Download PGN of April '14 1 d4 d5 games
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Open Catalan 5...c5 6 0-0 Nc6 7 dxc5 [E04]
The Open Catalan with 4...dxc4 5 Nf3 c5 6 0-0 Nc6 is a very logical counter to White's system, Black captures the pawn and (rather than try to defend it) hits straight back at White's centre before completing his kingside development:
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It is noticeable that elite players have been eschewing the mainline 7 Ne5 here and preferring 7 dxc5 recently. Instead of sacrificing a pawn for pressure, White heads for an endgame where he has a slight, risk-free edge.
In the game Andreikin - Mamedyarov, from the recently finished candidates, Black played an obvious improvement on a Delchev game and drew fairly comfortably. Still, this line would put me off playing Black here, as White is playing for just two results.
Incidentally, I was surprised to see that 7 Qa4 is so much more popular than the alternatives, as I thought Black could equalise easily - maybe it is time for us to have a look?
4...Be7 5 Nf3 0-0 6 0-0 dxc4 7 Qc2 b5 [E05]
The 4...Be7 5 Nf3 0-0 6 0-0 dxc4 line has become more attractive recently (to my mind) since it was shown that Black could answer 7 Qc2 with 7...b5 8 a4 b4:
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Unfortunately, when I tried this line myself, my opponent, Terry Chapman, was reasonably well prepared as he had, quite by chance, looked at this section in Bologan's book on the book stall just before the game, and he kept a small advantage with 9 Nbd2.
The critical move is probably 9 Nfd2, where White sacrifices his d-pawn for strong positional pressure. Ftacnik - Sanikidze is theoretically important as Black improves on previous play with a suggestion of Ruslan's and almost immediately gains the advantage.
4...Be7 5 Nf3 0-0 6 0-0 dxc4 7 Ne5, 11 Na3!? [E05]
Instead of 7 Qc2, 7 Ne5 is an important battleground. In the candidates tournament, after the mainline 7...Nc6 8 Bxc6 bxc6 9 Nxc6 Qe8 10 Nxe7+ Qxe7 Kramnik tried to avoid his opponent's preparation, in Kramnik - Anand, with the unusual 11 Na3!?:
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However, Anand diffused this by sacrificing a pawn to weaken White's structure and, as is typical of this line, his counterplay on the light squares was more than adequate.
4...Be7 5 Nf3 0-0 6 0-0 dxc4 7 Ne5, 11 Qa4 c5 [E05]
Zhukova - Navara features the mainline 11 Qa4, but rather than play the theoretically strongest move 11...e5! Navara preferred 11...c5:
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Now I thought that this was a bit dodgy for Black, but if a 2700 player is willing to play it then it has to be taken seriously. White avoided the critical line (see the notes), and instead found herself a pawn up, but facing a strong initiative on the light squares. The usual story here, and once again featuring an unhappy ending for White!
Closed Catalan with ...Bb4+ [E08]
There was a thread on the Forum complaining that there is no way for White to gain an advantage in the ...Bb4+ Closed Catalan, and which appeared to come to the interesting conclusion that White should avoid Bd2 and prefer Nd2.
Nyback - Ribli looks at the line 8 Qc2 b6 9 Rd1 Nbd7 10 Bf4 Ba6 11 Ne5 Rc8 12 Nc3 Bxc4 13 Nxc4 dxc4 14 e4 b5, first played by Michael Adams in 2009:
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and although White wins easily here, my conclusion is that Black is fine. I should also point out that I would actually play a different way as Black (see the notes), which seems to offer the second player a lot more fun!
Looking at these lines with the ChessBase repertoire function and a strong engine does indeed give the impression that Black has no problems, but, of course, when you have Black against a strong player who knows his theory and White's best plans OTB ... that's another story!
Closed Catalan 4...Be7, mainline 13 Bb2 [E09]
While playing ...Bb4+ - e7 may be best objectively speaking (the white bishop is often misplaced on d2), it is not always possible, and the last two games feature Réti/English Opening move orders where Black never actually gets the chance to play ...Bb4+, and so has to play the bishop straight to e7. In other words Black has to be prepared to play the 4...Be7 lines anyway. In fact, even if White allows ...Bb4+ and then plays Bf4, answered by ...Nh5-f6, it's likely that play will transpose back into the 4...Be7 mainlines should White avoid a repetition and play ...Bc1-b2.
In Georgiev - Zufic, I take a good look at the 13 Bb2 mainline:
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and come to the conclusion that all is not what it seems! Some of the 'good' variations are bad, and some of the lesser variations are, in fact, superior! In particular, I discovered that some analysis of Ruslan's is flawed.
The game features a queen sac line that was dismissed many years ago, but that turns out to be perfectly satisfactory.
Closed Catalan 4...Be7, 13 Nf1 [E09]
In Macieja - Kovalyov I wanted to have a look at White's two main alternatives, 13 Qf5 and 13 Nf1:
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and again come to some surprising conclusions. For instance, playing ...cxd4 is often a bit dodgy, as Nxd4-f5 is so strong in many lines, and White's Qf5-h3 lines are close to being simply bad!
The actual game was a strange affair where White won a pawn for nothing, was completely winning, then drawing, then completely losing, and then drawing (just) again after the time control! So much for Grandmaster technique!
Best wishes, Tony
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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.