Download PGN of January ’25 1 e4 e5 games
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Centre Game 4.Qc4 [C22]
I saw this rare line appear several times during the recent World Rapid and Blitz Championships. Following the natural 4...Nf6 5.Nc3, the game Yip, C - Kiolbasa, O saw the interesting 5...d5!?:
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This is not bad at all although the main move 5...Bb4 definitely holds up well if Black knows one or two details. In this case the queens were traded and Black reached a symmetrical structure which should have been completely fine, but one slip turned the tables in White’s favour.
Two Knights 8.Bd3 Nd5 9.Nf3 Bd6 [C58]
We covered the trendy 9.h4 recently but the main line also continues to receive plenty of attention. First a speciality of the Spanish GM David Anton - the rare 10.Nc3!? was seen at the World Rapid Championship. Following 10...f5 11.Nxd5 cxd5 12.b4!:
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Black chose a new move with 12...Nb7!? although following 13.Bb5+, a trade of light-squared bishops and Bb2 gives White good chances to conquer the dark squares in the centre. Despite this, Black held a good draw in Anton Guijarro, D - Khanin, S.
Next, onto the main line which proceeds 10.0-0 0-0 11.Re1 f5! 12.Nxe5 Qf6 13.Nf3 g5 14.c4 Nf4 15.Bf1 g4:
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Our next game, Zhang, J - Mahadevan, S, from the famous Hastings Masters, saw the well-explored variation with 16.d4 gxf3 17.Qxf3 Ne6 18.Qc3 Nb7 19.c5 Bc7 20.b4 a5 21.b5 cxb5 22.Bxb5 a4 when White went astray with 23.Rd1?. The theory can still continue much further from this position although I also present some interesting alternatives for Black on move 18.
The game which really grabbed my attention though was Kacharava, N - Geogrge, K back again at the World Rapid Championship. 16.c5!? was previously unknown to me, and led to fascinating play after 16...Bc7 17.d4 gxf3 18.Bxf4 Bxf4 19.Qxf3. I include a look at three other high-level games played previously in this line, including a quick win for theoretical expert Huschenbeth who we will see more of later in this update.
Spanish, Open: 6.d4 Be7 7.Re1 b5 8.Rxe4 [C84]
This line is an independent alternative for Black to the main line Open Spanish, which also seems to be sound and leading to interesting play. 8...d5 9.Nxe5 Nxe5 10.Rxe5 bxa4 11.Qe2 has all been often seen, but 11...f6!? 12.Re3 c5 is quite rare:
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This is engine-approved although my impression of the whole line is that Black needs to know their stuff incredibly well to enter these positions with confidence. In this game Garifullina, L - Tan, Z, Black began to take over before a wild ending where both sides missed clear wins in a time scramble eventually went in favour of the Chinese GM.
Open Spanish 9.Re1 Be7 10.c3 0-0 11.Nbd2 Nc5 12.Nd4 [C83]
Next, I want to look at two games where White plays Nd4 rather than allowing Black to free his position with ...d4 himself. Firstly this one is quite logical with Re1 played to defend the e5-pawn: the game continued 12...Qd7 13.Bc2 Bg4 14.f3 Bh5:
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Here White can do well with 15.Bf5! Ne6 16.Nf1 ensuring he can avoid the trade of light-squared bishops after 16...Bg6 17.Bh3. Instead 15.Nf1 Bg6 should be fine for Black, but we still saw some very thematic play later with an exchange sacrifice where White used his solid grip on the position to reach something which was at the very least much easier to handle for White, and he won en route to his (shared!?) first place in the World Blitz Championship in Carlsen, M - Aronian, L.
Open Spanish 9.c3 Be7 10.Nbd2 Nc5 11.Nd4!? [C83]
This one however without the Re1/0-0 inclusion is simply sacrificing the key central pawn. GM Niclas Huschenbeth is a theoretical expert who has seconded for Nakamura in the past, so it definitely needs to be taken seriously - and I like it! In the Bundesliga clash Huschenbeth, N - Stevic, H:
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Following 11...Nxe5 12.Bc2 Qd6 13.N2b3 Bg4 14.f3 Nxb3 15.Nxb3 Bd7?!, White won back the pawn although the ensuing ending should be pretty balanced. Instead 15...Be6 is critical, and I also explore several earlier alternatives for both sides in the notes.
Closed Spanish 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 [C84]
This absolute main line of the 6.d3 Spanish led to an interesting encounter in the all-American clash Dominguez, L - Niemann, H. Following the natural 8...0-0 9.h3 Bb7 10.Re1 Re8:
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The theory extends a lot further starting with the typical Italian manoeuvre Nbd2-f1-g3. Niemann played slightly imprecisely after a queen trade to reach a difficult rook ending, which has a couple of very instructive moments. It was White who came out on top here after Niemann missed a clear-cut chance to draw in the final moments.
See you next month, Harry
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