Download PGN of January '14 1 d4 d5 games
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Main Slav 5...Bf5, 11...g5!? [D17]
Kramnik - Giri: Following his clever novelty 18 h4!:
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Vladimir Kramnik successfully converted his small advantage and it seems that Black's task in this line is more difficult than had been supposed.
The Slow Slav 4 Qc2 [D23]
Hoang Thanh Trang-Barbosa: Here Black came up with a spectacular queen sacrifice ... first for one piece:
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then two minor pieces, followed by a clever novelty, then found some interesting resources to maintain his initiative, and actually proved that he had full compensation for the queen. However, it was eventually not enough to get any points - just a few slight inaccuracies and White's huge material advantage began to tell...
Moscow Variation 6 Bh4, 9...Bb7 10 Qc2 [D43]
Johansson - Ivanov: White came up with an interesting new idea, 11 Nd2!?:
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and eventually converted his slight edge into a full point.
Johansson - Nizky: A series of energetic moves helped White discover some drawbacks to Black's rare approach, gain a tangible advantage and convert it in the ending with surgical precision.
Moscow Variation 6 Bh4 early e4-e5 [D43/4]
Dubov - Shirov: A rare line led to a total mess:
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At one point White had a chance to exploit his opponent's inaccuracy but it was really not easy to keep things under control and he eventually went astray and lost.
Babula - Prohaszka: Black came up with a clever novelty here:
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and conclusively solved his problems in a complex line.
Moscow Variation 6 Bh4, 9 h4 g4 10 Ne5 [D43]
Shirov - Dubov: On the very next day the players continued their discussion in the same variation with reversed colours, and yet again Alexei Shirov outplayed his less experienced opponent in sharp complications. Daniil Dubov played a somewhat strange-looking mixture of plans and gave himself problems. However, his approach might be playable, though it certainly requires some improvement...
QGD Cambridge Springs 7 cd5 Nxd5 8 Qd2 N7b6 [D52]
Johansson - Montella: The old main line is not very popular nowadays. Black wins a pawn but the lack of development and the absence of his dark-squared bishop cause certain problems:
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His position looks rather solid but he has no counter play and it allows White to steadily improve his position...
Till 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.