What's New - July 2001
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The July update is completely dedicated to the 5. Bf4 sysem in the QGD- many subscribers asked to add this chapter to the site so I am happy to come up to their expectations. Bye for now! Ruslan Scherbakov |
QGD- 5 Bf4
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4
            
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The system with 5. Bc1-f4 is rather popular nowadays. It offers many attractive variations for those who like boring play with a small, often disappearing, advantage but with no counter chances for the opponents, as well as for the tough fighters, who try to destroy their rivals from the very beginning even if this involves conceding real counterplay.
The critical position arises after the most common 5. ..0-0 6.e3 c5 (otherwise White may seriously think about c4-c5 himself) 7.dc5 Bc5
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Now there are several different approaches. However, 8.Qc2 Nc6 9.a3 Qa5 seems to be the most ambitious:
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Here White can choose between 10. Rd1, 10. Nd2 and the surprising long castles 10. 0-0-0, which made a great impression at the end of the 1980's and ousted other continuations from tournament practice for years. This month's games consider this sharp line:
10. 0-0-0 Games and Theory
JUL01/01 A triumphant appearance of the plan with long castling at the top level. This confident victory, as well as some others which followed, soon completely distracted White's attention from the main 10. Rd1, which almost disappeared from tournament practice. As Mikhail Gurevich points out, the author of the idea is Gregory Kaidanov- you may remember my encounter with this very creative and erudite player (RS33/OCT99) which had a great influence on making me a fan of the Meran System.
JUL01/02 In positions with opposite-castled kings, sharp complications are quite possible. Here is one such example- the play was objectively far from perfect but nevertheless very interesting and exciting.
One of Black's problems is that he is a little bit late with the queenside development. In JUL01/03, after numerous exchanges on the d-file White managed to arrange his pieces more actively and so to get a small advantage. The game is a good example of Boris Gelfand's outstanding technique- he conclusively won the endgame by utilising a few minor inaccuracies of his opponent's.
Alexander Beliavsky successfully introduced a new and rather complex set-up to counter White's plan. His interesting pawn sacrifice and masterful play created a great impression so this game, JUL01/04, was awarded "the best theoretical game" prize of the Chess Informant #51.
Despite the triumphant appearance of Beliavsky's idea it didn't gain many followers- perhaps Black adherents were doubtful about such a radical attempt to achieve counterplay. However, more solid continuations are also not free from danger- in JUL01/05 Black was checkmated on move 25!
JUL01/06 The most principled and well-developed approach- Black meets White's kingside activity with central counter-actions. It allows him to get the queen's bishop into play quickly and, although it often leads to the ruining of his king's pawn shield, the activity of all his pieces means that White does not have sufficient time to exploit this and this line therefore promises Black good counter chances.
JUL01/07 An interesting and rather unexpected idea of Garry Kasparov- instead of the g-pawn advance, White moved his neighbour on the h-file. Black was smashed quickly in very impressive style, but thorough analysis and further practice helped him to find some good ways to achieve acceptable play.
Kasparov's idea to advance the h-pawn was introduced with great effect but, taking a sober view of the events, Black realised that everything is not so bad for him. Look at JUL01/08 to be aware of the possible ways to achieve good, sometimes even better play for Black.
JUL01/09 Perhaps being not sure which kingside pawn to advance first, Loek van Wely solves this problem radically, playing the prophylactic king's move instead. Such a method is not without reason although it gives Black the time for development. In the featured game Loek was glorious in his pet variation, beating none other than Vladimir Kramnik.
JUL01/10 Paul van der Sterren shows a solid way to counter Van Wely's pet variation 11. Kb1. The play was rather quiet until both players began active actions on the flanks of their own kings. The interesting complications would still not lead to a decisive result but White suddenly went astray and was beautifully checkmated.
Despite the first defeats Black eventually found good ways to get acceptable play with excellent counterchances, so recently White more often plays the solid, reliable positions, which can arise after 8.cd5 Nd5 9.Nd5 ed5:
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Here the common option is 10.a3 Nc6 11.Bd3 but the more straightforward 10.Bd3 Bb4+ 11.Ke2 Nc6 12.Qc2 is also interesting. White tries to secure a comfortable edge thanks to his better pawn structure and hopes to exploit his opponent's possible inaccuracies, while adherents of the isolated pawn can be also more or less satisfied with a fairly solid position- the only thing which may be slightly annoying for some players is that Black can hardly win here.
theory of the system 5. Bf4 is well developed but there are many different variations and many strong players are searching for the truth, so surprises are quite possible either in the well-beaten or in the almost forgotten paths. Read "Chess Publishing" and be a pioneer- good luck!