Download PGN of December ’24 1 e4 e5 games
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Petroff: 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 d5 5.Nbd2 [C43]
Let’s begin with the Petroff, always a stiff test for a 1.e4 player. This line seems to be a trendy option recently with 4...Bc5 requiring a lot of knowledge from Black to equalise whilst here the clever 5...Qd7 was met with the main move 6.Bd3:
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This is in contrast to the rare 6.Nd4 I analysed recently here. Our current game Pichot, A - Stoyanov, T all followed a recent European Club Cup game down to move 13 - whilst Black should be okay, White is also succeeding in reaching a more complicated position against the Petroff. This particular game led to a wild queen ending with many mutual mistakes, where the higher-rated player with White eventually prevailed.
Petroff: 3.d4 exd4!? [C43]
One option I didn’t mention for Black above was his choice on the third move in the all-Greek clash Patrelakis, E - Theodorou, N. It is generally considered inferior due to the position after 4.e5 Ne4 5.Qxd4 d5 6.exd6 Nxd6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.Qf4, but the strong Greek GM demonstrated the very rare 8...h6!?:
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A useful waiting move it seems, although 9.Bd3 g5! has been seen in a previous game by Theodorou! Here 9.h4!? responded in kind, but the inclusion tended to be in Black’s favour as he impressively defeated his 2400+ rated opponent.
Giuoco Piano 5.Nc3 [C50]
I am cheekily combining one of my own games with Game 2 from the World Championship match to examine this line. First we saw 5...a6 6.a4 in Ding, L - Gukesh, D. This led to the logical sequence 6...d6 7.0-0 h6 8.Be3 Be6:
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Here Ding produced the novelty 9.a5!? which proved to be a very important space gain on the queenside in the symmetrical structure that later followed. Sadly starting the trend of the match, Ding declined to press in the more pleasant position and allowed a repetition of moves.
In my own game, the immediate 5...d6 was played by my GM opponent in Grieve, H - Omelja, A. This allows a different approach of taking the bishop pair with 6.Na4 Bb6 7.a3!? and reaching a slightly less symmetrical position after 7...h6 8.h3 Be6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.b4:
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This should be slightly more pleasant for White but I showed a lack of understanding by immediately allowing Black to trade a pair of knights and was lucky to grind out a win in a later rook ending.
Two Knights 8.Qf3 cxb5 [C58]
With all the focus on 8.Bd3 recently it was refreshing to see a couple of recent games in this line. Black has a huge number of options, but we followed one of the most critical lines with 9.Qxa8 Qc7 10.Qf3 Nc6 11.c3 Bg4 12.Qg3 Nd4 13.0-0 Ne2 in Abdulla, M - Binu, D:
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Here 14.Qe3 is the main move and would be my recommendation for White, whilst 14.Qd3 of the game can also lead to wild complications. Both sides missed good chances to take the advantage before Murad finally pounced on move 21 to win an exciting game.
Spanish 3...a6 4.Ba4 b5 5.Bb3 Na5 [C70]
Another thrilling game during the Qatar Masters was played by the top seed in Erigaisi, A - Pranesh, M. In this sideline, Arjun responded with a critical line 6.0-0 d6 7.d4 exd4 8.Re1!?:
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Pranesh went wrong with 8...Ne7? allowing a strong piece sacrifice which Arjun underestimated. The younger Indian GM had his 2800-rated opponent on the ropes for much of what followed, but Erigaisi handled the complications well in the ending and managed to salvage half a point.
Spanish 5.Nc3 Bc5 [C77]
Black omitting ...b5 has some positive aspects for him in this line, although it does allow White an extra option of the pawn grab with 6.Bxc6!? dxc6 7.Nxe5. Black can regain the material with 7...Bxf2+ 8.Kxf2 Qd4+ 9.Ke1 Qxe5 10.d3:
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Probably Black needs to activate with the clever 10...0-0 11.Qf3 Nd5! Whereas instead 10...Ng4 followed by grabbing the h2-pawn proved a step too far in Akhmetov, A - Khoder A as White won a much more pleasant rook and opposite-colour bishop ending.
Spanish 5.0-0 d6 6.Bxc6+!? [C79]
We finish with an interesting option for White against this trendy 5...d6 system. I previously saw a game between Alexei Shirov and Gawain Jones which wasn’t a great advert of the line from the white side, but following 6...bxc6 7.d4 exd4 8.Nxd4 c5 9.Nc6 Qd7 10.Na5 Qa4!:
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Already Black has had a couple of unpleasant options to avoid along the way here and now it turns out that the 11.Qe1! of Zou, C - Manish Anto, C scores 75% for White in practice. The position is certainly irregular with a later b3/c4 setup often completely trapping White’s knight on a5, but so far it seems harder for Black to play over-the-board and this game ended no differently.
All the best, Harry
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