìxe4 95

Part 6: Indian Defences 97

73 W Old Indian 4...Íf5 5 Ìg5! 97
74 W King’s Indian Defence: Epishin’s 10 Ëc2 98
75 W King’s Indian Defence: Four Pawns: 6...Ìa6 7 e5 99
76 B King’s Indian Defence: Averbakh: 6...Ìa6 7 Ëd2 c6 100
77 W King’s Indian Defence: Ko‰ul Gambit 102
78 B King’s Indian Defence: Kazakh Variation 104
79 B Grünfeld: 5 Íg5 c5 105
80 B Exchange Grünfeld: 6...c5 106
81 W Grünfeld: 5 Íg5 with 8 Ëa4+ 107
82 W Grünfeld: Bayonet Attacks 108
83 B Nimzo-Indian: 4 Ëc2, 6...Ëf5 109
84 B Nimzo-Indian: 4 Ëc2: a sharp line 110
85 W Queen’s Indian: 7 e4 gambit 111
86 W Queen’s Indian: The 7 e4 gambit: 9...Ëh4 113
87 W 4 a3 Queen’s Indian: 5...g6 114
88 B Bogo-Indian: a violent line 115
89 W Benko Gambit: 4 f3 116
90 W Benko Gambit: Nescafé Frappé Attack 117
91 W Benko Gambit: NFA: The chaotic 8...g6 118
92 W Benko Gambit: NFA: The solid 8...Ìbd7 119
93 B Modern Benoni: Íd3 – a try for Black 120

Part 7: Queen’s Pawn Openings 121

94 B Budapest: Fajarowicz: 4 a3 b6 121
95 W Dutch: Bellon Gambit 122
96 W Dutch: Bellon Gambit 5...c5 123
97 W Dutch: Bogoljubow Gambit 124
98 B Trompowsky: 2...e6 3 e4 c5 125
99 B Trompowsky: 2...d5, 3...gxf6 126
100 W Schmid Benoni 5...0-0 6 e5! 127

101 And Finally... 128

74 101 CHESS OPENING SURPRISES

rslwkvnt Surprise 55 W
B zpzp+pzp
-+-+-+-+ Soundness: 2 Surprise Value: 4
+-+-z-+-
-+-+-+-+ Reversed Alekhine
+-+-+NZ- It is not easy to get a good reversed Alekhine
PZPZPZ-Z Defence. 1 g3 e5 2 Ìf3 (55a) was condemned
TNVQML+R by Alekhine on the basis of g3 being a
weakness in the reversed Chase Variation,
55a: after 2 Ìf3 but there is very little practical experience.
a) 2...Ìc6 3 d4 e4 (3...exd4 4 Ìxd4 Íc5
5 Ìb3 Íb6 6 Íg2 À) 4 Ìe5 (4 d5 will be
equal; 4 Ìfd2 leads to reversed French posi-
r+lwkvnt tions where g3 isn’t useful) 4...Ìce7 5 Íg2
B zpz-s-z- (5 d5 c6 6 Ìc3 isn’t much of a winning at-
-+-+-+-+ tempt; 5 f3 d6 6 Ìg4 is the reverse of a line –
Surprise 49 – where g3 and Íh3 would be
+-+PZ-+p normal) 5...d5 (5...d6 6 Ìc4 d5 7 Ìe3 À) 6
-+-+-+-+ f3 h5 (6...f6 7 Ìg4 Íxg4 8 fxg4) 7 fxe4 f6 8
+-+-+-Z- exd5!? fxe5 9 dxe5 (55b) gives White three
PZP+P+LZ good pawns for the piece.
b) 2...e4 3 Ìd4:
TNVQM-+R b1) 3...d5 4 d3 is a standard Alekhine re-
versed. g3 is useful and White can fight for
55b: after 9 dxe5 the advantage.
b2) 3...c5! 4 Ìb3 c4 (4...d5 5 d3 f5 6
dxe4 fxe4 7 c4 d4 8 Íg2 is treacherous for
r+lwk+nt Black) 5 Ìd4 (a reversed Chase Variation –
here g3 is of questionable value) 5...Íc5!
W zp+p+pzp (5...Ìc6 6 Ìxc6 dxc6 7 Íg2 Ìf6 8 b3 cxb3
-+n+-+-+ 9 axb3 Íc5 10 0-0 0-0 11 Íb2 Îe8 and
+-v-+-+- White has the better structure, but Black is
-+pSp+-+ active, Chatalbashev-Radulski, Bulgarian Ch
1994) 6 c3 Ìc6 (55c) 7 Ìxc6 (7 Ìf5!?; 7 d3
+-Z-+-Z- exd3! is good for Black: 8 exd3 Ëe7+ or 8
PZ-ZPZ-Z Ìxc6 dxc6! 9 exd3 Ëd5!) 7...dxc6 8 Íg2
TNVQML+R Ìf6 9 b3 Íe6 10 Ía3 Ëe7 11 Íxc5 Ëxc5
and White has problems activating his posi-
55c: after 6...Ìc6 tion, Mozes-Navrotescu, Romania 1993.
 101 CHESS OPENING SURPRISES 75

Surprise 56 W rslwk+-t
B zpzp+pzp
Soundness: 3 Surprise Value: 5 -+-+ps-+
+-+-+-+-
English: Zviagintsev’s 4 g4 -vP+-+P+
One of the most remarkable novelties at
+-S-+N+-
FIDE’s knockout ‘world championship’ was PZ-ZPZ-Z
1 c4 Ìf6 2 Ìf3 e6 3 Ìc3 Íb4 4 g4 (56a). T-VQML+R
This was used by the very strong, Dvor-
etsky-trained GM Zviagintsev in a critical 56a: after 4 g4
play-off game, so the idea may be assumed
to have some substance.
a) 4...Ìxg4 5 Îg1 is as yet untried. Then
5...Ìh6 can be met by 6 Îxg7 Ìf5, but r+lwk+-t
maybe gambit play with 6 e4!? is the idea. B zpz-+pzp
b) 4...d5 and then: -+n+p+-+
b1) 5 Ëa4+ Ìc6 6 Ìe5 Ëd6 7 Ìxc6
bxc6 is OK for Black.
+-+-S-Z-
b2) 5 g5 Ìe4 6 Ëa4+ Ìc6 7 Ìxe4 dxe4 QvP+-+-+
8 Ìe5 e3 9 fxe3 (56b) 9...Ëxg5 (after 9...Íd7 +-+-Z-+-
10 Ìxd7 Ëxg5, 11 Ìe5 Ëxe5 12 Íg2 is PZ-ZP+-Z
annoying, e.g. 12...Ëd6?? 13 a3 Íc5 14 b4)
10 Ìf3 (10 Ìxc6?? Íd7 11 Ëxb4 Íxc6) T-V-ML+R
10...Ëe7?! (now the b4-bishop is in danger)
11 a3 Íd6 12 d4 Íd7 13 Ëc2 Ëf6 14 b4 56b: after 9 fxe3
e5? 15 d5 Íf5? 16 Ëa4! +ø Krasenkow-
Gild.Garcia, Groningen FIDE Wch 1997.
c) 4...h6 5 Îg1 d6 6 h4 (6 Ëa4+ Ìc6 7 rslwk+-t
Ìd4 Íxc3 8 Ìxc6 is inconsistent, and does
not yield much) 6...e5 7 g5 hxg5 8 hxg5 Ìg4 B zpz-+pz-
9 Ìd5 Íc5 10 d4 (56c) 10...Íb6 (10...exd4 -+-z-+-+
11 b4 æ) 11 Ìxb6 (11 b4? e4!) 11...axb6 12 +-vNz-Z-
Ëd3 (targeting the g4-knight) 12...Ìc6 13 -+PZ-+n+
Ëe4 f5! 14 gxf6 Ëxf6 15 dxe5 dxe5 16
Îxg4 Íf5 17 Îh4 Íxe4 18 Îxh8+ Êe7 19 +-+-+N+-
Íg5 (19 Îxa8 Íxf3 20 exf3 Ìd4 21 Íd3 PZ-+PZ-+
Ìxf3+ 22 Êf1 Ìh2+ 23 Êg2 Ëf3+ 24 T-VQMLT-
Êxh2 Ëxf2+ looks like a draw) 19...Îxh8
and Black has survived, Zviagintsev-Ben- 56c: after 10 d4
jamin, Groningen FIDE Wch 1997.