The former world champion Vladimir Kramnik recently espoused an opening system which I elaborated in a tournament in Germany in 1975. Remarkably, in the first two rounds of the Mannheim competition, both of my opponents defended identically, and both were eventually ground down in simplified positions. Kramnik used the same method to defeat grandmaster Peter Svidler, the seven-times Russian champion, in the recently concluded Russian Team Championship. A position from Kramnik’s victory forms the topic of this week’s puzzle.
Keene-Reichenbach: Mannheim 1975; Reti Opening
1 Nf3 d5 2 b3 Nf6 3 Bb2 g6 4 g3 The double fianchetto is the hallmark of this variation. 4 … Bg7 5 Bg2 0-0 6 0-0 c5 7 c4 d4 8 b4 This is necessary before Black builds up a powerful centre with moves such as … Nc6 and … e5 when White’s dark-squared bishop runs the danger of being permanently locked out of play.
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