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Sometimes White is not brave enough to accept Black's challenge and go into the troubled waters of the Noteboom Variation or the Marshall Gambit, and so he defends his c-pawn with 4. e3. As a rule White gets a solid position but this less ambitious approach allows Black to obtain acceptable play.

Download PGN of April '11 1 d4 d5 games

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Slav StoneWall [D30]

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c6 4 e3:

Foisor,S - Kashlinskaya: White's aggressive g2-g4 pawn push against the Slav StoneWall is not as effective if he has already moved his bishop from f1, which is the point of Black's delaying ...f7-f5 on move 4. In this game White grabbed her opponent's central pawn but it just helped Black to develop an annoying initiative.

Grigorian - Savchenko,B: A transposition to the Slav StoneWall gave Black a good position. White played slowly and allowed his opponent to begin some play on both flanks! At some point Black's chances looked preferable but time trouble played its role and he eventually went astray...

Kotanjian - Grigorian: The sideline with 4.Nbd2 gives White a solid position while a transposition to the StoneWall is one of the best Black possibilities in reply. White's plan with e2-e3 is harmless for Black and he quickly got comfortable play here - however, his K-side initiative was only sufficient for a draw.

Pashikian - Grigorian White's plan of fianchettoing his K-side bishop looks more promising but Black is able to obtain good play. His K-side advances put some pressure on his opponent but after a blunder in the approaching time trouble he was already happy with a draw when White returned the favour.


Slav Triangle [D30-31]

Melkumyan - Pashikian: An early queen's advance is usually played with the knight on f3 while here White did it with the knight on c3:

It looks a bit odd as it gives Black a chance to play a series of moves like ...d5xc4 followed by ...b7-b5-b4, pushing the knight. Thus Black did not have any problems obtaining good play and eventually won a drawish ending thanks to his opponent's inaccuracies.

Sharavdorj - Gareev: The departure from the main line by 4.Qc2 is still not so deeply analysed. As a rule, Black's approach with ...d5xc4 gives him decent counter chances but an early capture allows White to build a strong pawn center and so keep chances for an advantage. Here Black's thematic ...c6-c5 gave him active play for the pawn but perhaps White could still have maintained an edge.

Bologan - Grigorian: Here Black chose a more solid approach in reply to 4.Qc2. White was able to keep the initiative with a new continuation on move 16 but Black's play could be improved.

Arutinian - Galkin: An early 4. Bg5 followed by the exchange of dark-squared bishops gives White very solid play but at the same time it promotes his opponent's development:

It becomes rather difficult for White to stop the freeing ...c6-c5 and so Black gradually solves his problems.

Perdomo - Leitao: An early transposition to the Carlsbad pawn structure is not very promising for White:

Black gets a good chance to exchange his light-squared bishop, after which some of White's typical plans, such as the "minority attack", become less effective...



See you next month, Ruslan

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If you have any questions, then please post a message at the 1 d4 d5 Forum, or subscribers can email me at ruslan@chesspublishing.com.