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I have some good news to share with you guys - this is my first update as a GM-elect! I attained my final Grandmaster norm earlier this month (hence why this update was held up). As for our variations this time, we have mostly solid, strategic openings where I offer up some new plans, but as a Christmas 'present' I also have a novelty on move 7 to share! Looks like the Queen's Gambit isn't inexhaustible after all... anyway, to the chess!

Download PGN of December '15 1 d4 d5 2 c4 games

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Krause Variation of the Slav [D19]

A great way to improve your understanding of openings is to ask questions about the moves you're studying. Even thinking about why you play your early moves can help implant the key strategic concepts in your head.

In the case of a certain question I received earlier this month from a subscriber, actually it brought my attention to some very interesting and little-explored alternatives! An enthusiastic reader asked why, after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.e3 e6 7.Bxc4 Bb4 8.0-0 Nbd7 9.Qe2 0-0 10.e4 Bg6 11.Bd3, Black usually plays the move 11...Bh5, but after 12.e5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qe3, Black often retreats the bishop back to g6 later, as happened with 14...Re8 15.Ng5 Bg6 in the game L'Ami-Nyback:

A key point in the above position is that we would like to play the ...e5 break, and therefore by pinning with 11...Bh5, we create the threat of ...e5, challenging White's imposing pawn centre. Then two questions came to my mind - what's wrong with the other typical Slav break of 11...c5, and what if you prepare ...e5 with a developing move like 11...Re8? I cover both these moves in the notes and actually I think they both give Black equality with best play!

Since I was on a roll, I also updated the ChessPub analysis of the main line 11...Bh5 12.e5 Nd5 13.Nxd5 cxd5 14.Qe3, when I want to show the position after 14...Re8 15.Ng5 Bg6 too:

The reason we play ...Bg6 on a strategic level is because the pawn structure has changed drastically compared to when we played 11...Bh5 - now it's a French structure! With White's central pawns fixed on dark squares, his light-squared bishop is now his 'good' bishop, and furthermore with the position quite closed we can afford to spend the two tempi moving the bishop back and forth to achieve our strategic objectives (such as trading White's good bishop).

My one tip for White in this line - check out L'Ami's recent games!



3.e3 e5 Queen's Gambit Accepted [D20]

When one thinks of the variation, the subsequent moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 e5 4.Bxc4 exd4 5.exd4 Nf6 6.Nf3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 come fairly automatically, with 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.h3 h6 being a quite significant tabiya position. However, in Sethuraman - Li Chao from the recent Qatar Masters, Black rolled the dice with 4...Nc6:

It's a pity this line isn't sound as I'm drawn to these kinds of unusual ideas, but 5.Nf3 e4 6.Qb3! is just too much of a headache. Black really should stick to the main lines against 3.e3.



Semi-Tarrasch Main Line [D41]

With the game Topalov - Carlsen from the London Chess Classic, we start our journey into what's hot in the QGD. Actually I've been keeping an eye on developments after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.bxc3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Bb4 9.Bd2 Bxd2 10.Qxd2 0-0 11.Bc4 for a while now, and the latest trend is for White to advance his a-pawn fairly quickly, such as in the following position:

White's idea is to exert pressure on the Black queenside, given that with the knight on d7 it is not easy to make a d5 or e5 break work by force. However, my analysis suggests that it is very important to meet a4 with ...a5!, fixing the a4-pawn as a target and preventing further pressure on Black's queenside. Sure, b6 becomes a backward pawn, and the engines are not convinced, but I don't see an edge for White! Actually the idea is older than you might think - this ...a5 idea was discussed in Fabrego's 'True Lies in Chess', and I'm anticipating further GM games with this plan (Black even wins the odd game with it!).



The Anti-Moscow Gambit [D43]

While this site mainly focuses on the latest theory, when preparing your repertoire you should also have an idea how to meet certain tricky sidelines (especially in the Semi-Slav!). In many cases your opponent can play a move that's objectively inferior, but where they will get a comfortable game if you do not know a very concrete move or idea.

So we momentarily go back to the correspondence game Romizin - Muzyka, which shows how to punish the line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 b4?!:

Actually, once you play through the notes you'll wonder what all the fuss was about as White's refutation is quite straightforward - but you probably know from personal experience that it can be a different story when faced with an unknown situation over the board! Also this 9...b4 line has been recommended as fine for Black in some major sources, so remembering the antidote could score you at least one straightforward win!



The Anti-Meran 7.Rg1!? [D45]

Of course, the position after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Nf3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 has been explored in a vast amount of depth. If you check some top level games like the ones I've analysed from here in the Archives, you could easily think the real theoretical battle doesn't start until move 15 or later. However, earlier this year I noticed the possibility of 7.Rg1!?N, a delayed sort of Shabalov-Shirov Attack:

The sophisticated point is that after 7.g4, 7...h6 leaves White without a great way to play on the kingside, whereas now after ...h6 White is not committed to g4 and can continue developing normally with Bd2 and 0-0-0, waiting for Black to castle before attacking with g4-g5. Of course, Black has more than one way to equalise, as shown in Biedermann - Waters, but I think this could be quite a dangerous weapon in a fast time-control game - at the very least it will come as a big surprise! Embrace your creative desires, give it a go and let me know how your game went!



Tartakower QGD [D58]

Having enjoyed some nice hacking games, it's time to juxtapose them with some positional grinding, although even in the strategic waters of 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 0-0 7.e3 b6 8.Be2 Bb7 9.Bxf6 Bxf6 10.cxd5 exd5 11.b4 c6, there can be some dangers lurking, as shown by Giri - Adams from the European Team Championship:

Here Giri went for 13.Rc1, when Adams mixed up the important 13.Qb3 a5! variation and played 13...a5 here, but thanks to a nice trick White managed to obtain an advantage. For the antidotes to White's strategic ideas, you'll have to check the notes - I've set out the strategic principles so you can confidently handle these tranquil positions (where the computer evaluations aren't so meaningful).



Closed Catalan Main Line 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 [E05]

Do you know what the main line of the Catalan is nowadays? It's the classical variation 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6, where many top players have been trying their luck to squeeze out a small plus. In the game Markus - Wojtaszek I analyse in quite some detail the ramifications of meeting the trendy 10.Bg5 with the main move, 10...Bd5.

Typically it leads to a position like the following:

Indeed this happened in the game, and White has tried to break Black's position, but without much luck - Black has no weaknesses and the White bishop is restrained by Black's pawns on the light squares. There are alternatives (as one would expect in a more positional line) but in all cases Black emerges with an extremely robust position where his ideas are quite straightforward.

I think White's best try is to put his queen on d1 (12.Qd1) rather than the game's 12.Qc1, but that's a subject for another update!


Closed Catalan with 6.Qc2 [E06]

After playing through the previous game, you can probably understand why some players looked for deviations earlier, and in the London Chess Classic, Nakamura - Anand demonstrated that White can ask Black some questions with the 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Qc2 variation. We have seen it before on ChessPublishing, but I went into more depth, finding that in general, Black's most common continuations actually left him struggling for equality. I think this is a great approach in the modern era - to find variations where the opponent's most natural/common moves have some strategic problem.

Actually Anand acquitted himself very well, playing an inspired pawn sacrifice:

At this point Black has full compensation for the pawn from an objective standpoint, but the position was not to Anand's taste and Nakamura played a fantastic game to score the full point. Those endorsing Black's cause should follow Anand's play (deviating on move 17 or 18), while this sideline is probably most effective as a back-up to more mainstream systems.



Well, that's the last Queen's Gambit update for 2015, and we've covered so many ideas and variations that I'm already starting to lose track! Fortunately they're all linked in the ChessPub Guides for subscribers! Before I forget, Happy New Year! I'm even making a New Year's Resolution to be more prompt with the 2016 updates!

Max

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