Although he has never won the World Championship, Vassily Ivanchuk is the scourge of the world’s elite. In his day he has defeated Karpov, Kasparov, Anand, Carlsen and Topalov, usually in spectacular victories. A new book, which I highly recommend, catalogues Ivanchuk’s most impressive wins, accompanied by outstandingly deep and instructive annotations.
White: Vassily Ivanchuk
Black: Vladimir Kramnik
Las Palmas 1996
King’s Indian Defence
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 Nge2 0-0 6 f3 c5 7 d5 e6 8 Ng3 exd5 9 cxd5 Nbd7 10 Be2 a6 11 a4 h5 12 Bg5 Qe8 Imaginative but dubious. Black’s idea is to fianchetto his queen! However, the more normal moves 12 … Qa5 or 12 … Qc7 are less complicated and better. 13 Qd2 Nh7 14 Bh6 It is normal good policy for White in the King’s Indian to trade off Black’s aggressive dark-squared bishop. 14 … Qe5 15 Bxg7 Qxg7 16 Nf1 Pre-empting the disruptive advance … h4 and … h3.
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