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January was a big month in chess, with the Tata Steel super-GM tournament and the start of Gibraltar Chess as well as various other strong events! But whether you tend to play in open tournaments, round robins or team events, there's something for every occasion in the 1.d4 d5 complex, from razor-sharp Botvinnik Variations to solid Semi-Slav systems! However, we'll see in this update that White has his weapons too, with the Chebanenko Slav in particular being challenged on various fronts! It will be a long journey through the forest of variations, but you will be a lot wiser when you reach the end... so let's get started!

Download PGN of January ’16 1 d4 d5 2 c4 games

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The Positional Route to an Advantage - non-Nf3 Exchange Slav with 6...a6 [D10]

This game is specially for the chess pythons among you - who like to squeeze the opponent, kill all their counterplay and gradually tighten your grip on the Black position until it collapses. I've previously talked up the Exchange Slav with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.e3, but at least we complete my coverage of this system with 6...a6 and now 7.Bd3 Bg4 8.Nge2 e6 as played in Navara - Popov:

White's plan is very straightforward - castle, get a knight to c5 preceded by Rc1 and Na4, kick their bishop with f3, and if they bring the bishop to d6 you can bring your knight to f4 to 'win' their bishop for the knight. OK, there's no need to throw Black's system completely out the window as he has a narrow path to equality...but your opponent is not likely to find or know it if he didn't read my notes! And in any case I find White's position to be a lot easier to play in these lines.



Old School Lines in a Modern System - Chebanenko Slav (4...a6) [D15]

Whenever I write one of these updates, the question that always comes to mind is - what trendy variation do I analyse and which do I shelve for 'next month' or for when more games are played? And sometimes, in flexible variations such as the Chebanenko with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6, there are a lot of options which are all played a bit, but not enough to necessarily deserve an update on their own. So I decided to overview all of the key lines from the last 8 or so months, starting with the game Wang Yue-Bu Xiangzhi where White put the blot on the trendy 5.c5 Bf5 variation with 6.Qb3 Qc8 7.Nh4!:

We've seen previously that Black dreams of executing the ...e5 break in these structures, but now this proves very problematic and Wang Yue methodically won both our main game and a previous game from this position. The game almost represents a 'Guide' in terms of the alternatives to 5.e3 Bf5 (see next game), with lots of interesting ideas for both sides - don't miss my antidote to the 'old school' 5.e3 b5 6.b3 Bg4!


Play Nh4 and White is Better - The Hybrid Chebanenko with 5.e3 Bf5 [D15]

I'm not sure what we should name the 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.e3 Bf5 variation which has taken GM practice by storm (and almost replaced 4...dxc4 as the main 'Classical' interpretation of the Slav). I was thinking the 'Vallejo' Chebanenko as he was the first GM to play it several times, but Morozevich was the first super-GM to try it, Timoshenko was the first GM to try it, and a certain Michael Hoffmann was the first to play it in two games. Maybe this is a puzzle for our ChessPub Forumites to solve?

Anyway, however you name it, I have a different formula to suggest on this occasion - play 6.Qb3 as in Jakovenko - Bologan and play Nh4 as soon as you can afterward!

In the game White went for a different approach involving a piece sacrifice starting with 8.a4, which also sets Black a lot of practical problems as I show in the notes. But my recommendation is still to go for 7.c5 a5 8.Nh4! - and if you are feeling lazy, you can cut out a lot of theory by inserting 6.Bd2 e6 and then play 7.Qb3 followed by 8.Nh4!, still with good chances of an edge. In short, the ball is back in Black's court!



Throwing the Gambiteer on our Turf - Vienna Variation with 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bxc4 [D24]

If you play the Vienna with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4, you probably find that your opponents aren't overly ready for it (as it's not as trendy as most other reasonable 4th moves), but when they are armed to the teeth with computer analysis, they come to the board and confidently bash out 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bxc4! Nxe4 7.0-0, intending to make you suffer for your material. But I'm going to give you a shortcut that will probably come as a surprise to your opponent - not Eljanov's recent 7...Nf6, but 7...Nxc3 8.bxc3 Bd6 which I think is no worse than the main move 8...Be7:

The main argument against this is that White can go for the hack with Ng5 moves, but my analysis shows that if Black keeps a clear head (and remembers a few of my novelties) he is 100% fine. You can always kick the knight away with ...h6 or play ...Nd7-f6 to guard your h-pawn against an attack, see Korobov - Naiditsch. In any case, I think this line will become more popular and it scores better than 8...Be7 (where Black has been losing a lot of late), so give it a try and share your game in the Forum!



The Certified Fresh Variation - QGD with 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 [D30]

The title for this game is a play on the movie reviewing website Rotten Tomatoes - here I'll be giving my latest suggestion for when we don't want a long theoretical battle and want to make our opponent 'play chess' from the early moves instead of wheeling out their prepared theory! The move order 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Bg5 can be useful for move ordering the opponent out of their desired Semi-Slav, Semi-Tarrasch or Vienna, and after 4...h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 we'll see the move 6.Qb3 bring White success in the first rapid game of the final playoff for last year's Millionaire Open, Nakamura - Le:

This won't give White an advantage if Black is aware of his move orders, but you'd be surprised how often strong Black players have been caught out by this system - I remember when Vallejo played 6.Nbd2 against me last year at the Thailand Open, I was a bit vague on what the best response was meant to be and went wrong quite early. I cover White's different options to try and throw Black in the notes, although if there's one key theme in Black's defence, it's that ...g5! move which, when timed right, can knock the wind out of White's sails.



The Semi-Slav for Mad Hackers - Botvinnik Main Line with 10...Be7 [D44]

Everyone calls 1.d4 d5 the 'Classical' response to the Queen's Gambit, but what if your dream is to attack the opponent all over the board? The Botvinnik Semi-Slav with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 will give you good chances of that, but the problem is that every man and his dog knows the theory after 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 and so on to move 25 and beyond (else they wouldn't play 5.Bg5!). But what are the chances that they know what to do against 10...Be7 11.exf6 Bxf6, used successfully in Wang Yue-Bu Xiangzhi to topple perhaps the most solid of the Chinese super-GMs?

To be honest, White does have a way to keep an edge with best play - but very few players have played the key sequence over the board, and if White makes one inaccuracy Black is doing well with very active piece play. It sounds like a good tradeoff - at least for a few games, before your opponents can memorise my analyses! Make sure to check out Lu Shanglei's games in particular, he has been the main driving force behind 10...Be7's surge in popularity.



The Berlin Wall against 1.d4 - Anti-Meran Semi-Slav with 6...Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 e5 [D46]

Looking at the title, you might think my analysis of the solid 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 e5 variation is just for the professional players - but what about that team match you have coming up? You're Black against a higher-rated player, and a draw would be fantastic for your team. Then play this favourite of Anand, Giri, So and other top GMs, aiming for the position after 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.e4! exd4 11.Nxd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 h6, play natural moves and equalise:

Of course, chess theory usually isn't that simple and there are different ways for White to try and set problems...but I have been unable to find even a minute edge for White in this line (and I tried very hard!). While the game Navara - Karjakin saw Black obtain good compensation for a sacrificed pawn after 13.Rd1 Ne5!, there is still some hope for White, who scored 3/3 in this variation in Gibraltar - so the solution is to become a grinder and win those equal positions anyway! Check my notes for the latest theory.



Remembering a Great Talent - The Bukavshin Variation 7.Qc2 b6 [E06]

You will probably have heard already of the tragic passing of Russian GM Ivan Bukavshin, a young Russian GM who was already rated around 2650. Whether you knew him personally or not, you would agree that he had a very unique approach to chess, which is partly reflected in a variation that I think deserves to bear his name: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 b6:

When I was watching Artemiev-Bukavshin from last year's Russian Championship, my first thought was 'interesting shortcut, but just for one game - White is a bit better'. Your opponents will probably also share this scepticism, but not for long - one of his opponents, Aleksy Goganov, played the Bukavshin Variation only four days after facing it! And before I forget, in our main game Leko - Bukavshin, Black equalised without any problems using the very straightforward plan of ...Bb7 and ...c5, liquidating White's centre. Let's pay tribute to Bukavshin by playing this variation at our next opportunity, and not suffer positional pressure from the Catalan any longer!


Soundly Stonewalling in the Closed Catalan - Black plays 8...Ne4/10...Ne4 [E08]

The above is all well and good, but maybe you want something that isn't so dry and equal - how about a fighting game with lots of tension? Well, I already suggested the 5...Bd7 Open Catalan and Ukrainian Variation in previous updates, but I have another ace up my sleeve this month - why not play 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2 Nbd7 9.Rd1 b6 10.b3 Ne4!? and ...f5 in the Closed Catalan like in Ragger - Babu Lalith, transposing to a Stonewall:

Indeed, in the game Black could have equalised with more accurate play on the 15th move, but overall Black has a good case - the position is quite tense with no automatic play for White, and who doesn't love playing outlandish-looking moves such as 11.Bf4 Bb7 12.Nc3 g5 and getting away with it? Well, White can avoid it with an earlier Bf4 (covered previously on ChessPub), but if you want to insist you can play Ni Hua's 8...Ne4 - although after 9.Bf4 c6 you may slightly regret the decision if White blitzes out Komodo's incredibly deep 10.h4!, aimed against ...g5 of all things. That's a very reasonable gamble if you ask me.



Congratulations, you made it to the end of the textual introduction of the update! As always, message your questions/games/requests to the indicated email, and I will have the February update on the way soon! In the meantime, study some of the notes - it will take a while to play through all 40+ pages, but I guarantee you'll be a stronger (and definitely well-prepared) player for your effort!

Max

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