Sunday 27 April 2008

The Schliemann

The Schliemann variation of the Ruy Lopez is one of those openings that sits just on the wrong side of acceptability. It occasionally pops up as a suprise weapon (Speelman's win over Short in a Candidates match being an example) before slipping back to obscurity.
The latest super GM to bring it out into the open is Teimour Radjabov who has played it twice so far in the FIDE GP in Baku. In round 4 he drew with Peter Svidler, and in Round 6 he tried it again aginst Shakhiryar Mamedyarov (a game still in progress as I write this).
I have a soft spot for this opening as it is one of my choices against the Lopez. Although I must confess I also shelved it for a number of years (playing "serious" openings instead), but of late have used it once more (including one online CC game which may, when finished, be my quickest CC game yet played).
Here is the Svidler v Radjabov game, which is interesting in that Svidler decided not to challenge the opening "head on", but instead went for the solid but unambitious 4.d3.

Svidler,P (2746) - Radjabov,T (2751) [C63]
FIDE GP Baku AZE (4), 24.04.2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5 4.d3 fxe4 5.dxe4 Nf6 6.0-0 Bc5 7.Qd3 Nd4 8.Nxd4 Bxd4(D) 9.Nd2 N (9.c3) a6 10.Bc4 Qe7 11.Nf3 Ba7 12.Nh4 d6 13.Bg5 Be6 14.Nf5 Bxf5 15.exf5 0-0-0 16.Be6+ Kb8 17.c4 h6 18.Be3 Bxe3 19.fxe3 Nh7 20.Rad1 Ng5 21.Bd5 c6 22.Be4 Rd7 23.g3 Nxe4 24.Qxe4 Rhd8 25.Qf3 d5 26.cxd5 Rxd5 27.Rxd5 cxd5 28.f6 gxf6 29.Qxf6 Qxf6 30.Rxf6 d4 31.exd4 exd4 32.Kf1 d3 33.Ke1 Re8+ 34.Kd2 Re2+ 35.Kxd3 Rxh2 36.Kc3 h5 37.Rg6 h4 38.gxh4 Rh3+ 39.Kc2 Rh2+ 40.Kc3 Rh3+ 41.Kc2 Rh2+ ½-½

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