Tradewise Gibraltar Masters 2017

[Joshua Gibbs]

great to see Mickey Adams play such a brutal game

The French Tarrasch with 3...c5 is the most savage tabiya known to chess

The bloodbath incase anyone missed it

[White "Michael Adams"] [Black "Ju Wenjun"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. dxc5 Qxc5 6. Ngf3 Nf6 7. Bd3 Be7 8. O-O Nbd7 9. a4 b6 10. a5 b5 11. Nb3 Qh5 12. a6 b4 13. Be2 Nb6 14. Ra5 Nbd5 15. Ng5 Qg6 16. Bd3 Qh5 17. Bb5+ Kf8 18. Qxh5 Nxh5 19. Bc6 Rb8 20. Bxd5 exd5 21. Be3 Ra8 22. Nd4 Bd8 23. Rxd5 Bb6 24. Ne4 f5 25. Nxf5 Bxa6 26. Rfd1 g6 27. Bh6+ Kf7 28. Ng5+ Kf6 29. Rd6+ Kxf5 30. R1d5+ Kg4 31. h3+ Kf4 32. Nf3+ 1-0

It madness to see Adams who is in his 40s cut up an-in form player like this.

[Roger de Coverly]

The sequence 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. dxc5 has been played before not least by Adams himself.

I cannot recall seeing it in any of the various books "How to beat the French", or indeed recall what is the "refutation" advocated by "Why the French is wonderful" books.

[Chris Rice]

The sequence 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. dxc5 has been played before not least by Adams himself.

I cannot recall seeing it in any of the various books "How to beat the French", or indeed recall what is the "refutation" advocated by "Why the French is wonderful" books.

It's covered in Playing the French by Aagard and Ntirlis but the resulting "Capablanca Structure" can arise out of the Caro Kann, Sicilian or Scandinavian so there is probably a lot of material but probably in other openings books. It may well have confused Wenjun Ju as 7...Be7 isn't considered optimum.

[Joshua Gibbs]

its mad she played this line.... Adams is very strong in it.

[Roger Lancaster]

Bit puzzled, isn't 5...Bxc5 regarded as a sounder line for black?

[LawrenceCooper]

Bit puzzled, isn't 5...Bxc5 regarded as a sounder line for black?

He mentioned that he thought it was a more normal move when going through the game with Jovanka.

[Graham Borrowdale]

Bit puzzled, isn't 5...Bxc5 regarded as a sounder line for black?

Maybe, but real French Defence players will play 3...Nf6. Still likely to get crushed by the likes of Adams of course, but will score the occasional win!

[Jonathan Rogers]

Bit puzzled, isn't 5...Bxc5 regarded as a sounder line for black?

Maybe, but real French Defence players will play 3...Nf6. Still likely to get crushed by the likes of Adams of course, but will score the occasional win!

I'd have thought so, yes.

And I suspect that Adams' results actually do bear this out. I can only remember him once losing after 3...c5 in his life and that was when Black recaptured with exd5: see http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1014121

against 4...Qxd5 I think his score is monstrous, and has been since he was a young teenager (I remember a miniature win v Karl Bowden in the second round round of the British in 1986). See too his win v Levitt: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1014372

Whereas I suspect his fortunes have been more mixed against 3...Nf6; he certainly had his losses in his junior days (Andrew Mack, Gary Quillan), though I expect he has done well overall.

This is based on my menory and observation - databases might prove me hopelessly wrong. Until someone tells me that this is the case though, I agree that it was a bad choice of opening by Ju Wenjun yesterday.

[Chris Rice]

Bit puzzled, isn't 5...Bxc5 regarded as a sounder line for black?

He mentioned that he thought it was a more normal move when going through the game with Jovanka.

It could be the Mickey wanted to encourage people to play 5...Bxc5. Aagard and Ntirlis have a problem with that move and I'll just briefly say why:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 c5 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. dxc5 Bxc5 {Aagard and Ntirlis do not believe this is the right recapture though nothing terrible is happening. In Vitiugov's book on the French he thinks the line is playable for Black but doesn't claim equality.} 6. Ngf3 Nf6 7. Bc4 {Now Black must be very careful about White sacs on e6, all Black queen moves have their drawbacks but both books give the rather surprising main line as} Qc6 8. Qe2 O-O 9. O-O Nbd7 (9... Qc7 $5 10. Nb3 Be7 {Eingorn}) 10. Nb3 b6 11. Nxc5 Qxc5 {At this point Aagard and Ntirlis recommend a move not given by Vitiugov.} 12. b3 $1 Bb7 13. Bb2 {which proved to be more pleasant for White in Adams-Lemos, Gibraltar 2011 (!)} *

[Jonathan Rogers]

pairings today include Cheparinov v Topalov (!). And both Adams and Hou Yifan have male opponents!!!

[LawrenceCooper]

Bit puzzled, isn't 5...Bxc5 regarded as a sounder line for black?

Maybe, but real French Defence players will play 3...Nf6. Still likely to get crushed by the likes of Adams of course, but will score the occasional win!

I'd have thought so, yes.

And I suspect that Adams' results actually do bear this out. I can only remember him once losing after 3...c5 in his life and that was when Black recaptured with exd5: see http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1014121

against 4...Qxd5 I think his score is monstrous, and has been since he was a young teenager (I remember a miniature win v Karl Bowden in the second round round of the British in 1986). See too his win v Levitt: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1014372

Whereas I suspect his fortunes have been more mixed against 3...Nf6; he certainly had his losses in his junior days (Andrew Mack, Gary Quillan), though I expect he has done well overall.

This is based on my menory and observation - databases might prove me hopelessly wrong. Until someone tells me that this is the case though, I agree that it was a bad choice of opening by Ju Wenjun yesterday.

He has +11=2 against 3...Nf6 in my database containing games since 2000

[Joshua Gibbs]

pairings today include Cheparinov v Topalov (!).

For the information of casual observers Cheparinov was Topalov's second up until 2007

Video on Short's excellent win against Caruana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I-scVCvGiA

[JustinHorton]

Bit puzzled, isn't 5...Bxc5 regarded as a sounder line for black?

Maybe, but real French Defence players will play 3...Nf6. Still likely to get crushed by the likes of Adams of course, but will score the occasional win!

Every time I sit next to a game in that line Black gets marmalised. I wouldn't touch it.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Maybe, but real French Defence players will play 3...Nf6. Still likely to get crushed by the likes of Adams of course, but will score the occasional win!

I'd have thought so, yes.

And I suspect that Adams' results actually do bear this out. I can only remember him once losing after 3...c5 in his life and that was when Black recaptured with exd5: see http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1014121

against 4...Qxd5 I think his score is monstrous, and has been since he was a young teenager (I remember a miniature win v Karl Bowden in the second round round of the British in 1986). See too his win v Levitt: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1014372

Whereas I suspect his fortunes have been more mixed against 3...Nf6; he certainly had his losses in his junior days (Andrew Mack, Gary Quillan), though I expect he has done well overall.

This is based on my menory and observation - databases might prove me hopelessly wrong. Until someone tells me that this is the case though, I agree that it was a bad choice of opening by Ju Wenjun yesterday.

He has +11=2 against 3...Nf6 in my database containing games since 2000

Not bad though perhaps Morozevic would have been the only other world class player likely to play it against him?

[LawrenceCooper]

I'd have thought so, yes.

And I suspect that Adams' results actually do bear this out. I can only remember him once losing after 3...c5 in his life and that was when Black recaptured with exd5: see http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1014121

against 4...Qxd5 I think his score is monstrous, and has been since he was a young teenager (I remember a miniature win v Karl Bowden in the second round round of the British in 1986). See too his win v Levitt: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1014372

Whereas I suspect his fortunes have been more mixed against 3...Nf6; he certainly had his losses in his junior days (Andrew Mack, Gary Quillan), though I expect he has done well overall.

This is based on my menory and observation - databases might prove me hopelessly wrong. Until someone tells me that this is the case though, I agree that it was a bad choice of opening by Ju Wenjun yesterday.

He has +11=2 against 3...Nf6 in my database containing games since 2000

Not bad though perhaps Morozevic would have been the only other world class player likely to play it against him?

Shirov & Gurevich(M) were the draws whilst Navara & Gurevich (M) were among the victims.