Author Chat: Boris Avrukh

The June 2019 issue of Chess Life includes a review of Grandmaster Boris Avrukh’s newest book with Quality Chess, Grandmaster Repertoire 2B: 1. d4 Dynamic Systems. (You can read Chess Life June 2019 Book Review, courtesy of US Chess.) Longtime Chess Life reviewer and new US Chess Digital Editor John Hartmann recently “sat down” with Avrukh to discuss the book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDFfv1BUFOk Among the topics discussed are his ten total books, the role of correspondence games in his research, why he still uses Stockfish 8, and his future projects. GM Avrukh also shows CLO readers a fascinating game from the recently completed 2019 Chicago Open.

[pgn]

[Event "Chicago Open"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.05.25"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Avrukh, Boris"]
[Black "Menon, Gopal"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A87"]
[WhiteElo "2692"]
[BlackElo "2340"]
[Annotator "Avrukh,B"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "2019.??.??"]
[SourceVersionDate "2019.06.03"]

1. d4 f5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. O-O O-O 6. b3 (6. c4) 6... d6 7. Bb2
c6 8. c4 (8. Nbd2) 8... Qc7 (8... Qe8) 9. d5 e5 (9... Na6 10. Nd4) 10. dxe6
Bxe6 11. Ng5 $5 Bc8 12. Nc3 Na6 13. Qd2 h6 14. Nf3 (14. Nh3 Nc5 (14... Be6 15.
Nf4 Bf7 16. e4) 15. Rad1 Nce4 16. Nxe4 Nxe4 17. Qc1 g5 18. f4 g4 19. Nf2 Nxf2
20. Rxf2 Qe7 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. Qc3+ Kg8 23. e3 Rf6 24. e4 fxe4 25. Bxe4 Bf5 26.
Bxf5 Rxf5 27. Qd3 Rf6 28. Re2 Qg7 29. Rde1 $36 {1-0 (49) Lautenbach,W (2206)
-Heimonen,A (1983) ICCF email 2006}) 14... Be6 15. Rad1 Rfd8 (15... Rad8 16.
Ba3 (16. Nd4) (16. Qe3 Bf7 17. Qxa7 Nc5 18. Na4 Ra8) 16... Nc5 17. Bxc5 dxc5
18. Qe3 Rde8 (18... Qe7 19. Ne5) 19. Qxc5 Nd7 20. Qe3 Bxc4) 16. Qc2 (16. Nd4
Bf7 17. e4 $36) 16... Nc5 17. Nd4 Bf7 18. e3 Qe7 (18... d5 19. cxd5 cxd5) 19.
Rfe1 Re8 (19... d5 20. Ba3) 20. Nce2 Rad8 21. Nf4 Nce4 22. f3 Nc5 23. g4 $1
fxg4 24. Nxg6 Bxg6 (24... Qd7 25. Nh4 $1 (25. f4) 25... gxf3 26. Ndf5 fxg2 27.
Qxg2 $18) 25. Qxg6 Qf7 26. Qxf7+ Kxf7 27. Nf5 Bf8 28. Rf1 g3 (28... gxf3 29.
Bxf3 $18) 29. hxg3 d5 30. g4 dxc4 31. bxc4 Na4 32. Bd4 c5 33. Ba1 Nb6 34. Rc1
Rd2 35. Rf2 Nxc4 (35... Red8 36. Bc3 Rxf2 37. Kxf2 Nxc4 38. Bxf6) 36. Rxc4 Rd1+
37. Rf1 1-0

[/pgn]

This is the first in an occasional series of video chats with authors here at CLO, and as such, our recording process ran into a few problems, particularly with the audio. But the content was so good, and the problems so slight, that we decided not to re-record and go with our original video. We hope you agree that the immense quality of GM Avrukh’s thoughts are worth the audio bobbles! Contact information for GM Avrukh: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BorisChess/ Email: avrukhboris@hotmail.com