18/11/2014 Parimarjan Negi: the Modern Scotch | Chess News

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Parimarjan Negi: the Modern Scotch
by Diana Mihajlova
0:00:00 0:00:00 Waiting for game...

11/13/2014 – The Scotch is an opening that evolved from the swashbuckling games of the 19th century. It
has long been associated with exciting play, but people often doubt its positional base. In recent times,
however, it has evolved into an aggressive alternative to the Spanish. In his first Fritz-Trainer DVD Parimarjan
Negi explains the latest revolution in Scotch theory. Review by Diana Mihajlova.

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World Championship
Round 8
Parimarjan Negi: 11/18/2014 – The FIDE
World Championship
The Modern Scotch Opening between Carlsen and Anand
will be happening in
november. Daniel King and Loek van Wely
Review by Diana Mihajlova are starting analysing at 1 pm. Commentary
available in french and spanish as well. Entry
GM Parimarjan Negi, the author of the DVD on the fee: 50 Ducats, Premium free! View the
Modern Scotch Opening, played this opening himself on whole schedule!
numerous occasions, but until he embarked on creating a
training video material on it he did not know why it is
called ‘Scotch’. Thinking that it is a good occasion to find
out, he googled away, and, in the introduction he lets us PLAYCHESS.COM
know that it was first played in 1824 in a correspondence
match between ‘Edinburgh and London’. Not much more No registration! No download! »
enlightenment than that, but the next question Negi
attempts to answer would be of more interest to us: ‘Why
play the Scotch?’ Although it has some tricky, fun moves
with early exchanges of pieces, the king pulled to the News
centre, and an unusual, unique structure, the Scotch
actually offers White a sound positional basis around
which to build up the game, while Black is left with not KOMODO 8
many alternatives. It might suit particularly players who Brings creativity back to
do not like symmetry lines like Petroff, for example. chess!

€79.90
Following up on the advice of his long-term trainer, Nigel
Short, Negi discovers for himself that studying ‘the
Scotch’ offers a better understanding of more general
facets of modern chess theory. He imparts his knowledge
in a relaxed manner that makes the material easy to
embrace. When he uses one of his own games as an
illustrative example, he cheekily adds: ‘it is just to show you that I am a good player, sometimes’.
ENDGAME TURBO 4
In the game in question, his opponent is the legend Lajos Portisch. Negi explains that his choice of the Scotch Perfect endgame analysis
against an erudite of classical openings was in order to meet the veteran on less familiar ground. Actually, the and a huge increase in
engine performance: Get
main character of the Scotch is that it is a ‘modern’ opening, which contains lines that have been applied in it with the new Endgame
more recent times and are still under scrutiny. It is considered a wilder alternative to the quiet, well established Turbo 4! Thanks to a new
Spanish. format (Syzygy-
Tablebases) the Endgame
Turbo 4 is smaller, faster
and yet has more scope
Negi, P. 2634 – Portisch, L. 2479 1–0 than the old version.
C45 Politiken Cup 2013 (5.6) 30.07.2013
€59.90
1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.d4 exd4 4.♘xd4 ♗c5 5.♘b3 ♗b6 6.♘c3
d6 7.♕e2 ♘f6 8.♗e3 MOST AMAZING
[ 8.♗g5 h6 9.♗h4 g5 10.♗g3 ♗e6 ] MOVES
8...h6 9.0-0-0 ♕e7 10.g3 ♗g4
The interactive format
[ 10...♘xe4 11.♘d5 ] encourages the viewer to
[ 10...♗e6 11.♗g2 ] study and find the
11.f3 ♗e6 12.♗g2 0-0-0 13.♖he1 ♖he8 14.♗xb6 axb6 brilliancy, following the
15.♕f1 footsteps of some of the
greatest players of the
[ 15.f4 ♗g4 16.♗f3 ]
game.
15...♘d7 16.f4 ♔b8 17.♘d4 ♘xd4 18.♖xd4 ♘f6 19.♕d3 g5
20.♖d1 ♖c8 21.♖a4 ♗d7 22.♖a3 ♗c6 23.e5 ♗xg2 24.♘b5 €29.90
♖cd8 25.♕c4 d5 26.♕a4 ♕xa3 27.♕xa3 ♘d7 28.♕a7+ ♔c8
29.♕a8+ ♘b8 30.♘a7+ ♔d7 31.♕xb7 ♖e7 32.♘b5
FIRST STEPS IN
1–0 PAWN STRUCTURES
Understanding how to use
pawns and how to handle
different pawn structures
are important topics for
young or improving
Learn more about this players to consider.
opening! Andrew Martin
investigates the notion
1.e4 e5 - An active Repertoire that ‘pawns are the soul of chess’ and tries to
for Black explain exactly what this mea

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18/11/2014 Parimarjan Negi: the Modern Scotch | Chess News
by Adrian Mikhalchishin
€27.90
Available in the Shop Download PGN

CHESSBASE
MAGAZINE EXTRA
162

€12.99
On a couple of occasions Negi points out that the Scotch is not really his personal choice of an opening. One
may wonder then why would he choose it to present it as a training tool and give it an elaborate work-out. The
answer could lie in Anish Giri’s comment on Negi’s recently published book 1.e4 vs the French, Caro-Kann and
Philidor: “He was foolish enough to be totally honest in his book, not hiding anything from the readers, and now
a bunch of new creative ideas in 1.e4 is out there in the open…” Maybe this time round Negi decided to be wiser TACTIC TOOLBOX
and just give a thorough study of an opening which is not exactly ‘his’. Whatever the motive, the end result is GRÜNFELD
well researched and deeply analysed presentation of a modern opening that is being uncorked at high level
The most effective,
tournaments with ever greater frequency. timeproven way to
develop tactical abilities,
imagination, and the
ability to calculate
variations, is practice. The
69 exercises on this DVD
are taken from
grandmaster games and show tactical ideas
that are typical for the Grünfeld.

€29.90

ABC OF THE
ENGLISH OPENING
Success in the English is
based upon understanding
the plans and ideas
available within this
interesting opening. The
games in this DVD will
provide with exactly that-
the armoury to play the
English Opening as white with confidence!

€27.90

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Parimarjan Negi in the Chess Base studio

After the 19th century when the Scotch was fashionable, it suffered a relative decline until its revival in newer
times thanks to Kasparov, who reinvented it by introducing new ideas. Kasparov used the Scotch frequently
throughout the 90s, and it brought him many victories, among them a key game in the World Championship
Match against Karpov. (Kasparov v Karpov, 1:0, World Championship Match, 1990.

Radjabov is another super GM who took to the Scotch by applying still more innovative moves, as it can be seen
in the game Radjabov v Tomashevsky, (2012, Tal Memorial, annotated by Radjabov).

Radjabov, T. 2784 – Tomashevsky, E. 2738 1–0

C45 7th Mikhail Tal Memorial (1) 08.06.2012

1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.d4 exd4 4.♘xd4 ♗c5 5.♘b3 ♗b6 6.♘c3
d6 7.♕e2 ♘ge7 8.♗e3 0-0 9.0-0-0 f5 10.exf5 ♗xf5 11.h3 ♗d7
12.♕d2 ♗xe3 13.♕xe3 ♔h8 14.♗d3 ♕e8 15.f4 ♕f7 16.♖hf1
♖ae8 17.♕d2 ♘b4 18.♗e4 ♗c6 19.♖de1 ♗xe4 20.♘xe4 ♕c4
21.a3 ♘bc6 22.♕c3 ♕d5
[ 22...♕xc3 23.♘xc3 ]
23.♘bd2 ♘f5 24.g4 ♘fd4 25.♕d3 b5 26.♔b1 b4 27.a4 h6
28.♘b3 ♖e7 29.♘ed2 ♖xe1+ 30.♖xe1 g5 31.f5

1–0

Learn more about this

opening!
First Steps in Chess Strategy
by Andrew Martin
Available in the Shop

Download PGN

As well as Kasparov’s and Radjabov’s innovations, starting from the instructive games in the introduction,
through to specific case studies in the theoretical part, we learn how various modern masters came up with a
new move to deviate from the established lines. Carlsen contented himself with creating a pin on Bg5 followed
by 9.Bh4!N (Carlsen v Bacrot, 1:0, Nanjing Pearl Spring, 2010). Later on Aronian found a way to get away from
the pin with 8…Nd4, which is demonstrated in the 2nd instalment of the theoretical part (the actual game was
Hua v Aronian, ½:½ Olympiad, Istanbul, 2012).

Several other examples in the theoretical part demonstrate that the Scotch is truly a modern opening and is
still brewing.

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18/11/2014 Parimarjan Negi: the Modern Scotch | Chess News

Negi is obviously quite confident with the knowledge he possesses and the material he presents. His way of
demonstrating various lines will be better grasped by players closer to his level. I find the lines are interchanged
too promptly, which beginners and improving players might find it a bit too quick to follow. But then, this is
probably not an opening for beginners. It is full of variations and long lines, which are well covered by Negi, but
one needs an alert mind to keep apace. After all, it is an opening played by the likes of Carlsen, Caruana,
Nepomniatchi, Radjabov and Giri, the latest star who picked up on this opening. In the introduction, Negi even
gives a somewhat cryptic announcement: “This opening can help the ones that aim at becoming world
champions”. Is that you? In that case this DVD will provide you with abundant and well structured material for
study, play and analyses.

It does not mean however that beginners are neglected and should not take up the challenge. Apart from full
annotated games, Negi presents sample studies that only treat moves up to about the middle of a game, as a
way of establishing firmly the most common lines and therefore making it easier to learn the basics and become
aware of the pitfalls before the game deepens towards the middle. After the main line 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4
exd4 4.Nxd4

Black’s most common fourth moves, 4…Bc5; 4…Qh4; 4…Qf6; 4…Bb4 and 4…Nf6, are illustrated in separate
studies in the section ‘Theoretical Part’.

Negi also gives a comprehensive database of Scotch model games; studious amateurs are presented with
material aplenty on which to build up their understanding of this opening. I find it particularly useful that this
five-hour video is nicely rounded with a well compiled test containing 20 case studies, which you need to solve.
Negi selects specific, crucial positions and gives a task, like ‘to spot the right motive’ or ‘to punish the black
carelessness’, to find ‘what did Black miss’, ‘how should White proceed against f6’, ‘can White get a better
position or is Black’s compensation enough’, ‘what should White do to maximize his advantage’, ‘how would you
react to keep the initiative’, ‘how could you create counter play with black’… and so on. These are well chosen
spots from the covered material and analysis, which should test how well you have mastered the Scotch. If
your first attempt was not successful, you are given an opportunity to ‘try again’ before you are shown the
solution. So, as Negi says at the beginning of the video: ‘Watch closely and good luck!’

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18/11/2014 Parimarjan Negi: the Modern Scotch | Chess News

Parimarjan Negi at the 2008 Paris Championship (photo: Diana Mihajlova)

Parimarjan Negi’s successful chess career numbers numerous won international events and championships as
well as the title of the world’s youngest grandmaster (2006). Today, at 21 years of age, he expands into writing
chess books and DVD training manuals.

Parimarjan is currently in the ChessBase team of commentators of the Carlsen v Anand World Championship
match.

Parimarjan Negi:
The Modern Scotch Opening

Video running time: six hours

With interactive training including video feedback
Database with 50 essential games
Including CB 12 Reader

Price: €29.90
€25.13 without VAT (for Customers outside the EU)
$31.20 (without VAT)
ISBN:978-3-86681-432-5

This DVD can be purchased as a hard copy or it can be downloaded

directly from the Internet, that way sparing you the few days
needed for it to arrive by post.

Order this Fritztrainer in the ChessBase Shop

Sample Video: Parimarjan Negi - The Modern Scotch Opening

Diana Mihajlova
A former university lecturer in Romance philology, she is currently a painter as well as a chess journalist, and
reports regularly from the international tournament scene.

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18/11/2014 Parimarjan Negi: the Modern Scotch | Chess News

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Topics
Scotch, Fritztrainer

See also
D’Costa: ABC of the English Opening
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occasionally. World Champion Magnus Carlsen is one of them. In his new
ChessBase DVD International Master Lorin D’Costa shows why the best players of
the world were and are attracted to this versatile opening. [Discuss]

Huschenbeth: Tactic Toolbox Najdorf

6/16/2014 – Niclas Huschenbeth, 22, is a German grandmaster and the 2010
national champion. Since 2012 he has been studying psychology in Baltimore,
where he leads the University's team. In a new DVD Niclas shows us the important
tactical motives and sacrifices in the Najdorf. It is a uniquely interactive suite of
lessons that requires serious work on your part. Review by Diana Mihajlova.
[Discuss]

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Ajay Annamareddy 11/14/2014 06:20

Good one, Parimarjan. Thank you.

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