Download PGN of January ’17 1 d4 d5 2 c4 games
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4.Qc2 Slav, 4...g6 and other 4th moves [D11/D93]
First of all, I will say that I think the 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 variation is especially effective at faster time controls, because in the main line 4...dxc4 we are generally fianchettoing our king’s bishop. This is a good strategy in general in rapid/blitz, because we protect our king against various attacking attempts by the opponent. After all, in fast time controls the most valuable advantage is the initiative.
Of course, it has to be admitted that with best play, White has no advantage in the 4.Qc2 variation, but it has the practical virtue of being less explored while still leading to a very interesting strategic battle. First of all, I address Black’s rare fourth moves in Pascual Perez, N - Pecka, J - which is not the only correspondence game we’ll see in this update. In any case, we can say that unusual tries such as 4...Bg4?! don’t suffice for equality, but a lot of players are surprisingly meek against such moves. In any case, White did not play all the best moves in the game and Black managed to equalise, but I invite you to consider the following position that could have arisen in the game:
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With White to move, how do you think White should deal with the central tension? It will not be enough to just switch on your engine - some strategic foresight is required. You probably know the drill by now, but subscribers can compare their thoughts with my analysis by clicking the game link above.
If I had to recommend a counter to 4.Qc2 for quickplay games, I would advise 4...g6 for the same reason I gave in the first paragraph - now we will not have to worry about our king safety for the foreseeable future. Black can gain a tempo on the White queen with ...Bf5 in many positions, although Slav exponents without experience in Grunfeld or Schlechter Slav structures may feel rather uncomfortable. I cover some less frequent options for both sides after 4...g6 in Agharsyan, R - Volkov, S, as well as a detailed examination of what would be a typical Slav endgame and structure, but for the Black kingside fianchetto.
The actual game doesn’t fit so well with the puzzle format, so I will instead test your aptitude in the important technique of ‘analogy’ - that is, using your knowledge of similar positions to find the right move in the existing situation:
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Black to move. We have a Schlechter with the queen strangely placed on c2 - how might you exploit that?
Continuing with the 4...g6 variation, I cover Black’s main approaches (both with and without an early ...Bf5) in Schandorff, L - Hillarp Persson, T, which is a fantastic example of how to play for a win from a typical symmetrical queenless middlegame for the Catalan/Grunfeld. The reason for this similarity is that the game started 5.Bf4 Bg7 6.e3 0-0 7.Nc3 c5, arguing that White’s extra move Qc2 (compared to a normal Grunfeld) may also place the queen on a vulnerable square. Indeed, I haven’t found anything for White in this line, and it doesn’t require much memorisation either, so I’ll give you a chance to find the same plan as Hillarp Persson:
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Black to play. Find the right plan!
Slav Triangle 4.Qc2 e6 [D30]
Another line of a very transpositional nature is 4...e6, which was favoured in a crucial Ivanchuk, V - Carlsen, M game from the World Rapid Championship. While I didn’t conclusively prove an advantage for White, the road to equality for Black is extremely narrow after both 5.g3 and 5.Nbd2, and in fact Carlsen didn’t find this path in the game. Ivanchuk won a powerful game, but the following position reminded me too much of the late Dvoretsky’s ‘Recognising Your Opponent’s Resources’ for it to not be included:
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White to move. Obviously we should develop our king’s bishop, but with which move?
4.Qc2 Slav, 4...dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bg4 [D23]
Now that we’ve covered Black’s alternatives to 4...dxc4 (and found them to be fully playable), it’s time to begin examining the main line, starting with an original approach in Caruana, F - Adams, M, where Black advanced the a-pawn quite early. I suspect it hasn’t found any followers only because Black has been doing just fine in the tabiya position, as we’ll see later. But for now, I’d like to test your calculation once more:
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White to move. If you watched Topalov’s recent lecture at Gibraltar Chess, you will probably find this puzzle relatively easy, but it hadn’t been delivered when Caruana played this game! Anyway, check the game to see if you improved on Caruana’s play.
Perhaps the theoretically most significant analysis in the update can be found in the annotations to Reinderman, D - Sandipan, C, where I don’t just cover the main lines after 5...Bg4, but demonstrate that much of the established theory in the 5.e4 Slav has been put into question by the computer. As an example of why I think the 5.e4 gambit can be an effective practical weapon, and not just in a one-off game, I invite you to ponder the following critical position:
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Black to play, what should he do? Note that the engine’s first choice would not be my preference here.
4.Qc2 Slav Mainline, 4...dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bf5 [D23]
You might wonder why I have devoted relatively more analysis to 5...Bf5 in this update, despite it being less trendy than 5...Bg4. First, my material on 5...Bg4 this month updates my existing coverage from a couple of years ago, whereas there are some major developments in the old main line that weren’t yet addressed in the Archives. Furthermore, I think at the club level you will see a lot more of 5...Bf5.
I’ve already noted that the entire 4.Qc2 complex is of a more strategic nature, with White working to hold back Black’s thematic ...c5 and ...e5 breaks. Therefore, Black will often try to exchange minor pieces, and one of the main ways to do that is to meet Nc3 with ...Ne4, as happened in Bologan, V - Deviatkin, A:
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White to move. While both players are clearly very capable, I think on this occasion they didn’t appreciate all the nuances of the above position. Can you do better?
With the game Mamedyarov, S - Karjakin, A, we delve into some of the main ideas, at least after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Qc2 dxc4 5.Qxc4 Bf5 6.g3 e6 7.Bg2 Nbd7 8.0-0 Be7 9.e3 0-0 10.Rd1. There are a lot of different options for Black and numerous transpositions. The lazy solution would be to say ‘the ideas are more important than the specific moves’, but I wanted to give a full strategic picture of the middlegame, and that requires going into some detail. The notes in the game explain why the structural transformation with ...Nxc3 bxc3 doesn’t always secure White an advantage, and while the dedicated student would certainly improve by playing ‘solitaire chess’ for both sides, I will single out one moment that will train your logical thinking:
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Black to move. Karjakin played a little inaccurately and is under some pressure, but by understanding what White is trying to do, we can neutralise White’s initiative. What do you propose?
My next choice of game, Mamrukov, D - Stephen, may seem a little curious, but I wanted to demonstrate a model of what White is aiming for in a variation of the Semi-Tarrasch structure that can arise after a typical Black mistake. I realise this description is somewhat cryptic, but the notes to the game cover no less than eight moves for Black after 10.Qe2, and since the last puzzles were somewhat advanced, here is an easier one for the club players:
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Black just achieved his thematic Slav break 10...c5, but if Black automatically equalised as soon as it was played, 1.d4 would not be the most popular move at the super-GM level! White to play, what move seems the most logical to you?
It was Ivanchuk’s success with 4.Qc2 in the World Rapid Championship that inspired this update, and therefore it’s only natural that we conclude with Ivanchuk, V - Mamedyarov, S from the same event, which proved a great endgame battle in a Semi-Tarrasch/Grunfeld type structure. Anyone who pauses on each move using the ChessBase ‘Training’ tab will improve their calculation and endgame technique, but I want to show a critical moment from earlier in the game:
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White has logically developed with tempo by means of 12.Bd2, and now it is important that we place our queen on the right square. Indeed, in a game we’re often torn between ‘simple chess’ and the creative try - which would you play as Black here?
In conclusion, Black is not worse after 4.Qc2 and has a few good options, but we’ve seen that even the best players have mishandled the strategic complexities, and we can also apply our new understanding of the typical structures to other 1.d4 variations. In the February update, I will present a more diverse perspective, sharing a few of my own recent Queen’s Gambit games (which, along with a lot of luck, helped me to become the Australian Open Champion for 2017) as well as answering some recent questions on the Forum and analysing the recent trend 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 a6!?. Thanks to all of you who have supported my work by subscribing, and I’ll be back with another update soon! Max
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