Tournament whipping-boy Joe Gallagher also employed the Paulsen variation, in his last round encounter with 16-year-old Ukrainian wunderkind Ruslan Ponomariov, but his early queenside aggression with 10...b4 brought him no joy whatsoever. This game is perhaps the most instructive of the lot.

View annotated game: Ponomariov - Gallagher

Ponomariov (2630) - Gallagher (2514)

Biel (10), 2000

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Nc3 b5 6.Bd3 Bc5 7.Nb3 Be7 8.Qg4 g6 9.Qe2 d6 10.0-0

10...b4?

Kicking the knight on c3 is often a good idea in the Sicilian, but in this particular position it brings Black nothing but misery. Black's only priority at this stage should be getting the guys out as quickly as possible.

11.Nd1 Bb7 12.a3!

White now gains a tangible initiative on the queenside by forcing the a-file open.

12...Nc6 13.Bd2 bxa3 14.Rxa3

Now a6 is hanging.

14...Qc8 15.Ne3 Nf6 16.Nc4

Threatens Nb6, picking up the exchange.

16...Qc7 17.Nca5 Ne5

Black loses a pawn for absolutely nothing after 17...0-0 18.Nxb7 Qxb7 19.Rxa6.

18.Nxb7 Nxd3 19.cxd3 Qxb7 20.Na5 Qd7 21.Rb3! Rc8

Castling was still out of the question: 21...0-0? 22.Rb7 Qe8 23.Bh6 and White wins the exchange. It's worth noting that the cause of Black's problems can be traced directly back to his careless pawn thrust on move 10.

22.Nc4 Bd8

23.Bh6!

Keeping the Black king in the middle.

23...d5 24.Nb6 Bxb6 25.Rxb6 Qa4 26.Qf3 (26.Bg7 Nd7) 26...Nd7 27.b3 dxe4(?)

Opening the d-file only makes matters worse.

28.dxe4 Qa5 29.Rb7 Qh5 30.Qf4 e5 31.Qd2 Nc5 (31...Qg4 32.Rd1) 32.Ra7 g5?

Pure desperation.

33.Qd6!

Now mate is unavoidable.

33...Ra8

One last joke before resigning. 34.Qe7 is mateluno in uno. 1-0

These two games might not be all that important from a theoretical point of view, but the next two certainly are. Peter Svidler's handling of the so-called Perenyi Attack may well turn Black players off 6...e6 altogether. Which means we'll probably be seeing more practical tests of Kasparov's favourite 6...Ng4. Svidler's most important novelty was introduced in his game against Gelfand:
Svidler - Gelfand