Tag: Jan Timman

Sicilian Rossolimo Part III: 4.0-0

In our third installment on the Rossolimo anti-sicilian, we turn to the variation 4.0-0. This move is probably the most common, since it rapidly develops white’s kingside and seeks information from black. When I play the Rossolimo with the white pieces, this is the variation that I favor. Below, I will outline a unique idea for white which might be objectively worse but has given me great practical chances over the board. Keeping in mind that all of the ideas presented in the earlier two posts are equally relevant here considering the wealth of transpositional possibilities in this variation, I would like to look at the following position as the main starting tabiya for this post. This position occurs after the moves: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Re1, when black has several moves at his disposal, though the two most common choices are either the solid e5, or the dynamic Nf6.

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Don’t Forget to Use Your King: Short-Timman, Tilburg 1991

Everyone knows that you should centralize your King in an endgame, and that a poorly placed King can be the key feature of an ending; that the King is worth roughly as much as a minor piece on an open board, and obviously should be used accordingly. However, there are a few rare instances where the king has led an attack in the middle game. Below, find two such examples.

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Two thematic ideas in the Open Ruy Lopez, the Howell Attack and a knight sac.


Continuing in our series of posts on the Ruy Lopez, Open, I thought I would go over some of the ideas in the Howell attack, an interesting sideline that involves a queen sacrifice. After the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb4 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7. Ba3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 we have the following position which is extremely common in the Ruy lopez open:

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