Kasparov is one amazing chap. He wins with the English Attack (6.Be3) against the Najdorf and wins with the Najdorf against the English Attack. How should one face his pet variation from the other side? Well, in CC, where there is only your pride (and no prize money) at stake, I think we should always go for the best possible moves or if necessary, the refutation of the line. If your line doesn't work, you will know what to play from the other side of the board and use it OTB instead.

Siebrandt,J (2228) - Tay,J (2103) [B23]
CM-1999-096

The Grand Prix Attack, an OTB favourite of mine. I have fond memories of a win vs Kazan IM Boris Katalymov and a draw vs the Chinese GM Wu Shaobin (Xie Jun's husband) using this variation. Recently, this variation has been criticized by GM Yermolinsky in his "The Road to Chess Improvement" (Gambit) and GM Nigel Davis even added a "Beating the Grand Prix Attack" section in his "The Chess Player's Battle Manual" (Batsford).

[5.Bb5 is my OTB preference against strong players. ]

I've won countless OTB games which my opponents replied exf5 here. For one pawn, Black loses the d5 square, central control and the c1-h6 diagonal is open for attacking chances.

[7...dxe6 is Siebrandt-Martyshin from the same tournament. This is a safer positional alternative but I want to test out the supposed refutation. ]

highlights the weakness of the Bc4 Grand Prix attack. It has the obvious threat of c4, embarassing the Bb3. Interestingly, Siebrandt said after the game that he had never met this variation OTB and wanted to test it out in CC play.

[10.exd5 exd5 11.Nxb5? (11.0-0 c4 12.dxc4 dxc4 13.Qxd8+ Nxd8 14.Nxb5 cxb3 15.Nc7+ Kd7 16.Nxa8 bxc2 17.Rf2 Bb7 18.Rxc2= is what I have prepared in OTB play against the theoretically prepared opponent.) 11...Qa5+ 12.Nc3 c4 13.dxc4 d4-+ Davies]

Theory obviously favours Black as shown by the examples from OTB tournament play. I hope the readers can excuse my heavy use of OTB games as CC examples from top players are few and non critical. [11.Ba2 0-0 (11...h6 12.0-0 0-0 13.Qe1 g5 14.h4 g4 15.Nh2 Nd4 16.Bb1 Rxf1+ 17.Qxf1 Ng6 18.g3 Ne5 19.Ne2 Ndf3+ 20.Nxf3 Nxf3+ 21.Kg2 dxe4 22.dxe4 Bb7 23.c3 Nd2 0-1 Kues,H-Baburin,A/Berliner Sommer 1994/EXT 97; 11...Qb6 12.Bd2 0-0 13.Qe2 Ba6 14.b4 Bb7 15.Rb1 Rae8 16.a4 a6 17.Nd1 dxe4 18.dxe4 Nd4 19.Be3 Nxe2 20.Bxb6 Nc3 21.Nxc3 Bxc3+ 22.Ke2 Bxe4 23.axb5 axb5 24.Bd4 Bxf3+ 0-1 Shliahtin,I-Batsanin,D/RUS-Cup01 Chigorin mem 1997/CBM 61 ext; 11...a6 12.0-0 0-0 13.Kh1 h6 14.Qe2 Kh7 15.Nd1 dxe4 16.dxe4 Nd4 17.Nxd4 Rxf1+ 18.Qxf1 Qxd4 19.Qe2 Nc6 20.Bd2 Qf6 21.c3 Bb7 22.Nf2 Ne5 23.Rf1 Rd8 24.Bb1 Qh4 25.Be3 Rd7 26.Kg1 Nf7 27.Bc2 h5 28.g3 Qe7 29.Nh3 Ne5 30.Bd4 Qd8 31.Nf4 Rxd4 32.cxd4 Qxd4+ 33.Rf2 Ng4 34.Nxe6 Qxf2+ 35.Qxf2 Nxf2 36.Kxf2 Bxb2 0-1 Skagen,B-Tiviakov,S/Peer Gynt 1992/TD) 12.0-0 Rb8 (12...b4 13.axb4 Nxb4 14.Bg5 Nxa2 15.Rxa2 h6 16.Bh4 g5 17.Bf2 cxd3 18.Qxd3 a5 19.Rd1 g4 20.Nd4 Ng6 21.exd5 Nf4 22.Qd2 exd5 23.Be3 Qg5 24.Bxf4 Rxf4 25.Nde2 Rf5 26.Qxg5 Rxg5 27.Nxd5 Be6 28.c4 Re5 29.Nec3 Bf5 30.b4 a4 31.Nxa4 Re4 32.Ndb6 Ra7 33.Rad2 h5 34.Nc5 Rf4 35.g3 Rf3 36.Nd5 Bh6 37.Re2 Kf7 38.b5 Bf8 39.Na6 Bd3 40.Rb2 Rxa6 41.Ne3 Rxe3 42.bxa6 Bc5 43.Rxd3 Re1+ 0-1 Szuk,B-Reinaldo Castineira,R/Santiago op 1995/EXT 98; 12...Ba6 13.Bg5 Qb6+ 14.Kh1 Rae8 15.dxc4 dxc4 16.Qe2 Qc7 17.Qe3 Ne5 18.Nxe5 Bxe5 19.Bh6 Bg7 20.Bxg7 Kxg7 21.a4 bxa4 22.Nxa4 Bb5 23.Nc5 Qe5 24.Qc3 Qxc3 25.Nxe6+ Kg8 26.bxc3 Rxf1+ 27.Rxf1 a6 28.Nd4 Nc8 29.Re1 Re5 30.Nf3 Rc5 31.e5 Ne7 32.e6 Kg7 33.Re5 Rd5 34.Re1 Kf8 35.Kg1 Nf5 36.Kf2 Ke7 37.g4 Nd6 38.Nd4 Ne8 39.Kf3 Nc7 40.Kf4 h6 41.Re4 Rd6 42.Ke3 Nd5+ 43.Kd2 Nc7 44.Ke3 Nd5+ ½-½ Van Bentum,H-Neffe,A/OL-NN9596 1996/EXT 99; 12...a6 13.Bg5 h6 14.Bh4 g5 15.Bg3 Ng6 16.dxc4 dxc4 17.Qxd8 Rxd8 18.Rad1 Bb7 19.Rxd8+ Rxd8 20.Rd1 Bxc3 21.Rxd8+ Nxd8 22.bxc3 Bxe4 23.Ne1 Ne7 24.Nf3 Bxf3 25.gxf3 Nd5 26.Be1 Nb7 27.Kf2 Nc5 0-1 Del Lara,J-De la Riva,O/ESP-chJ 1992/TD) 13.Qe1 b4 14.axb4 Nxb4 15.Bb1 dxe4 16.dxe4 Nbc6 17.Qe2 Rxb2 18.e5 Nd4 19.Qe4 Nxf3+ 20.gxf3 Bb7 21.Qe3 Nf5 22.Qf2 Bxe5 23.Ne2 Rb5 0-1 Muralidharan,M-Hegde,R/IND-ch 1994/CBM 41 ext]

a waiting move which has the virtue of connecting the Rooks.

a combination of Baburin's and Tiviakov's plans

I was surprised by this move as I thought White would definitely play [17.Qh3 aiming for Bxg5, hxg5, Nxg5 with a devastating attack. 17...Qe8 =+ the only move 18.Bxg5?? hxg5 19.Nxg5 Qg6-+] It dawned on me that this position is critical for both sides. The Ba2 is currently impotent but Black plays e5, it will become extremely powerful. White's 18. h4 is at hand and my minor pieces are not well placed to defend the King . I had to rely on the counterattack but how? It took me 4 days to find the solution!

Looks ridiculous at first sight. With one blow, Black wrests the initiative. The knight must be taken as Ng3+ cannot be satisfactorily met. Postgame note: I have just purchased Junior 6.0 and it found 18…Nf5 in 45 seconds flat, indicating it as the third best variation! Wow! 4 days of analysis reduced to 45 seconds of brute silicon calculation. [18...e5?! 19.Qg3 g4 20.Nh2 d4 (20...Nd4 21.Nxg4 Bxg4 22.Qxg4 Nxc2 23.Rac1±) 21.dxc4+-]

[22.Ne1?? of course not 22...g3 23.Qg1 Bd4]

I like this quiet prophylactic move. It overprotects f4 with a future Raf8, holds the Bg7, preempts a future White Bb4 forking the Queen and Rook and guards the second rank.

Siebrandt regretted playing this move and felt that it cost him the game. I agree with him. White must counterattack with Rf2-g2 Reg1 and h5 (intending Rg6). This move allows Black to crash through the queenside and centre. [25.Rf2 cxd3 26.cxd3 a5 27.Rg1 Kh7 28.Ba2 Bc6 29.Rg4 Raf8 30.Rfg2 Be5-+ Although White's heavy pieces are well placed, his minors are all out of action and cannot join in the battle.]

[27...Ne6 followed by d4 is sufficient but I couldn't resist the text move.]

[29.Nb4 a5 30.Nc2 Bf5-+; 29.Qg2 d4 30.cxd4 Bc6 31.Be4 Bxe4 32.Rxe4 Rxa2-+]

and the Bd7 takes over

it's all over as the protected passed d pawn decides the game.

and the d pawn queens. 0-1