Download PGN of November ’25 1 e4 e5 games
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Petroff Defence 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 Bc5 [C43]
An old but fascinating line was revived in Round 2 of the still-ongoing World Cup. Following 5.Qd5!? Bxf2+ 6.Ke2 f5 7.Nc3 c6:
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White’s idea in Harikrishna, P - Nesterov, A was the queen sacrifice 8.Nxe4!? cxd5 9.Nd6+ Kf8 10.Kxf2, giving two pieces and very interesting positional compensation. In the game, Black quickly went wrong and never recovered his position.
Four Knights 4.a3 [C47]
Starting with this fairly normal option, where Black should certainly respond with the thematic 4...d5. Then in Bivol, A - Batsiashvili, N, rather than entering a typical reversed Scotch Four Knights, White’s idea was 5.Bb5!? Nxe4 6.Qe2:
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Here it seems hard for White to find anything against 6...Qd6, whilst after the 6...Nxc3 of the game Black is also doing okay although both sides missed good chances in an eventual hard-fought draw.
Four Knights 4.Rb1!? [C47]
This one, however, seen in Mehmed, E - Bulmaga, I at the European Club Cup takes a little more effort to understand. Here 4...d5 would be less logical, as after 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.Bb5 Nxc3 7.bxc3 White clearly has a useful move over the reversed Scotch Four Knights.
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4...Bb4 seems like the toughest reply to justify White’s previous move, whilst White still seemed prepared after 4...g6!? 5.d4 exd4 6.Nxd4 Bg7 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.Bg5 and won a very nice game.
Italian Game, Two Knights 3...d6 4.c3 f5 [C50]
The US Championship last month saw a rare bad loss for White in Niemann, H - Caruana, F. Following the main 5.d3 Qf6!? Hans went for the very risky decision of 6.0-0?!:
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Black closing the position with 6...f4, which is a typical structure in this line, but with White having castled he now comes under a quick attack on the kingside. However, the engine still shows some instructive ways White could have created sufficient counterplay on the queenside.
Italian Game, Two Knights 3...d6 4.Nc3 [C50]
Already a rare fourth move by White, but Black showed good preparation to meet it with 4...Na5! 5.Be2 c5 in Ivic, V - Grandelius, N:
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Black reaches a nice accelerated version of this structure and played a nice game, but White fought back well to earn half a point.
Spanish, Anti-Berlin 4.d3 d6!? [C66]
The crucial last round of the European Team Championship saw a big fight in Kovalenko, I - Maroroa Jones, G. The game continued logically with 5.0-0 Bd7 6.Re1 g6 7.d4 Bg7:
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Here White faces an unpleasant practical decision where the only objectively ambitious move is 8.d5, but entering a King’s Indian structure especially against Gawain is not everyone’s cup of tea. Instead 8.dxe5 in the game was innocuous, but still led to an interesting game where Gawain eventually held the draw.
Spanish, Anti-Berlin 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxc6 dxc6 [C65]
A very funky idea from the same event in Van Foreest, J - Svane, R was 6.Bd2!? in this Anti-Berlin main line:
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A setup with Bc3 and potentially Nbd2-c4 would put maximum pressure on the e5-pawn, although this is pretty easy to defend. However it certainly caught Svane off-guard and he ran into trouble before saving a draw with some sudden counterplay in a major piece ending.
Spanish, Berlin Ending: 9.h3 Ke8 10.Nc3 h6 [C67]
Not the most theoretically relevant game to finish, but a good example of how even a 2700 player can run into strategic trouble in the Berlin ending. After 11.Rd1 Be7 12.g4 Nh4 13.Nxh4 Bxh4 14.Kg2:
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This type of position where Black went to c8 with the king and can connect the rooks with ...b6/Kb7 is more reasonable, but here Black struggles to fight against the kingside pawn expansion and he got run over in Niemann, H - Liang, A.
Until next month, Harry
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