N

3.3.2 The knight move 8 d5 (Lugovoi Kindermann)

3.3.2 The knight move 8 d5

Lugovoi Kindermann
Neum 2000

As compensation for the doubled pawns,

the forward d-pawn exerts pressure on the
sensitive square e6, White has chances on
the half-open c-le, and the defence of the
Black kingside has been weakened by the
exchange of knights.

1 d4 f5 2 g3 f6 3 g2 g6 4 f3

g7 5 00 00 6 c4 d6 7 c3 e8
8 d5!?
a

trsnvl+wqtrmk+ 8
7 zpzpzp+zp+vlzp 7
6 +++zp+snzp+ 6
5 +++sN+zp++ 5
4 ++zPzP++++ 4
3 +++++sNzP+ 3
2 zPzP++zPzPvLzP 2
1 tR+vLwQ+tRmK+ 1

Being less keen on the position which Black

gets after the traditional 9b5 10 g5!
(see sub-variation B on the following page), I
began to look for new possibilities. The main
problem here is to free oneself from historical
precedents and to take a fresh and objective
look at the actual position. 9b5, or the
somewhat passive 9c6, were almost invariably played at this point. How else might
Black arrange his pieces? What about a developing move?

<

9d7!

A very aggressive and interesting continuation. White brings about a radical change
in the black pawn structure and exchanges
Blacks kings knight.

8a6?! 9 f6 f6 [9f6 10 g5]

10 h6.

9 cd5
b

trsnvl+wqtrmk+ 8
7 zpzpzp+zp+vlzp 7
6 +++zp++zp+ 6
5 +++zP+zp++ 5
4 +++zP++++ 4
3 +++++sNzP+ 3
2 zPzP++zPzPvLzP 2
1 tR+vLwQ+tRmK+ 1

<

tr+vl+wqtrmk+ 8
7 zpzpzpsnzp+vlzp 7
6 +++zp++zp+ 6
5 +++zP+zp++ 5
4 +++zP++++ 4
3 +++++sNzP+ 3
2 zPzP++zPzPvLzP 2
1 tR+vLwQ+tRmK+ 1

8d5

>

The more I studied this straightforward move,

the more I liked it: the knight would be superbly posted on b6 (or f6), from where it
could exert pressure on d5. The weakness
on c7 can be easily guarded, in the rst instance by the queen and later by the rook.
In some lines with the knight on b6, e6
also becomes an interesting idea, the intention being to counter Whites de6 with

67

3 Illustrative games 3.3 Alternatives at move 8 for White

rsnl+-trk+ <
zppzp-zp-vlp
-+-zp-+p+
+q+P+psN-+-zP-+-+
+-+-+-zPPzP-+PzPLzP
tR-vLQ+RmK-

d5! and to set up an impregnable centre. It is, of course, impossible to subject

such a position to concrete analysis, and I
had to wait some time before putting it to
the test. My opportunity came in the last
round of the European Cup in Neum (2000),
when my club team, Graz, had to try for a
maximum of wins to get to the top of the
table. My opponent on this occasion was a
relatively unknown Russian grandmaster. In
the meantime I am proud to have acquired
several prominent practitioners of my move.
The very strong Ukrainian player Onischuk
is currently, after Mikhail Gurevich, probably
the highest-ranking Leningrader, whilst the
leading Vietnamese woman player Hong
has specialised in this defence here she
succeeds in brilliantly defeating not just the
almost unbeatable, super-solid Hungarian
Lukcs, but also the talented German player
Jan Gustafsson! To be absolutely honest, I
cannot say for sure that the move 9d7
was not discovered independently of my
game, since many of the games at Neum
went unrecorded in the current databases.

Some examples demonstrating the risks for

Black:
a) 10b6 11 e3 a5 [11d8 12 h4 a5
13 d2 c6 14 ac1 b5 15 h5 d7 16 hg6
hg6 17 f4 a6 18 e4 b4 19 a3 d3
20 cd1 b2 21 b1 c4 22 e2 a6
23 ef5 f5 24 bc1 b6 25 a2  Khalifman Piskov, Bundesliga 1991/92 (10, 41).
This convincing victory by the later FIDE
World Champion rocketed the knight move
to g5 to centre stage.] 12 h4 a6 13 a3 d7
14 d3 fc8 15 e6 e6 16 de6 c6 17 h5
Gelfand Malaniuk, Elista 1998 (10, 34).
b) 10h6 11 e6 e6 12 de6 d5 13 a4 c4
14 e3! [14 e3 The following game (unnecessarily) dismayed advocates of 8 d5 for several years. 14c6 15 d2 a6 16 h6 b4
17 f4 h6 18 h6 f6 19 f4 c8 20 fc1
c7 21 c2 g7 22 e3 e6 23 f3 h8
Stohl Topalov, Elenite 1992 (01, 37)] 14c6
15 d2 a5 16 b1 f6 17 b4 ab4 18 c1
a6 19 b4 e6 20 ab1 d6 21 b7 b7
22 b7 Shcherbakov Potapov, St Petersburg 1998 (10, 30).

In the period following the publication of

the rst German edition of this book, this
new idea has also proved its worth brilliantly.
Subsequent White results against 9d7!
have been simply disastrous: the 413 in
favour of Black recorded in my data banks
tells its own story! But I still do not believe
that 8 d5 is busted; after 10 g5! b6
11 e4! or 10f6 11 b3! particularly, I anticipate further exciting developments...
A) 9c6 is probably playable, but somewhat
passive.

c) 10a6 demonstrates one of my own

unfortunate experiences: 11 h4 c6 12 dc6
bc6 13 d5! c5 14 h5! This is the crunch move;
the thematic reaction h6 does not work,
which means that the unpleasant opening
of the h-le is no longer to be avoided.
14c4 [14h6? 15 e6] 15 hg6 hg6 16 b1
c7 17 h3 b8 18 e3 b7 19 f4 f7
20 a7 a8 21 d4 Horvth Kindermann,
Budapest 1992 (10, 39).

B) 9b5 is regarded by (almost) all theory

books as the strongest reply. The move is,
of course, tempting and gives Blacks seventh move special signicance! But in recent
years the once strangely neglected knight
move to g5 has proved to be quite dangerous for Black. 10 g5! [10 e1 This older
move is much less effective.]
68

3.3.2 The knight move 8 d5 (Lugovoi Kindermann)

d) 10a5 11 h4 a6 12 a3 c6 13 dc6 bc6

14 d5 c7 [14c5 15 h5] 15 dc6 a4 16 e3
a6 17 c1 h6 18 h3 b2 19 f4 Bacrot
Koch, Montpellier 2001 (10, 30).
e) 10c6 11 a4 [11 e4 fe4 12 e4 b6
13 dc6 c6 14 d5 e5 15 h3 d7 16 a4
b4 17 g5 ac8 18 a2 b6 19 d2
Yakovich Malaniuk, Samara 1998] 11b6
12 a5 d4 [12b5 13 e4 fe4 14 e4 cd5
15 c3 e8 16 d5 a6 17 g5 e6 18 e7
h8 19 c8 c8 20 e7 f7 21 d6 d7
22 a3 d4 23 g4 Yakovich Tern lvarez, Santo Antnio 1999 (10, 74)] 13 b3
c5 14 e6 e6 15 de6 c6 16 b7 b4
17 e7 ae8 18 d7 e5 19 f4 e6
20 d6 g5 21 e6 e6 22 e3 Wells Tozer,
England 1999 (10, 40).

The Dutch lance leads to a complete rout.

22 ef4 e2 23 c4 f4 24 h1 f2 25 e3
h2 26 g1 h3 01, Lagowski Potapov,
Pardubice 2003.
B) 10 e4 fe4 11 g5 f6 12 e4 d5 13 d6
ed6 14 d5 h8 15 e3 b5 [15h3!?]
16 b3 b3 17 b3 c6 18 g2 d5  Fang
Gra, Budapest 2003 (, 24).
C) 10 g5! is the most plausible alternative; often transpositions arise, since both
the queen move to c2 and the knight move
to g5 are inherent resources of the white
position.
Now Blacks decision about the placing of
his knight is by no means of trivial importance. On b6 the knight lends support to
the queenside and brings into play the anchettoed bishop. But in adopting this setup Black neglects the protection of his kingside, which becomes apparent after the immediate 11 e4! This problem could be solved
by 10f6, but then the white queen move
to b3 is that much stronger...

10 c2
a

tr+vl+wqtrmk+
zpzpzpsnzp+vlzp 7
6 +++zp++zp+ 6
5 +++zP+zp++ 5
4 +++zP++++ 4
3 +++++sNzP+ 3
2 zPzPwQ+zPzPvLzP 2
1 tR+vL++tRmK+ 1
8

<

a) 10f6
a1) 11 b3! Should this move turn out to be
strong, it would be a clear argument in favour
of 10b6, since after this latter move Black
does not need to fear the pressure on b7,
nor is the square c4 available to the white
queen. [11 e4 fe4 12 e4 d5  see 10 e4,
variation B] 11b8 12 c4 d8 13 h4 h6
14 h3 e6!? 15 de6 d5 16 a4 e6 17 a7
e4 18 a4 f6 19 f4 a8 20 b3 d4
21 b7 c5 Gonda Markus, Budapest 2002
(01, 53). And here Black has some play for
the sacriced pawn.

A) 10 b3 b6 11 d2 e6! 12 de6 e6

13 c2 c6 14 b4 d7 15 e3 d5  16 d2
ae8 17 a4 g2 18 g2 d5 19 b3 h8
20 a3 c5 21 c3 f4!

-+-+rtr-mk
zpp+q+-vlp
-+-zp-+p+
+-zpn+-+P+-zP-zp-+
wQ-vL-zP-zP-zP-sN-zPKzP
tR-+-+R+- >

a2) 11 c2 h6 12 h3 g5! 13 f4 [13 c7?!

f4! 14 f4 gf4 15 f4 ] 13g4 14 f2 f7!
(see next analysis diagram)

This important position can be reached by

various move sequences.
69

3 Illustrative games 3.3 Alternatives at move 8 for White

14 c2 (14 a4!?) 14c6 15 c5!? c5

16 dc5 a4 ] 12 dc6 bc6 13 d5 c5 14 a4
[14 h5!?] 14c4 15 b1 b8 16 b3 e5
17 d2 d7 18 e6 e6 19 de6 c8 20 d5
a6  Lukcs Hong, Budapest 2001 (01,
51).

r+l+-trk+
zppzp-zpqvl-+-zp-sn-zp
+-+P+p+-+-zP-zPp+
+-+-+-zPPzPQ+PsNLzP
tR-vL-+RmK- >

b3) 11 a4!? This, and 11 e4, are the most

dangerous replies to 9d7! But, with precise play, Blacks resources should prove
completely adequate:
b31) 11a5 12 h4 [12 c2!  This is one
of the important ideas behind 11 a4: the
automatic 11a5 is weak, because after
the white queen attacks c7, the knight on
b6 looks dangerously insecure.] 12d7
13 e6 e6 14 de6 d5  Erds Antal, Budapest 2002 (01, 48).

15 c7 d5 16 a5 e6 17 e4 fe4 18 e4

b6  [18d4? A dreadful move. Players of
the Dutch defence really cannot ever allow
White to play f5! 19 f5 b6 20 h6  Zaiatz
Kosintseva, Elista 2002 (10, 51)] 19 b5
[19 d2 f5!] 19a6 20 d3 [20 e2 h5
21 f5 Otherwise Black can again play f5,
with positional advantage. 21f5 22 g4
g4 23 f7 e2 24 f8 f8 25 d5 d4
26 g2 c8] 20f5 21 f5 f5 22 f5
f5 23 g4 h5 24 f2 d4  followed by
c8.

b32) 11c6! Black aims to secure a strongpoint for his knight on d5. 12 dc6 [12 e6?!
e6 13 de6 d5 Now the advanced white
pawn is surrounded. 14 a5 c4 15 b3 d6
16 f4 b5 17 e3 c8  Knoll Schroll, Austrian Championship, Hartberg 2003 (01, 72)]
12bc6 13 d5 [13 b3 h8 14 a5 d5
15 d5 cd5 16 d5 b8 gives Black excellent compensation for the pawn. 13 a5
d5 ] 13c5

b) 10b6

r+l+qtrk+
zppzp-zp-vlp
-sn-zp-+p+
+-+P+psN-+-zP-+-+
+-+-+-zPPzP-+PzPLzP
tR-vLQ+RmK- >

b321) 14 c2 [14 a5 c4 ]

r+l+qtrk+ <
zp-+-zp-vlp
-sn-zp-+p+
+-zpP+psNP+-+-+-+
+-+-+-zP-zPQ+PzPLzP
tR-vL-+RmK-

b1) 11 c2 h6 12 h3 g5 13 f4 [13 c7 f4 ]

13g4 14 f2 f7 15 c7 d5 Transposes
to lines with 10f6.
b2) 11 h4 This looks reasonable: on the one
hand White seeks to secure the good square
f4 for his knight, on the other, Black has now
to reckon with the advance h4h5. 11c6!?
Herewith two notable alternatives: [11h6
12 h3! (12 e6?! e6 13 de6 d5) 12e6
13 de6 c6!? (13d5 14 f4! e7 15 c1)
14 d5 ; 11e6!? 12 de6 d5 13 f4 e7!

14b8! Creates a refuge for the harassed

knight on a8, from where it can transfer to
the good square c7. 15 d2 h6 16 e6
Here I overestimated Whites compensation
after the imminent gain of a pawn and, having consulted my team captain, let myself
70

3.3.2 The knight move 8 d5 (Lugovoi Kindermann)

b422) 12 de5! is critical: 12e5 13 e1

[13 f4 b2 14 c1 h6 15 e6 e6 16 de6
g5 17 e3 f4 ] 13h6 [13fe4 14 e4 f6
15 f4 ; 13f6 14 f4 ] 14 f3 [14 e6
e6 15 ef5 f5 16 de6 f2 17 h1 ae8 ;
14 ef5 f5] 14f6 15 e5 de5 16 e5
e8 .

be tempted into a draw. , Komarov

Kindermann, French League, ClermontFerrand 2003 16e6 17 de6 c8 18 e4
e6 19 ef5 gf5 20 fe1 f7 .
b322) 14 a2 b8 15 b3 d7 [15a8!?]
16 e6 e6 17 de6 a8 18 e4 c7
19 e2 b4 [19f4!? 20 h3 (20 f4 e6 )
20e5 ] 20 d2 d4 Bacrot Bauer,
Bundesliga 2003/04 (10, 46).
b4) 11 e4!

10d8?!
Unfortunately I had already forgotten my own
analysis, made a long time previously! The
knight move to b6 (or f6) is probably much
more exact, and is what I had originally intended!
10b6! [10f6!?]

r+l+qtrk+ <
zppzp-zp-vlp
-sn-zp-+p+
+-+P+psN-+-zPP+-+
+-+-+-zPPzP-+-zPLzP
tR-vLQ+RmK-

r+l+qtrk+
zppzp-zp-vlp
-sn-zp-+p+
+-+P+p+-+-zP-+-+
+-+-+NzPPzPQ+PzPLzP
tR-vL-+RmK- >

This natural-looking central advance is really

dangerous with the knight on b6 and could
persuade many players of Black to take a
closer look at the rarely-played 10f6!?.
Then 11 e4 fe4 would lead by transposition
to the completely harmless 10 e4.
b41) 11fe4 12 e4 creates some attacking chances for White, beginning with the
threatened sacrice on h7. 12f5 [12h6
13 e6 e6 14 de6 d5 15 d3 ; 12c6?
13 h7 ] 13 e2 which, in view of the gaping hole at e6, looks, to say the least, dubious.
b42) 11e5!?
b421) 12 de6 This move only makes sense
when followed by the knight move to f7.
12h6 13 f7! [13 h3?! After this meek
withdrawal, Black has no problems. 13fe4
14 e4 e6 15 g2 g5 16 f4 g4 17 f2 h5
18 e1 f6 19 e3 c6 20 e4 g6 21 g5
f5 22 b3 d5  Karavade Kosintseva,
Panaji 2002 (01, 77)] 13e6 [13e6
14 h6 h7 15 e1] 14 h6 h7 15 ef5
gf5 16 e1 g6 17 e7 h8 18 c7 [18 g7
g7] 18h6 19 h6 h6 .

a) 11 c7 d5 12 c4 This position alarmed

me during the game for reasons which I now
understand all too well. 12e6! is more exible and I prefer it to the queen move to c6.
Black strives to develop his queens bishop
harmoniously, whilst asserting control over
the central squares e4 and d5. [12c6
13 b3 e6 14 f4 d7 15 g5 fe8 16 ac1
b5 17 b5 b5 18 e6 f4 19 f4 e2
20 fe1 a6 21 d5 h8 22 e6 f6
Krivoshey Onischuk, Bastia 2000 (01, 42)]
a1) 13 g5 b5 14 b3 b7 15 e4 fe4 16 e4
d7 17 e1 d4 18 h6 f7  Gurieli
Hong, Batumi 2001 (01, 46).
a2) 13 b3 b5 14 d2 d7 [14b7 15 a4
a6 16 fc1 d7 ; 14a5!?] 15 a4 ba4
16 a4 a4 17 a4 b8 18 b4 a6 19 c1 
Farag Deglmann, Bblingen 2002 (,
38).
71

3 Illustrative games 3.3 Alternatives at move 8 for White

a3) 13 f4 b5! 14 b3 d7 15 a4 b4 16 d2

a5 17 fe1 b7  18 e4 fe4 19 e4 b6
20 h4 [20 f4 d5 21 d1 b7 22 e1
c4 23 e2 d2 24 d2 f4 25 f4 g2
26 g2 d5  Krivoshey Rogovski, Alushta
2003 (01, 38)] 20d5! Sets up a powerful
battery of queen and bishop on the a8h1
diagonal. 21 d3 b7 22 e1 g2 23 g2
f3 24 e3 f5 25 e2 d5 26 d2
ac8 27 e1 f6 28 f4 d5 29 g2 e5
30 de5 de5 31 f3 e4 32 f4 c2 33 d1
b2 34 e3 a2 35 c4 c2 36 e3 c5
37 g4 a4 38 f6 f6 39 e4 d5 40 e1
b5 41 e3 d3 42 d3 d3 43 h6 g7
44 g7
g7 45 a1 b3 46 e7 f7 47 g4 e7
01, Gustafsson Hong, Budapest 2001. A
strong positional performance by the Vietnamese woman expert!

With the transparent threat of a knight sacrice on h7. Here, and in the continuation,
Lugovoi loses the thread, which is no rare
occurrence; in the strange and confusing
positions that arise from the Leningrad, even
strong players often play surprisingly badly!
I had expected the logical 14 hg6 hg6 15 e4!.
15e5! 16 e6 e6 17 de6 g7! 18 ef5 gf5
19 b7 b8 with an unclear position.

14gh5!
14c4? 15 f4 e5 16 h7! Revealing
Whites plan. 16h7 17 h6 g8 18 hg6.
a

tr+vlwq+trmk+ 8
7 zpzpzp+zp++zp 7
6 +sn+zp+vl++ 6
5 +++zP+zpsNzp 5
4 ++++++++ 4
3 ++++++zP+ 3
2 zPzP+wQzPzPvL+ 2
1 tR+vL++tRmK+ 1
8

b) 11 g5 h6 [11d4 12 c7; 11b5

12 c7 d5 13 d5 d5 14 e7 d4]
12 e6 [12 h3 g5 13 f4 (13 c7 f4) 13g4
14 f2 f7! 15 c7 d5 Leads by transposition to lines with 10 c2 f6 (Zaiatz
Kosintseva, variation a2 on page 70) 16 a5
e6 17 e4 fe4 18 e4 b6! ] 12e6 13 de6
This exchange, as usual, gives Black good
play. The move c6, which reduces the effectiveness of the white bishop, plays a key
role here. 13c6 14 e4! Absolutely essential, since otherwise d5! follows. 14fe4
15 e4 f6 16 e1 h8 17 g2 g5 18 d2
h5 19 d1 d1 20 ad1 af8 Szebernyi Hong, Budapest 2002 (, 47).

>

Now the second pawn can be defended

a golden rule of the Leningrad is: do not be
afraid of playing ugly moves!!

15 f3 e8 16 c2!?

16 g2 c4 17 f4 e5.

11 g5 b6 12 h4!?

16d7!

Very aggressive play! Faced with the Leningrad, White is often provoked into embarking
on severe punishment-expeditions.

16g6 does not yet work [17 h3 f4

18 e4!], but ...

12d4!

17 g2

Black is right to grab this pawn!

17 c7 c8 is very good for Black.

13 h5 f6!

17g6!

13gh5 14 f3.

... now!

14 d2?

18 e6
72

3.3.2 The knight move 8 d5 (Lugovoi Kindermann)

18 h3 f4! 19 e4 [19 g6 hg6 20 f4 f7

21 e4 g8 with a solid pawn advantage.]
19h3.

Now Black is back on track! But I needed

some of my remaining time to calm down
again.

18e6 19 de6 c6 20 h1 h4 21 e4

fe4 22 e4 g7

26 h6 e3!

tr++++trmk+
zpzp++zp+wqzp 7
6 ++zpzpzPvl++ 6
5 +++sn++++ 5
4 ++++vL++zp 4
3 ++++++zP+ 3
2 zPzPwQvL+zPmK+ 2
1 tR++++++tR 1

<

23 e3?! d5 24 d2

8

tr++++trmk+ 8
7 zpzp++zp+wq+ 7
6 ++zpzpzP++vL 6
5 ++++++++ 5
4 +++vlvL++zp 4
3 ++++sn+zP+ 3
2 zPzPwQ++zPmK+ 2
1 +++tR+++tR 1

Looked at objectively, Black now has a considerable advantage, but such sharp positions are not easy to play.

>

The decisive counter. The f-le, as is so often

the case, plays a key role. 26f4 27 f4
f4 28 d4.

27 e3 e3 28 df1

28 h7 would have been objectively better, even though the resulting rook endgame
is somewhat bad for White. [28 f5 f5
29 f5 f8; 28 f3 hg3 29 fe3 f3] 28h7
[28h8 29 f5 g5] 29 h7 h7 30 fe3
g6 31 h4 f5.

24h6??
A terrible move, made under some time
pressure, which could have lost the game.
The move played was intended to relieve
the pressure on h7 and thus, in some lines,
to make hg3 possible. As soon as I had
played the move, ice-cold shivers ran up
my spine because of... 24e5! [24d4
25 h7 h8 26 f5] 25 h3 For some
strange reason I didnt like the look of this
move. [25 h4 f2 is what I had foreseen.]
25f6 26 ah1 af8 and Black wins, e. g.
27 h7 h7 28 h7 h7 29 h4 g6
30 g4 f5.

28f2!
Lugovoi had clearly overlooked this move.

29 f2 g3 30 f1 f2 31 g6

31 f2 f8 32 h7 g7.

31e3
31f3 32 e4; 31d4 32 f5 f8
33 f7 g7 34 h3.

25 ad1??

32 h2?

Misses his big opportunity! 25 g6! would,

at the very least, have given White very
good play and it would have punished Black
for carelessly weakening the square g6.
25h8 26 f7.

Simplies Blacks task. 32 f7 g7 33 c3

h6 [33e5] 32 f5 f4.

32g1 01
Thus the new move 9d7! with its plus
score of 413 is proving its worth!

25d4!
73