ChessBase Magazine Extra 180

35.095 games played between August and September 2017 For Adrian Mikhalchishin the Catalan Opening remains a problem: should Black take the c4-pawn or not? And after the capture there is yet another decision to be taken: hang on to the c4-pawn for as long as possible or not. In the game which he himself played Black did not defend the c4-pawn but set out his stall with both ...a6 and ...Nc6. In the 2015 European Cup Yannick Pelletier managed another feat: he defeated Hikaru Nakamura, the No. 2 in the world ranking list! To do so he was able to turn to a beautiful idea which he himself had found in the King’s Indian. In the diagram the Swiss grandmaster had just sacrificed his bishop on a3 by playing 13.axb6!?. In the ensuing complications the American went wrong and Pelletier safely converted his advantage. Bent Larsen liked provoking his opponents. But in the game against Boris Spassky in the legendary match between the Soviet Union and the Rest of the World in 1970 he went too far. In a video Robert Ris shows you how the then reigning world champion who had Black immediately seized control and defeated his Danish opponent in only 17 moves.