Download PGN of July ’25 1 e4 e5 games
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Petroff 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nd3!? [C43]
We start with this line I examined in the March update. Following the critical 4...Nxe4 5.Qe2 Qe7 6.Nf4 Nc6 7.Nd5 Nd4 8.Nxe7 Nxe2 9.Nd5 Nd4, Bulmaga, I - Tan, Z saw the most popular 10.Na3:
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I find the previous 10.d3 a bit more testing, as some of the positions after 10.Na3 become very equal. Still the former World Champion quickly ran into big strategic danger and had to fight hard to rescue half a point in the endgame.
Giuoco Piano 4.d3 Nf6 5.c3 h6 6.0-0 d6 [C54]
A hard-fought semifinal was finally decided in the blitz portion in Lei, T - Koneru, H. After 7.Nbd2 a5 8.Re1 0-0 9.h3 Be6 10.Bb5:
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I have a look at a few different thematic responses for Black to Bb5, including the game 10...Na7 11.Ba4 b5!? 12.Bc2 Nc6 which requires very active follow-ups to justify the weakening. Still, it worked out perfectly in the game as Lei failed to find a good setup and Humpy won a convincing game to advance to the final.
Giuoco Piano 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Be3 Bg4 [C54]
In the main tabiya after 11.h3 Bh5 12.Qc2, Black chose perhaps the least popular option recently in 12...Nxc3 13.bxc3 f6 in Deshmukh, D - Dronavali, H:
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Here White has two equal options leading to very different style of position, but I really liked Divya’s approach in the game of 14.Bxc6!? Bxf3 15.gxf3 bxc6 16.f4. The position seems much easier to handle with White to me and indeed Harika lost pretty quickly to see her knocked out at the quarterfinal stage.
Two Knights, Ulvestad Variation 5...Nd4 6.c3 [C57]
Jumping over to the Norwegian Championship, the eventual champion unleashed a very rare line with 6...h6 here:
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This gives White several tempting options although there is no path to a clear advantage - the kind of line where if Black is well-prepared, he should have very good practical chances despite it being a little less sound than the main lines. In the end Hammer did allow one winning chance, but it was missed and the game fizzled out to a draw in Kvaloy, A - Hammer, J.
Spanish 3...Nge7 4.Nc3 Ng6 5.h4!? [C60]
We will check both 3...Nge7 and 4...Nge7 in this update, but I find this game to be a very convincing demonstration against the former. Black continued with the main line 5...Nd4 6.Bc4 h5 7.Ng5 d5 in Panesar, V - Smirnov, M:
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This is a fascinating position where most previous games have continued 8.Bxd5? where White is actually lost! But after the best 8.Nxd5 Nxh4 9.d3 Nxg2+ 10.Kf1 Bg4, it is White who gets to choose how crazy he wants the position to be with the tempting 11.Qxg4!?. He won a nice game here and I find it a bit difficult to find a recommendation for Black in this whole line, actually.
Berlin 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 [C67]
A nice little sideline for White without too much risk was shown in Hammer, J - Vestby-Ellingsen, M. After 9.d4 Bf6, White can vary slightly from the main line with 10.Re2!?:
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This does have some subtle differences compared to the main 10.Re1, although Black reacted well for a while with 10...Nc4!? 11.Nc3 d5 12.b3 Nb6. Later on though he chose the wrong circuit to improve his knight on b6 and lost remarkably quickly, despite the obvious solidity of Black’s position.
Spanish 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nge7 5.c3 [C70]
Chinese IM Song Yuxin also picked some big scalps in the early rounds of the World Cup, including this crushing win in Song, Y - Javakhishvili, L. She had a sideline prepared with 5...Ng6 6.d4 exd4 7.h4!?:
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After 7...d3! 8.Qxd3, 8...Nge5?! was an unstable square and Black’s problems only worsened from here. However from a theoretical perspective, in this case Black’s position looks very reasonable after the better 8...h5!.
Spanish, Deferred Steinitz: 5.0-0 Bg4 6.h3 h5 [C72]
This very ambitious line for Black is perhaps not as bad objectively as I originally had in my mind. In Sokolovsky, Y - Trepat Herranz, J, White chose the safer 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.d4:
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Black’s best is 8...Qf6, when most players with White have simplified to an unbalanced but roughly equal ending to avoid the attacking danger. Instead 8...Bxf3?! 9.Qxf3 exd4 10.Re1 should have been really dangerous for Black, but the game showed the practical problems White can still face as he ended up having to suffer to make a draw with his much lower-rated opponent.
Until next month! Harry
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