By Karel van der Weide

One bit of highly useful advice from my former trainer, Gennady Sosonko, was: "If you don't like a certain opening, go and play it with opposite colors." This is what I did. At the time I couldn't, as White, get an advantage against the Kan Variation of the Sicilian. In order to understand the Kan, I studied over 100 games by Kan experts like Vladimir Chuchelov, Edvard Kengis, Alosyas Kveinys, and last but not least, Normunds Miezis. His games in particular show creativity and resourcefulness in this opening.

As often happens when you first try an opening, you are very optimistic. You are not aware of the dangers, although I noticed in the database that "1-0" was a common result when White had a rating of 2600 or higher. In the process, I did become aware of the Kan's deficiencies and only used it in certain occasions. For some time, I still fancied Black when White chose to go for a hedgehog with an early c4. But I was cured!

Sulskis - van der Weide, Vienna 2005
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Nf6 6.0-0 Qc7 7.c4 Nc6 8.Nf3 Bc5 9.Bg5 Ne5 10.Nc3 d6?

Demonstrating a serious misunderstanding of the position. White has an easy plan now in pushing his queenside. It is not easy to say where Black went astray. Maybe I should have opted for the solid 9...d6 10.Nc3 Bd7 or throw in ...Ng4/h5 at some stage.

11.Nxe5 dxe5 12.b4 Bd4 13.Rc1 0-0 14.c5 Kh8

Going for a stubborn defense, although there was something to be said for a pawn-sac like 14...Bd7 15.Qf3 Bc6 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Qxf6 Qd8 18.Qh6 Kh8.

15.Qf3 Ng8 16.Ne2 f6 17.Nxd4!

After 17.Be3 Rd8 18.Rfd1 Ne7 Black hangs on.

17...exd4

18.e5!

Not only is Sarunas Sulskis an intelligent, original and sympathetic human being, he is an excellent chess-player as well. He perfectly understands that the position has to be opened for his bishops.

18...f5

From Black's point of view, the position has to be closed, as I didn't like 18...Qxe5 19.Bf4 Qd5 20.Qxd5 exd5.

19.c6 Rb8 20.a3 bxc6 21.Qxc6

Quite logical, though it was possible to go for the brilliancy prize with 21.Rxc6 Qa7 22.Rfc1 Bb7 23.Rc7 Qb6 24.Qg3 Rbc8 25.Bd8!

21...Qf7 22.Qd6 Bb7

I'm dead lost after 22...Rb7 23.Bxa6 Rd7 24.Qxf8! Qxf8 25.Bxc8.

23.Rc7 Qe8 24.Qd7 Qxd7 25.Rxd7 h6 26.Bd2 Rfd8 27.Rc7 Re8

In this ending, White is close to a win. Sarunas controls the open file, has two bishops, a mobile queenside majority and the Black King is cut of.

28.Rfc1 Ne7 29.f3 Nd5 30.Rd7 Red8 31.Rxd8+ Rxd8 32.Kf2 Rd7 33.a4 Kg8 34.b5 axb5 35.Bxb5 Rc7 36.a5

Lines like 36.Rxc7 Nxc7 37.Bd7 Kf7 38.Bb4 were optional.

36...Nc3 37.a6 Ba8

37...Bd5 38.Bxc3 dxc3 39.Ke3 c2 40.Kd2 Bb3 41.Ra1 +-.

38.Bxc3 dxc3 39.Bd3 Rc5 40.Ke3 Rxe5+ 41.Kd4 Ra5 42.Rxc3 Kf7

Black's last chance might have been defending more active like: 42...e5+ 43.Ke3 f4+ 44.Kd2 Kf7 45.Rc7+ Kf6 46.Bc4 e4.

43.Rc5 Ra3 44.Bc4 Kf6 45.Rc8 Bd5 46.Bxd5 exd5

Now White is a solid pawn up in a rook ending. Sarunas and I both felt there were still some theoretic chances for a draw, but in the analyses it was not found.

47.Rc6+ Kg5 48.Kxd5 Ra2 49.Kc4 Rxg2 50.Kb3 Re2 51.a7 Re8 52.Ra6 Ra8 53.Ra4 Kh5 54.Kc3 g5 55.Kd3 f4 56.Ra6 g4 57.Ke2 g3 58.hxg3 fxg3 59.Kf1 Kg5 60.Kg2 h5 61.Kxg3 h4+ 62.Kh3 Kf5, 1-0.

From my point of view, a very depressing game. I was under pressure every inch of the way, and never had a chance of obtaining the advantage or even an equal position. As you can read in "Losing the same game twice," reflection on losses has never been one of my strong sides. Thus, as I have done so many times in the past, my initial thought was that I would think of something in another game. No contemplation on the causes of this defeat, the correctness of the system, my suitability for this opening, etc. As a result, this is what happened in the Dutch league a couple of months later:

Middelburg - van der Weide
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4

7.f3

Unfortunately, the guy is not repeating my game with Bart Michiels which went 7.Bd3 Qc7 8.0-0 Nc6 9.Nde2 Bc5 10.h3 Ne5 11.b3 (11.a3 happened in Kiik-Miezis: 11...Ba7 12.Bf4 g5 13.Bh2 g4 14.Kh1 Rg8 15.Rc1 d6 16.Nf4 b6 17.Qe2 Bb7 18.h4 Qe7 19.Bg3 Nfd7 20.b4 Bb8 21.Bc2 Kf8. Not an everyday game!) 11...b6 12.Bb2 Bb7 13.Rc1 h5! 14.Na4 Nxd3 15.Qxd3. Here I could have obtained an overwhelming advantage: 15...Nxe4! 16.Bxg7 Rg8 17.Nxc5 Qxc5 18.Bd4 Qg5 19.g3 Qf5, etc.

By the way, the earlier mentioned Normunds Miezis played a lot of interesting games from the position in the last diagram. Another example: 7.Nc2 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Qa5 9.Qd3 Qe5 10.f3 d5 11.Ba3 dxe4 12.Qe3 Nc6 13.f4 Qa5 14.Be2 Ne7 15.g4 h5 16.Bb4 Qc7 17.g5 Nf5 18.Qh3 Ng8 and he was better against Hari.

Now, back to my game with Middelburg.

7...Qc7 8.Qb3 Bc5 9.Be3 0-0 10.Na4

10...b6??

A normal continuation would be 10...Ba7 11.c5 d5 with an unclear game. Now I lose an important pawn.

11.Ne2! Ra7 12.e5 Ne8 13.Nxc5 bxc5 14.Qa3 d6

14...Rb7 15.Bxc5 Qxe5 16.Bxf8 Rxb2 17.Rc1 is equally hopeless.

15.exd6 Nxd6 16.Qxc5 Nc6 17.Nd4! Na5 18.Nb5 axb5 19.Qxa7 Nab7 20.cxb5 Nf5 21.Bd3, 1-0.

After this game I took an oath never to play the Kan again. Somehow, the artificiality of the system does not suit me. Luckily, this dark period in my life at least gave me some idea about how to play it with White. Always follow your trainer's advice!