Download PGN of August '06 1 d4 d5 games
Open Catalan [E04-05]
The first game is analysed by Tony Kosten
When John-Paul sent me last month's Catalan games, I had just started playing a strong GM tournament in Besancon, France, and in his email he wrote: "Good luck in the tournament!! Try the Catalan :) Risk free way to play for a win!" ... and so I did (!) and my opponent played Naiditsch's 8...Bd7!? 9 Qb3 Na5:
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Naturally, having seen J-P's annotations I was quite well prepared for this, but my opponent played a good new move and managed to equalise. A few days later I noticed the very same position appear in the game Tkachiev - Libiszewski, and as 8 Qb5 is Vlad's very own variation, I paid quite a lot of attention to this. Anyway, I guess Vlad played the opening better than me, won easily, and went on to become French Champion - my own game is in the notes. TonyK
The Positional Main line 8 a4
As I mentioned last month, 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4!? is a critical line:
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Then 8...Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4!? and here this bishop move, a favourite of Tkachiev (again!), is very interesting. After 10...Nd5 11.Nc3! Nxf4 12.gxf4 White was already better in Pappaioannou - Iordachescu.
However, the main line here is still 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bg5!?:
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and here Rozentalis showed that a rare line for Black deserves serious attention. He continued 10...Bd5 11.Qd3 Be4 12.Qe3 Nbd7 13.Nc3 Bxf3!? 14.Bxf3 c6 15.e4 Qa5!?:
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and after 16.e5!? Nd5 17.Bxe7 Nxe7 a middle game arose in Beliavsky - Rozentalis that is difficult to assess, but in any case Rozentalis was at least equal, if not better, for a large part of the game. Certainly this is a good choice for players that like to fight with the knights against the two bishops!
The unusual move 8...c5 was tried in Granda Zuniga-Rowson and after 9.dxc5 Nc6 the move 10.Be3 was played, giving the game an original flavour. Rowson was happy to oblige and after 10...Nd5 11.Bd2 Na5!?:
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a very messy position arose that should have been ok for my fellow ChessPublishing.com commentator.
Slav - Geller Gambit [D15]
Lots of subscribers asked for this, and so we have had a look at some recent attacking ideas for White. The line starts 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.e4:
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Play normally continues after 5...b5 6.e5 Nd5 7.a4 e6 by 8.axb5 Nxc3 9.bxc3 cxb5 10.Ng5, but earlier this year I was discussing this position with Simon Williams, and he thought that it was better to keep White's queenside options flexible, and so I have decided to look at some alternatives here.
First, 8.Be2!? is a very interesting move and, although it is extremely rare, it was actually played by Geller himself!
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The idea is to develop whilst keeping White's options open, see Yurtaev - Kobese.
8.Ng5!? is another interesting and rare attacking idea, aimed at maximising the flexibility of White's forces:
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This is examined in both Vitiugov - Amonatov, and the sharp attacking game Williams - Collins.
John-Paul
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.