Svidler and Vallejo’s Rapid Race in the English Attack
We pick up the action after white’s 25th move. White has just moved his king out of check.
Peter Svidler has been one of the world’s best players since the 1990s. The 8-time(!) Russian Champion has played many outstanding games and has become one of the most popular chess commentators.
In contrast, this was the only game the young Francisco Vallejo-Pons won in the 2004 Melody Amber rapid, but what a victory it was! White’s king gets caught in a hurricane in a theoretical mainline of the Najdorf English Attack (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3).
With competing opposite-side castling attacks, Svidler decides to fight off black’s attack before launching an offensive of his own.
He never got the chance. How did Vallejo-Pons respond to 25.Ka1?
Pawns are line-opening tools in opposite-side castling attacks
