[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Anand's seconds, Part two

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Anand's seconds, Part two
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1223961458.shtml


   [1]As mentioned earlier today (yesterday by the time I finish this
   post), Anand's four seconds for the match, starting in about nine
   hours, are Peter Heine Nielsen, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Radoslaw Wojtasek
   and Surya Shekhar Ganguly. In this post, I'll take a look at their
   repertoires, with an eye to seeing how in particular they might help
   Anand battle Kramnik.
   (1) Peter Heine Nielsen (FIDE Rating: 2662):
   With White, Nielsen plays all four major moves, but prefers 1.d4 above
   the rest. After 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6, Nielsen plays all three main moves
   (3.Nf3, 3.Nc3 and 3.g3) in fairly equal proportion. Against the
   Semi-Slav, he goes down the main lines and plays the Anti-Moscow
   Gambit with 6.Bh4.
   When he plays 1.e4, he plays conventional main lines. Interestingly,
   he doesn't seem to have had much OTB experience against the Petroff,
   but whatever might be lacking in his White games is made up when he
   has Black - see below. His experience vs. the Sveshnikov is pretty
   slim (one Bg5 Qa5+ Bd2 Qd8 draw); in the few relevant games, he
   generally chose 3.Bb5 or 3.Nc3 followed by Bb5. As for the Berlin, he
   hasn't faced it in 17 years.
   With Black, Nielsen meets 1.e4 with both 1...c5 and 1...e5. Based on
   his recent track records, it's unlikely that Kramnik will play 1.e4 or
   meet that move with 1...c5, so let's concentrate on Nielsen's 1...e5
   repertoire. He plays 2...Nc6 most often, but he's a regular exponent
   of the Petroff as well, choosing the main line with 6...Nc6. In the
   Ruy, he plays both 3...a6 (heading for both the Closed Main Line and
   the Marshall) and 3...Nf6, the Berlin. His record with the Berlin is
   pretty good, though not great, and he hasn't played it since 2005.
   Still, it's likely that his years of playing it will put Anand in good
   stead if Kramnik uses it.
   Against 1.d4, Nielsen plays a bit of almost everything: King's Indian,
   Nimzo-Indian, QGD (possibly his main opening), Slav and Semi-Slav.
   (2) Rustam Kasimdzhanov (FIDE Rating: 2672):
   With White, Kasimdzhanov plays both 1.e4 and 1.d4, with a slight
   preference for the former. In his 1.e4 games, his record against the
   Berlin isn't very good - he's -1 in 8 games - and in five of the eight
   games he avoided the Berlin Endgame. Against the Petroff, he does go
   for the main lines, though without particular success - 50% against
   his fellow GMs. Against the Sicilian with 2...Nc6, Kasimdzhanov
   generally avoids the Sveshnikov and plays 3.Bb5, with good results.
   With 1.d4, he is willing to play both the QID and the Nimzo-Indian. As
   for his record and experience against the Slav and Semi-Slav, he has
   done extremely well against the former (+7 =4 against strong
   opposition) but had mediocre results against the latter. He generally
   played 5.e3, only taking up 5.Bg5 in 2007, so in comparison with
   Anand, Kramnik and even Heine Nielsen he's a Johnny-come-lately to
   that opening. (But see below.)
   With Black, Kasimdzhanov meets 1.e4 with 1...e5 and 1...c5 with equal
   frequency. He has never played the Berlin, preferring the Closed Main
   Lines and the Marshall. Against 1.d4, he, like Heine Nielsen, has a
   diverse repertoire: the KID, Nimzo/Queen's Indian, QGD and nowadays,
   the Semi-Slav. As with 5.Bg5 against it, this entered his repertoire
   just last year, but with Black his results have been excellent - three
   wins (including one against his fellow second Wojtaszek) and four
   draws (including one against Kramnik).
   (3) Radoslaw Wojtaszek (FIDE Rating: 2599)
   Wojtaszek is a "lefty" in chess, with a strong preference for 1.d4
   (and 1.Nf3 comes in second). At the Nimzo/Queen's junction, he
   primarily plays 3.Nf3. Against the Semi-Slav, he has only played
   5.Bg5, so far without much success (+0 -3 =3 against players > 2450).
   With Black against 1.e4, he's a Sicilianista, with an occasional
   Caro-Kann and still more occasional French. 1...e5 almost doesn't
   exist for him - only 8 games in Mega, only one of which occurred after
   2001. (On the other hand, it was a win with Black over Volokitin in
   the Gajewski Gambit of the Ruy Lopez.) Against 1.d4, he always plays
   1...Nf6, and after 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 goes for both the Modern Benoni and
   the Queen's Indian. After 3.Nc3 he generally goes for the
   Nimzo-Indian, but even here he sometimes braves the Modern Benoni.
   (4) Surya Shekhar Ganguly (FIDE Rating: 2603)
   Ganguly, like Rauzer, Fischer and Weaver Adams, believes that 1.e4 is
   "best by test". He used to play the Scotch from time to time, but now
   seems a Ruy specialist. He has a terrific record against the Berlin,
   mostly attained against sub-2500 players and using the sideline 4.O-O
   Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Ba4. He has faced the Sveshnikov Sicilian many times,
   and here too his score is very good but based largely on beating up on
   (relative) weakies. There he used to prefer 9.Bxf6, but since 2004 his
   main move has been 9.Nd5.
   With Black, Ganguly has a very strong preference for 1...e5 against
   1.e4, and his main line is the Moeller against the Ruy (3...a6 4.Ba4
   Nf6 5.O-O b5 6.Bb3 Bc5). Against 1.d4 he plays both 1...Nf6 and
   1...d5. When using the former, he goes for the Gruenfeld and Benko
   Gambit; when the latter, the QGA (which Anand used to play - with very
   poor results - against Kramnik in the early 2000s).
   Superficially, then, Heine Nielsen and Kasimdzhanov make obvious sense
   not only by strength but their repertoires as well. We'll see as the
   match progresses if Wojtaszek and Ganguly fit in the same obvious way,
   but even if they don't I'm sure Anand will put them to good use. They
   are young and will have a lot of energy for the misery Anand is bound
   to put them through in the match. And Ganguly, as a fellow Indian with
   Anand, may help him feel more at home (though for Anand, it's plain
   that in the main he experiences the rain in Spain).

References

   1. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1223882091.shtml