Back in the ’70s almost every other game was a Sicilian, and out of that nearly half is a Najdorf. Nowadays there are very few Sicilian Najdorf devotees. So what happened to all those slashing attacks and dashing players? Nobody likes to win or die trying anymore? Well, the explosion of the information age has a lot to do with that. Too much theory nowadays in the Sicilian and no one wants to have to memorize hundreds of lines and variations in order to survive the opening phase.
Wesley So recently wrote a Chessbase DVD on My Secret Weapon 1.b3 and there is a lot to learn from this (to order go to www.chessbase.com and click “shop”).
As pointed out in the Chessbase Web site (www.chessbase.com), 1.b3 has lately been quite potent. Here are some statistics from its leading promoters (no distinction is made between standard, rapid and blitz games:
Hikaru Nakamura — won 33 drew 14 lost 5
Baadur Jobava — won 35 drew 18 lost 14
Richard Rapport — won 16 drew 11 lost 14
Really? How potent can such a move be? Didn’t Bent Larsen lose a brevity to Boris Spassky in the 1970 “Match of the Century” with precisely this move?
Larsen, Bent — Spassky, Boris Vasilievich [A01]
Match/Team URS-World 20,5–19,5 Belgrade (2.1), 29.03.1970
1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nf3 e4 5.Nd4 Bc5 6.Nxc6 dxc6 7.e3 Bf5 8.Qc2 Qe7 9.Be2 0–0–0 10.f4?
The start of White’s troubles.
10…Ng4! 11.g3?!
Already Larsen is experiencing development problems: 11.0–0? is refuted by 11…Rxd2! 12.Nxd2 Nxe3 and wins.
Removing the knight with 11.Bxg4? Qh4+ 12.g3 Qxg4 leaves too many holes in White’s king position. We can even go so far as to say that Black is winning here as well.
11…h5 12.h3 h4! 13.hxg4 hxg3 14.Rg1 Rh1!! 15.Rxh1 g2 16.Rf1
[16.Rg1 Qh4+ 17.Kd1 Qh1 is hopeless]
16…Qh4+ 17.Kd1 gxf1Q+ 0–1
The end will be something like this: 17…gxf1Q+ 18.Bxf1 Bxg4+ 19.Be2 Qh1# checkmate.
Yes, this game is listed as no. 59 in The World’s Greatest Chess Games by Burgess, Nunn and Emms, and it might be a major reason why 1.b3 didn’t catch on earlier.
But let’s think about it. The secret of 1.b3 is that it is really an attacking move directed against Black’s kingside. The follow-up will be to establish a knight on e5 supported either b6 d2-d4 or f2-f4. Once it is there the attack can commence.
Nimzowitsch, Aron — Saemisch, Friedrich [A06]
Karlsbad–04 International Masters (15), 18.08.1929
This game was played in the great 1929 Karlsbad International Tournament, a huge 21-round event in the Czech spa which is today known as Karlovy Vary. This tournament is also Nimzowitsch’s greatest tournament achievement, scoring 15/21 (10 wins 10 draws and 1 loss), half a point ahead of second-placers Jose Raul Capablanca and Rudolf Spoielmann. Another legend, the great Akiba Rubinstein was 4th. Nimzowitsch’s prize money, 20,000 Crowns, was at that time enough to buy a house!
1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 c5 3.e3 Nc6 4.Bb5
Already fighting for control of e5.
4…Bd7 5.Nf3 Qc7 6.0–0 Nf6 7.d3 e6 8.Nbd2 Be7 9.Bxc6 Bxc6 10.Ne5 0–0 11.f4
People who play the Bird’s Defense are familiar with this formation. White’s queen and rook will soon be taking action in the kingside.
11…Be8 12.Rf3 Nd7 13.Rg3 g6 14.Qg4 Bf6 15.Ndf3 Bg7 16.Rh3
Already threatening 17.Rxh7! Kxh7 18.Qh4+ Kg8 19.Nxd7 followed by 10.Ng5.
16…f5?
Only move is 16…Nf6.
17.Qh4 Nf6 18.Ng5 h5 19.Nxe6 Qe7 20.Nxg7 Qxg7 21.Rg3 Ng4 22.Qg5 Nxe5 23.Bxe5 Qh7 24.c4 Bf7 25.Qxf5 dxc4 26.bxc4 Rad8 27.d4 cxd4 28.exd4 1–0
Another virtue of 1.b3 is that it allows you to castle queenside quickly.
Jobava, Baadur (2690) — Almasi, Zoltan (2682) [A01]
Wch Blitz Riyadh (5), 29.12.2017
This game was played in the World Blitz Chess Championship in Riyadh last December 2017.
1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 d6 3.e3 g6 4.d4 Nd7 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Qe2 Ngf6 8.0–0–0 0–0 9.g4 c6 10.g5 Nh5?!
A mistake. Better is 10…Nd5 11.h4 (11.Nxd5 cxd5 12.Rxd5 Qxg5 13.Nf3 Qe7 14.e4 is ok for Black) 11…Nxc3 12.Bxc3 Qe7 13.h5 White has the initiative but Black has his chances too.
11.Bh3 Qe7 12.Bg4 Nc5 13.Bxh5 gxh5 14.Qxh5 a5 15.Nge2 a4 16.Ng3 axb3 17.axb3 e4 <D>
Position after 17…e4
18.Rd4! Ne6
[18…Bxd4 19.exd4 Na6 (so as not to allow Nf5) 20.Ncxe4 White’s attack is winning]
19.Nf5 Qxg5 20.Qxg5 Nxg5 21.Nxg7 Kxg7 22.Nxe4 Nxe4 23.Rg1+ 1–0
You can also go into one of those weird move order tricks. For example if you play bullet (1-minute) games in the internet chess servers, you might meet this sequence a lot:
1.e3 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Bxc4 Nc6 4.a3 e5 5.b4 a6 6.Bb2 Bd6 7.Qc2 Nge7 8.Nc3 0–0 9.Nf3 Bf5 10.Qb3 Bg6 11.h4
And now White’s attack will soon be full-blown.
Or you can do a double fianchetto, keep as many pieces as possible on the board and wait to strike.
Jobava, Baadur (2690) — Ponomariov, Ruslan (2694) [E17]
Wch Blitz Riyadh (3), 29.12.2017
1.b3 Nf6 2.Bb2 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 Be7 5.Nf3 0–0 6.c4 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.0–0 Bb7 9.d4 Na6 10.Nbd2 c5 11.Ne5
White’s idea is to bring his other knight to f5. For example 11…Bd6 12.Ndc4!? Bc7 13.Ne3 Re8 14.Nf5 Bc8 15.Qb1 and the queen gets over to the kingside quickly.
11…Nc7
On the spot. See next note.
12.Ndf3
It is now problematic to go 12.Ndc4 because of 12…cxd4 13.Qxd4 Ne6 14.Qd1 Bc5.
12…Ne6 13.Bh3 Ne4
It turns out that Jobava has a hidden tactical point to his Bh3.
14.Nxf7! Kxf7 15.Ne5+ Kf6 16.dxc5
The bishop on b2 comes to life.
16…d4 17.c6 Kxe5 18.cxb7 Rb8 19.e3 Kd6 20.Bxd4 N6g5 21.Bxb6+ 1–0
The former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov has not been playing too much lately but even then this might be his worst loss ever.
Or sometimes the long diagonal will allow you to make magic.
Jobava, Baadur (2687) — Yu, Yangyi (2744) [A01]
FIDE World Cup 2017 Tbilisi (2.5), 08.09.2017
The match between Jobava and Yu Yangyi in the 2nd round of the 2017 FIDE World Cup held in Tbilisi was an extremely tense affair. The two classical games were drawn, as were the first two rapid games. Game 5 of the match was where Jobava finally broke through with a great attacking effort.
1.b3 d5 2.Bb2 Nf6 3.e3 g6 4.c4 dxc4 5.Bxc4
Take note of White’s formation. Do you need any more convincing that 1.b3 is an attacking line?
5…Bg7 6.Nf3 0–0 7.0–0 c5 8.Be2 b6 9.d3 Bb7 10.Nbd2 Nc6 11.a3 Nd5 12.Bxg7 Kxg7 13.Qc2 Qd7 14.Qb2+ f6 15.Rfd1 Rfd8 16.Rac1 Rac8 17.h3 e5 18.Ne4 Qe7 19.Re1 Rd7 20.Bf1 Qd8 21.Rcd1 Nde7 22.b4 cxb4 23.axb4 Nf5 24.Rc1 Qe7 25.b5 Na5 26.Rxc8 Bxc8 27.d4 Bb7?
Yu Yangyi should have simply continued 27…exd4 28.exd4 Qd8. He didn’t realize how powerful the long diagonal had become.
28.Nxf6! Kxf6
[28…Qxf6 29.dxe5 Qe6 30.Ng5 wins]
29.dxe5+ Kf7 30.e6+! Kxe6
[30…Qxe6 31.Ng5+]
31.e4 Ng7 32.Qa2+ Kd6 33.Rc1!
Cutting off the Black king’s retreat and now threatening the murderous e4–e5+.
33…Bxe4 34.Qd2+ Ke6 35.Ng5+ Kf5 36.g4+ Kf6 37.Nxe4+ Qxe4 38.Qxd7 Ne6 39.Bg2 Qd4 40.Qxh7 Nf4 41.Qh8+ Ke6 42.Re1+ 1–0
Black’s forces have been completely routed.
You should try 1.b3 and see if it suits you. GM Wesley So in his DVD shows you how to attack with it, the various opening setups that you can strive for and how to maximize your chances. As I usually say when there is a great opportunity for our readers, you should also beg, borrow or steal, but get Wesley’s DVD on his secret weapon 1.b3.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant, he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
