Download PGN of August ’25 1 d4 d5 2 c4 games
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QGD Cambridge Springs with 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qd2 Bb4 9.Rc1 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Ba3 [D52]
The British girl prodigy, Bodhana Sivanandan, may well have the Shankland course judging from the game Hebden, M - Sivanandan, B. Shankland gives the line 8.Qd2 Bb4 9.Rc1 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Ba3 11.Rb1 b6 for Black:
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which has not previously been covered here. Mark Hebden told me that he was happy to get his preparation in, but he didn’t know this line had been recommended by Shankland. I’m not convinced that White has any objective advantage after the further 12.0-0 Ba6 13.Bd3 0-0 14.0-0 Rfe8 15.e5, but Black needs to time the counterplay well.
One thing in Black’s favour is the elimination of White’s light square bishop, which does a lot to keep White’s kingside attacking chances under control. There’s a case for doing this with 13...Bxd3 14.Qxd3 0-0:
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as happened in Tomczak, J - Andersen, M and Albornoz Cabrera, C - Husbands, O. Black was fine in both of these games, and especially after Albornoz Cabrera’s loss of time with 16.Bd2.
However, it’s clear that Black needs to watch out for White’s kingside attacking chances. In Savchenko, B - Das, S, White chose to belatedly prevent the exchange of bishops by meeting 13...0-0 with 14.c4:
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but White’s pawn centre is less impressive than it looks because it can be undermined with ...c6-c5 or ...e6-e5.
A move I find quite appealing is the 12.Qd3:
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of Pauli, P - Dotzer, L, partly because it prevents Black’s ...Bc8-a6 and partly because the highly professional Anton Korobov has used this approach in a couple of games. Unable to exchange the light square bishops Black settled for the exchange of the dark square ones. Perhaps White should try 17.c4, as given in the notes, but it still doesn’t seem like much.
QGD Cambridge Springs with 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Qd2 Bb4 9.Rc1 h6 10.Bh4 0-0 [D52]
Moving on from the Shankland treatment, Firouzja, A - Fedoseev, V followed a previous update by Ruslan Scherbakov with 9...h6 10.Bh4 0-0 11.a3 Bxc3 12.bxc3:
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and now Black varied from the Khalifman, A - Gurevich, M game with 12...N5f6 rather than 12...Qxa3. Firouzja went on to win a nice game, but Fedoseev’s 13...b6 novelty seems very reasonable.
QGD Cambridge Springs with 8.Rc1 [D52]
The lines with 8.Qd2 and 8.Rc1 can theoretically transpose, but after 8.Rc1 Bb4 White has 9.a3. In one recent big game (Carlsen, M - Keymer, V) Black answered 8.Rc1 with 8...Nxc3 9.bxc3 Ba3, which forces 10.Rc2:
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In this game Keymer then played 10...c5, which must surely have been prepared at home together with his 11.Bd3 cxd4 12.exd4 b6 novelty. Black soon got a good position, and I was left wondering if Carlsen really overlooked 14.Bf4 Bb7!.
In Sargissian, G - Sumunenkov, I, Black interposed 8...h6 before taking on c3, but would later unveil an improvement with 9.Bh4 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Ba3 11.Rc2 b6 12.Be2 Ba6 13.0-0 Bxd2 14.Rxe2 0-0 15.c4 and now 15...Rac8
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This is nothing stunning, but it does give Black a rather comfortable game.
Shankland claims that the Semi-Slav, in conjunction with the Cambridge Springs, is Black’s best defence to 1.d4. Perhaps he has a point
See you next month! Nigel
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