Download PGN of March '11 1 d4 d5 games

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Marshall Gambit [D31]

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c6 4 e4:

Zhigalko - Huschenbeth: After 4...Bb4 (instead of the mainline 4...dxe4) the move 5 Bd2!? looks promising:

Rejecting the gift and transposing into a French-style position does not solve Black's problems completely but it might still be playable. In the featured game White's approach gave him good compensation for the pawn and a long-lasting initiative, which he eventually converted thanks to his opponent's mistakes.

Sveshnikov, E - Sveshnikov, V: Tournament games between a father and a son are extremely rare (actually I don't remember any other example) so I couldn't resist the temptation of including this game! Besides, the battle between Evgeny and Vladimir Sveshnikov was rather interesting from a theoretical point of view. A good novelty helped the father to gain an advantage and despite all his son's attempts he gradually converted it into a full point.

Riazantsev - Sjugirov: Alexander Riazantsev came up with a wonderful idea here and simply crushed Black's defence:

Amazingly Black had no good defence against White's coming piece sacrifice in this position which looks very solid.

Maletin - Geller,J A slight innovation helped Pavel Maletin to maintain the pressure. However, one of the main Marshall experts, Jakov Geller, was equal to the task and his counterplay came just in time to hold the balance. Yet White may still try to give Black problems in this line - his position is very active and is full of interesting resources so Black must always be careful in defence.

Savchenko, B - Geller, J: The deviation from the main line that White chose in this game, 10 Bc3 is not dangerous for Black:

However, he was able to obtain more than sufficient compensation for the pawn thanks to his opponent's somewhat inaccurate play, though later he sent his queen offside and could easily have lost the game...

Sakaev - Papin: Kostya Sakaev came up with a clever novelty in a deep line and proved White's better chances. Black failed to offer any good resistance but it seems that White is able to maintain pressure anyway.

Volkov - Kotanjian: Tigran Kotanjian introduced a strong novelty, 13...Nc5!, and comfortably solved Black's problems:

In fact, it was already White who had to work hard to prove adequate compensation for the pawn, which he eventually failed to do ... However, the opening line requires more analysis as White certainly has better options at his disposal.

See you 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.