Learn Swapnil's favourite line from GM Williams!

ChessBase has come out with a new DVD on Beating the Queen's Indian with the Fianchetto Variation by GM Simon Williams. The line that Simon covers arises after:

1. d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2!?

The reason why this move is exciting is because after 5...Bb7 6.Bg2 c5 White goes ahead boldly and sacrifices this pawn with 7.d5!

This pawn sacrifice is a long term one. White doesn't recover the material immediately but has long term pressure on Black's position. A few years ago this line didn't even exist and now we have 463 games on it. This is really a modern line. 

GM Swapnil Dhopade from Amravati is one of the biggest exponents of this line with white. While Swapnil was packing his bags and getting ready for his SYNA Open tournament which begins from tomorrow, we called him up and asked his expert opinion on this variation of the Queen's Indian.

A short chat with GM Swapnil Dhopade:

SS: How did you start playing this line?

SD: I first saw this line played between Topalov vs Anand in Bilbao 2008. Anand was crushed in that game by Veselin. I really liked the positions in which White sacrificed his d5 pawn for compensation. Also during that time I didn't have anything special prepared against Queen's Indian. I searched games from the Mega Database, analyzed them and came to my own conclusions. The opening was quite complicated and it was difficult to understand all the intricacies, but GM R.B. Ramesh helped me with it. In 2012, I went to Chennai and worked with him on this line and he suggested me some novelties. This gave me some confidence to play this 5.Qc2 line against strong opponents.

SS: What is so special about this line in the Queen's Indian starting with 5.Qc2?

SD: The pawn sacrifice in the opening attracted me. Besides this, you always get a fighting position and it is a good change from the positional chess that I like to play. It is a dynamic line which requires good amount of analysis and once you are well prepared, you can expect good results. Of course there are other lines apart from the pawn sacrifice one but those aren't so critical.

SS: Objectively, do you think White can fight for an opening advantage in this line?

SD: Yes, of course. White definitely can fight for an advantage. Although there are huge amounts of analysis already done, there is a lot that is left unexplored. Computers are useful for giving you a direction but they can be confusing. Because in many positions it will suggest two or three moves with similar evaluations. At this point it would be very useful if you have an experienced GM or a trainer who has worked on these lines before, and gives you a recommendation. In this respect I would say Simon William's DVD would be quite useful.

SS: Which is the most critical line for Black?

SD: I would say that the line which is currently the most critical one for Black is the one that is being played by top players recently. For eg. Nakamura played it against Aronian in the Candidates and Benjamin Bok played it against me recently. This is how the position is reached:

Back in 2012 this was just a side line. But R.B. Ramesh asked me to look at it deeply as it could become the main line in the time to come. And his words have turned out to be true!

[Note: Williams covers this critical line deeply dedicating three clips of 20 minutes each on it]

SS: What are your impressions about the author of this DVD Simon Williams?

SD: In 2013 when I played against Rahul Sangma in the Bhubaneshwar Open, I had prepared a side line using Simon William's novelty on the 13th move.

13.Rxd6 was what Simon played in his game against Hunt. I analyzed this and won a nice game against Rahul Sangma. This is one of my favourite games in this opening, and you cannot find it in the databases as it wasn't published before:

SS: Thanks Swapnil for sharing invaluable information with our readers and all the best for the SYNA Open in Katni.

What does the DVD contain?

This DVD by Simon Williams contains a complete repertoire for White against the Queen's Indian.

After the move 4.g3, the main focus of the DVD is surely on the move 4...Ba6. This line had been played by Sergey Karjakin in four games in the Candidates and it is natural to put maximum attention here. But apart from that there is also good enough coverage of the moves 4...Bb7 and also 4...Bb4+ lines.