Na3!!

Vadim Zvjaginsev is famous for his creativity. Yesterday he shocked chess world by playing 1.e4 c5 2.Na3!? novelty against none else but Alexander Khalifman. Surprised opponent probably missed better plans and the game went into Benoni waters. Vadim did better in the complicated middlegame and eventually scored a win. Let's wait and see the future of this continuation.

Vladimir Kramnik won his game against Sergey "ICC spammer" Volkov. I was so pleased that my favorite player is back in the race, that I have decided to post short annotations in "Chess Informant" format.


Vladimir Kramnik 2739 - Sergey Volkov 2614
1.c4 Nf6 2.d4 c6 3.Bf4 Qb6 4.Qd2 d5 5.Nc3 Bf5 [5...dxc4 6.e4 c5 7.Nf3 e6 8.Bxc4 cxd4 9.Nxd4 Bb4 10.e5±] 6.f3 e6 7.g4 Bg6 8.h4 h5 9.g5 Nfd7 10.e3 Be7 11.Nh3 0-0 12.Bg3 Re8 13.Be2 dxc4 [13...e5 14.0-0-0 (14.dxe5 Bc5 15.Na4 Bxe3 16.Nxb6 Bxd2+ 17.Kxd2 Nxb6 18.cxd5 Nxd5 with slight advantage for Black) 14...Bb4 was unclear] 14.Nf4 Bd6 15.Bxc4 [15.Nxh5 e5 16.Nxg7 (16.dxe5 Bc5) 16...exd4 17.Bxd6 dxc3 18.bxc3 Rxe3 19.Bf4] 15...Na6?! [Better was 15...c5] 16.0-0-0 Rad8? 17.e4 [17.Nxh5! was winning on the spot 17...Bxg3 (17...Ne5 18.Bxe5 Bxe5 19.Nf6+ gxf6 20.h5+-) 18.Nxg3 Nb4 19.Nge4+- Ne5 20.Be2] 17...Nf8 18.Nxg6 Nxg6 19.f4 Qb4 20.Be2 [20.Bxa6!?] 20...Bc5?! [20...c5] 21.Bxa6! bxa6 22.Ne2 Qb7 23.Qc2± Bb6 24.Kb1 Ne7 25.Bf2 g6 26.Ng3 Bc7 27.Be3 Rd7 28.Rd3 Red8 29.Rhd1 a5 30.Ne2 Bb6 31.Ng1!+- Qa6 32.Nf3 Bc7 33.Rc3 Qb7 34.Ne5! Bxe5 35.fxe5 Rc7 36.Rc5 Qb4 37.a3 Qb6 38.d5! exd5 39.Rcxd5 Qxe3 40.Rxd8+ Kg7 41.Qd3 1-0


Vadim Zvjaginsev 2659 - Alexander Khalifman 2653
1. e4 c5 2. Na3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Qc7 4. Nf3 g6 5. c3 a6 6. Bxc6 Qxc6 7. O-O Bg7 8. d4 d6 9. d5 Qc7 10. h3 Nf6 11. Bf4 O-O 12. Re1 b5 13. Qd2 Bb7 14. Rad1 Rfe8 15. c4 Qb6 16. Bh6 Bh8 17. b3 e6 18. Ng5 exd5 19. cxd5 Re7 20. Re3 Rae8 21. Rde1 a5 22. Nb1 b4 23. Qc2 Nd7 24. Nd2 Ba6 25. Ngf3 Ne5 26. Bg5 Nxf3+ 27. Nxf3 Rd7 28. e5 dxe5 29. Nxe5 Rxd5 30. Nxf7 Rxe3 31. Rxe3 Kxf7 32. Re7+ Kf8 33. Qe4 Rd1+ 34. Kh2 Qd6+ 35. f4 Bf6 36. Bh6+ Kg8 37. Qa8+ 1-0