Every Russian Schoolboy Knows: Revolution Revisited - Part 23

Opening: A70, A61, E15, E11:

Player(s): Yermolinsky, Langer, Barbosa, Atalik, Topalov, Karjakin, Bercys

Three different openings are covered in this video.
I start with introducing a particular line for White to combat the Modern Benoni, an attempt to interfere with Black's normal development by hitting the d6-pawn early and forcing the black bishop to an awkward square d7. Black's best remedy has to involve the typical pawn sac, b7-b5, but where and when? Then I move on to a large concept of the hanging pawns Black willingly accepts in some lines of the g3 Queens Indian Defense. Those positions aren't easy to handle with Black, as he has to rely on tactical defense. Talented, then young at the onset of the 1980's, Soviet players, Leonid Yudasin of Leningrad and Lev Psakhis of Krasnoyarsk, were confident they could do just fine playing this style, and they did well against strong opposition of that day. Soon, however, some effective methods of combating this plan were introduced for White, and "order" was restored. Until now. In his preparation for the Candidates tournament in Moscow, the eventual winner of the tournament Sergey Karjakin, re-discovered those long-forgotten ideas and re-packaged them in the modern move order of Bb4+, then back to e7. Karjakin's success in the entire event was largely due to holding his own in this line. The last game illustrates my own efforts to uphold another somewhat suspect line of the Queen's Indian, where Black keeps his bishop on b4 to recapture back with the c5-pawn, thus taking it away from the center. There are some pros and cons there, but, overall, this line seems playable for Black

Teacher's library (718) A70 A61 E15 E11 Yermolinsky Langer Barbosa Atalik Topalov Karjakin Bercys opening