New in Chess 20/1991 [antikvár]

NICDATABASEVasily IvanchukSicilian Defence Si 1.4 Moscow VariationWhen a World Champion bites the dust, everyone takes notice. In Linares Kasparov had to swallow a painful defeat at the hands of coming man Vasily Ivanchuk. At an early stage the young Russian sacrificed a pawn with 5.0-0, but his illustrious opponent prudently declined the gift. Maybe he knew the game Grunfeld-Van der Wiel, in which the Dutch grandmaster was quickly annihilated. It appears that aftenwards the World Champion was not very happy about 5 cd4 either, since he switched to 5 a6 when Ljubojevic treated him to the same variation two months later. After QAdl Sid? 7.'Lic3 the players reached a position which normally arises via another order of moves i.e. 5.ac3 a6 e.ld? ad? 7.0-0.5.'Lic3 is the old and, until recently, the most popular continuation. With 5 cd4 6.1'd4 e5 Black accepts the structural weakness of the square d5, but it is well known that this circumstance is not enough for White to attain a tangible advantage. It may therefore be expected that the pawn sacrifice 5.0-0 will surpass the old 5.ac3 in popularity.