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I’ll look at three important variations this month: the Advance Variation with 5 Nf3 Bd7, the Steinitz Variation, and the main line Winawer with 7 h4.

Download PGN of March ’22 French games

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Advance Variation 5...Bd7 6 Be2 Nge7 7 0-0 Ng6 [C02]

Fabiano Caruana has been a fan of the line 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Bd7 6 Be2 Nge7 for some time, along with French Defence players such as Nepomniachtchi and Korobov. We have seen quite a few games with 7 Na3 here, but 7 0-0 is also popular, when most players choose 7...Ng6:











Grandelius,Nils, N - Caruana, F, Wijk aan Zee 2022, covers numerous examples of recent play in this position.


Advance Variation 5...Bd7 6 Be2 Rc8 7 0-0 Nge7 [C02]

Lately Black has played 6...Rc8 more often, and after 7 0-0, 7...a6 and 7...h6. One further option is 7...Nge7, as in this month’s game Novak, P - Kanovsky, D, Extraliga Czech Republic 2022; notice that this is a transposition to the above order, but with 7...Rc8 instead of 7...Ng6. A potential drawback to this order is 8 dxc5 Ng6 9 b4:











This kind of position tends to favor White, and in the game he got excellent chances.


Advance Variation 5...Bd7 6 Be2 f6 7 0-0 fxe5 8 dxe5 [C02]

Another line that we’ve paid particular attention to after 6 Be2 is 6...f6, when 7 0-0 fxe5 8 Nxe5 is the main line, but a number of strong players have tried 8 dxe5:











Then 8...Nh6 is Edouard’s recommendation, which I have examined again in the notes to this month’s game Durarbayli, V - Liodakis, K, Katowice 2021. In the game itself, 8...Qc7 9 Re1 followed, with play that was double-edged, but I think generally more dangerous for Black than White.


Advance Variation 5...Bd7 6 Be2 f6 7 0-0 fxe5 8 Nxe5 Nxe5 9 dxe5 Qc7 [C02]

Returning to 8 Nxe5, 8...Nxe5 is normal, and here we’ve seen a number of games in which White tries to force things in the center with c4. The slower option 10 Re1 was seen in Dvirnyy, D - Esplugas, V Esteve, Barcelona 2022.











After 10....0-0-0 11 Bf1, Black played 11...Ne7, which isn’t terrible, but I suspect that the knight is better off on h6 in these positions.



Classical Steinitz Variation 5 f4 c5 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Be3 a6 8 a3 cxd4 9 Nxd4 Bc5 [C11]

After 3 Nc3 Nf6, the Steinitz Variation with 4 e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Be3 continues to be the most popular battleground among top players. In the hotly-disputed line 7...a6 8 a3 cxd4 9 Nxd4 Bc5 10 Qd2, Black has tried numerous ways to simplify and equalize.











Recently, Nepomniachtchi experimented with the remarkable idea 10...g5!? . My engine puts eight other moves ahead of this one, but it’s not bad at all. In Nakamura, H - Bacrot, E, Grand Prix Berlin 2022, White was well prepared with 11 Nf3!, and Black in turn found 11...d4!. Although White had a slight early edge, it wasn’t much and the game ended in an early draw.

In the same tournament, the day before, Bacrot had played the conventional 10...0-0 in Esipenko, A - Bacrot, E, FIDE Grand Prix Berlin 2022, and White replied 11 0-0-0 (11 Qf2 g5!? is interesting):











Here Black played 11...Rb8 12 h4 Bxd4 13 Bxd4 b5, when after 14 Rh3, it remains to be seen if White’s small edge should be enough to dissuade Black from playing this way. In the game, Black equalized but then lost the thread.


Classical Steinitz Variation 7 Be3 Qb6 8 Na4 Qa5+ 9 c3 b6 10 Bd2 c4 11 b4 Nxb4 [C11]

Another anti-Steinitz line goes 7...Qb6 8 Na4 Qa5+ 9 c3 b6 10 Bd2 c4 11 b4 Nxb4 12 cxb4 Bxb4, which has been played frequently and analysed at length over the years.











I was surprised to see that the approved solution 13 Qc2 has not been yielding a significant advantage recently, which may explain why in Andreikin, D - Artemenko, O, Titled Tuesday Jan18 chess.com 2022, White tried 13 Bxb4. This led to full equality, and we are left wondering whether 7...Qb6 will undergo a full revival.



Winawer Mainline 7 h4 Qc7 8 Nf3 b6 9 Bb5+ Bd7 10 Bd3 Ba4 [C19]

Both White and Black continue to be willing to enter the complex Winawer lines with 3...Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 a3 bxc3+ 6 bxc3 Ne7 7 h4, with mixed results. For a few years now the higher-rated players with Black have tended to play 7...Qc7, perhaps following the lead of Nepomniachtchi. Unfortunately, a lot of the best recent examples have been Blitz games, so I’ll use those to give a flavor of the play, try to clarify what the key lines are, and wait for some more serious contests to dig deeper in a future column. Mekhitarian, K - Nepomniachtchi, I, Titled Tue 8th Feb 2022, saw 8 Nf3 b6 9 Bb5+ Bd7 10 Bd3:











There are some move order issues here. The game went 10...Ba4 11 h5 h6, entering a main line, which White might also have gotten via 9 h5 intending 9...h6 10 Bb5+, etc. But in this case, Black also had the trick 11...cxd4 12 cxd4 Qd3+ 13 Bd2 Qxd3 with full equality, so players should be aware of the nuances here. At any rate, the game shows typical ideas until the usual Blitz oversights take over.


Winawer Mainline 7 h4 Qc7 8 h5 h6 9 Nf3 b6 10 Bb5+ Bd7 11 Bd3 Ba4 [C19]

The veteran Alexander Rustemov has been involved in a number of highly theoretical Winawer games in the past few years, including numerous Blitz games in the position after 7 h4 Qc7. In Karttunen, M - Rustemov, A, Titled Tuesday 30th Nov 2021, I look at various move orders after 8 h5 h6:











The game continued 9 Nf3 (with a note on 9 Rb1) 9...b6 10 Bb5+ (Rustemov also faced 10 a4) 10...Bd7 11 Bd3 Ba4, transposing to the Nepomniachtchi game above, but Rustemov’s opponents varied at this point and in general his games give us a good feel for the play on both sides.



Till next month, John

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