Download PGN of January ’25 Daring Defences games
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English Defence 3.e4 Bb7 4.Bd3 Bb4+ 5.Kf1 [A40]
Another favourite opening of mine is the English Defence, the opening which Black played here, in Sarana, A - Juksta, K:
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The English Defence was made very popular by a number of English players in the 70s and 80s, but White has found some good ways of meeting the opening, and I will show you the White systems that I am afraid of in this game.
Dutch Defence 2.Bg5 g6 3.h4 [A80]
Sevian, S - Rendle, T was one of several great victories for Thomas Rendle during an infamous 'Titled Tuesday' tournament. Thomas's win against Kramnik rather angered the older man, who started to throw some unsavoury accusations Thomas's way.
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Having lost to Thomas numerous times, I know just how dangerous Thomas is! Thomas is also an expert in the Dutch opening, especially the Leningrad Dutch, so it is always interesting watching how he handles certain set ups.
Classical Dutch, Fluid Centre 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Qc2 Nxc3 9.bxc3 [A96]
I noticed the game Navara, , D - Vlachos, A as it brought back memories of an encounter that I had with Shirov nearly 20 years ago, a game which you can find in the PGN Archive.
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It still surprises me that incredible strong players, playing on the White side, are still not sure about the best way to face this tricky variation. As we see in this game, Black was completely fine out of the opening.
Dutch Stonewall 6.b3 d6 7.Bb2 a5 [A81]
Andreikin, D - Vlachos, D is another Titled Tuesday Classical Dutch.
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Andreikin is clearly a big hitter and not the most theoretical of players so it is interesting to see how he approaches the opening. The less theoretical plans shouldn't give White much of anything, but Black still needs to grab the opportunities when they appear...
Dutch Stonewall, Rapport System 7.Ne5 [A92]
Tikhonov, V - Rodriguez, S is another interesting encounter in the 'Rapport Dutch':
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Black has to be careful when committing to ...h5 as it can sometimes backfire. Saying that, the risk worked out perfectly in this game!
Dutch Stonewall, Rapport System 7.b3 Nc6 8.Ba3 [A92]
I have picked a lot of games from Titled Tuesday for this month's update, these games are obviously not the most accurate as they are played at a quicker time limit. Saying that, Titled Tuesday is a breeding ground for many interesting ideas, and De Souza, CG - Silva, L is a case in point.
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This game peaked my interest as 10 h4 was suggested in this position by a number of kibitzers who saw my game against Stanley Badacsonyi (see last month). I was planning to play a similar idea to what Black did here: ...g5 to break up the Kingside.
Dutch Stonewall 5.Nc3 Bd6 8.Bg5 [A85]
I have recently started to play the standard Stonewall frequently, I feel it is a great opening for anyone to have in their repertoire, it is the only opening against 1 d4 where Black actually gets a space advantage.
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So if you like having extra space the Stonewall is for you! Bok, B - Wei Yi is an encounter between two heavy hitters, and it is very interesting to see how they both play.
Till next month, Simon.
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