Last week Dmitry Jakovenko defeated Ernesto Inarkiev at the ACP World Rapid Cup, using the devastating 12.Ncb5!! - a theoretical novelty that won on the spot. Inarkiev could have prevented this disaster as the move was mentioned the day before the game in ChessVibes Openings #73!

Last Saturday GM Jan Timman visited my local chess club, Caissa Amsterdam, for a master class with a few members of Caissa's first team. The club celebrated the Dutch Chess Federation's prize they won last year, for welcoming the highest number of new club members in one season.

After the master class, Timman finished with a few endgame studies, and by showing a recent game. It turned out to be last week's Jakovenko-Inarkiev, which he had seen on ChessVibes, and which featured an old love of his for White: the Ruy Lopez Exchange. In case you missed it, here's that game once more:

Jakovenko-Inarkiev ACP World Rapid Cup (Odessa) 2010

Game viewer by ChessTempo


At Caissa's club house, Timman told that when he saw this game, he immediately remembered the move. "I had found the same idea, when I prepared for my game against Stefanova, at the Aventus tournament in Antwerp last year. Unfortunately she played differently, and I couldn't execute this nice idea."

The novelty was just waiting to be played by someone, somewhere, and Jakovenko was the lucky one to find a strong opponent who didn't know it yet. But Inarkiev could have known it, if he had read ChessVibes Openings #73, which was in fact published on May 26th, the day before his game against Jakovenko!

Dennis Monokroussos was the first to point this out on his blog:

Fast forward to later that day, to the rapid game Jakovenko - Inarkiev from the first round of their mini-match at the ACP World Rapid Cup. Had Inarkiev seen CVO, he would have known to avoid it; instead, he fell for it hook, line and sinker! He tried the second move given above, 11...cxb5, and after 12.Qc3 varied with 12...Bc6. That avoided an immediate mate, but his position was thoroughly lost after 13.Nxc6 bxc6 14.Qxc6 Bd6 15.Rad1. He kicked on to move 44, but as Mikhail Golubev commented in his annotations for Chess Today, "Black's resistance [after move 19 made no] sense".

Of course, it's impossible for all of us to keep up with everything - time, money, and the limits of our memory all have their say. But for theory fans, this example makes a case for keeping CVO in mind when choosing what resources to follow.

ChessVibes Openings editor IM Merijn van Delft discovered the move while he was helping FM Stefan Kuipers at the Dutch Youth Championship last month. "I hesitated to mention the idea in CVO, but then I thought: everyone who checked the recent Radjabov-Mamedyarov game with an engine running on the background, will see the computer pointing out the move immediately. The novelty was just waiting to be played, so it made no sense to not write about it. It was funny to see it played litteraly the next day."

This week's issue: #73, May 26, 2010

ChessVibes Openings #73 The latest opening developments of the fourth week of May, covering the FIDE Grand Prix in Astrakha, the U.S. Championship and the Chinese Championship All about the Kalashnikov Sicilian which was analysed in our Game of the Week Akopian-Radjabov, Astrakhan 2010.

Other lines that are covered:

• Ruy Lopez, Closed, 12.d5
• Ruy Lopez, Exchange
• Vienna, 6...h6
• Nimzo-Indian, 4.Nf3/5.g3

For more info on ChessVibes Openings click here.