IRLchess

The latest issue of The New Winawer Report has been posted on the Winawer page. This one covers the positional lines, in which Black tries the setup … Ba4 and … c4, recommended in several recent books: Vitiugov, Moskalenko, and Berg.

It is hard to find examples of Black’s setup from the early years, perhaps because White usually played a4 at an early opportunity. One of the first significant examples is Grefe-Mednis, US Championship, El Paso 1973, covered here. In a major surprise, the late John Grefe (1947-2014) recorded eight wins and finished equal first, sharing the title: even at the time it was a surprise that this could be done by an untitled player. He didn’t even have a FIDE rating!

The setup did not gain significant popularity until the mid-’80’s, when Hertneck introduced the ‘deep idea’ (Berg) … Qg8-h7. Most games in this issue start from the diagrammed position, which was reached in the stem game. That game resulted in a defeat for Black, and indeed White has a significant plus record from this position. Black needs to exercise care …

The theory of the Winawer Poisoned Pawn has built up over decades into such a dense and complex thicket that it requires something out of the ordinary for any variation to be called by the impressive title above. But this is exactly how Emanuel Berg labels the variation starting with 12 h4 (‘!’ according to Berg), instead of 12 Qd3, in his recent book on the 7 Qg4 Winawer. Certainly White has so far recorded excellent results with it.

John Watson’s Play the French, 4th edition (Everyman, 2012) considers the same line, though much more briefly, and he recommends the response 12 … b6, with analysis leading to equality. Berg devotes one full chapter to this line and concludes that it’s insufficient for Black.

The latest issue of The New Winawer Report, now posted on the Winawer page, considers this line, via the very recent game (from last month) J. Geller-Bellahcene, Meurthe-et-Moselle IM 2014. In the diagrammed position Black has just played 16 … Ne3, leaving Berg’s analysis. His GM opponent went wrong immediately and was crushed in a mere five more moves.

A curious aspect of this new cutting edge, the last word in computer-aided theory (at least for the moment), is that it has much in common with Pickett’s line 11 h4 considered in the last issue, introduced in the 1970’s and practically ignored since then. In particular some lines, notably those where Black plays 12 … b6, feature the same Rh3 theme, covering the third rank.

The latest issue of The New Winawer Report has been posted on the Winawer page. This deals with a side line in the Poisoned Pawn, which was the subject of new analysis in Emanuel Berg’s new volume on the 7 Qg4 Winawer: White plays 11 h4!? instead of the virtually universal 11 f4 in the main line Poisoned Pawn.

Though Berg’s analysis is excellent, he misses the background and the original game in this line. The idea is due to the London player and author Len M. Pickett, later recommended by Andrew Martin, and the original game appeared in CHESS in November 1975. It’s not too surprising that Berg missed it, as it appears in no modern database (and, to be fair, was played well before Berg was born).

Berg gives an effective antidote to Pickett’s original idea of 11 h4 and 12 Rh3. But for reasons discussed in this month’s issue, the move order 11 h4 and 12 f4 brings some benefits to White.