Download PGN of November '14 1 d4 d5 2 c4 games
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Symmetrical Exchange Slav with Delayed Nf3 [D10]
It's about time I analyse one of my own games in an update! It's always nice when you can score some wins using ChessPublishing analysis and in Illingworth - Wallis I show how I used my annotations of Aronian-Navara from two months ago to notch up two recent wins:
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The above position is what you're likely to get if you play 7.Qb3 against someone below 2450 (i.e. the likely opponents of most subscribers), but White is already better here and in my notes I explain what White is aiming for in such positions. This line is a dangerous weapon and very few amateur players are prepared for it, so I would again recommend playing and winning with it before everyone cottons on!
The Slow Slav 4.Qc2, 5...Bg4 [D11]
A couple of months ago I pointed to 5...Bg4 as a good option for Black and here we complete the picture by covering the more positional 6.Nbd2 in depth. Although Black is definitely not worse here, White's position is rather safe and in Fridman - Laznicka White succeeded in generating a little pressure:
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Objectively Black is still fine, but Laznicka made a slip a little later which Fridman fully exploited. I've covered just about every serious White try but Black generally has more than one way to equalise against each White option.
Slow Slav 4.e3 Bg4 Avrukh's 7.Nh4!? [D11]
For this month I have paid special attention to a recommendation from GM Repertoire: 1.d4 Volume One, namely 5.Qb3 Qb6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Nh4!?, which has been played in a huge number of top games since the book's publication but until now wasn't mentioned on ChessPub.
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White's idea is to play h3 and g4, securing the bishop pair advantage at the cost of weakening the kingside structure. You may notice that White is a tempo down on the 4...Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Bg4 variation, but that variation is a lot better for White and therefore playing it a tempo down isn't such a concession. If you are happy with a draw as Black then Caruana - Mamedyarov shows a good way to handle Black's position:
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In this position Mamedyarov came armed with the improvement 15...Be7! and held a very easy draw. White does have alternatives to this position but none of them are scary if Black is well prepared (although even at the correspondence level it took some failed tries before Black found the answers). I also consider Black's unusual 8th moves, but I think they are unusual for a reason.
If you want to keep winning chances as Black then you should opt for the main line of 8...Be7 and in the position below, play 11...g5!
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This worked well for Black in Meier - Adams, who equalised comfortably and soon took the initiative after White played a bit too ambitiously. By the way, this is not an unusual occurrence in this line - White often feels he can do something with his bishop pair and extra space and creates weaknesses for Black to latch on to. This 7.Nh4 system is fairly safe for White if he doesn't have such ambitions but Black has more than one way to fully equalise.
Chebanenko Slav 5.c5 Bf5 [D15]
I think a lot of non-professional players are put off the Chebanenko Slav by the possibility of a draw by repetition after 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Bd2 Nhf6 8.Bf4 and so forth, but I honestly think 5...Bf5 is a very good alternative for playing for the win. It has already been covered on ChessPublishing but I have a different interpretation in mind...but first, let's address a fundamental question:
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Should Black defend the b7-pawn with ...Ra7 or ...Qc8? Both moves are somewhat awkward but we shouldn't forget that Qb3 also gets in the way of one of White's key middlegame plans, namely b4, a4 and b5 to open the queenside. In Izzat - Illingworth I played 6...Ra7 and won a quite nice game, but I now feel that White can obtain the advantage with correct play, which isn't surprising considering that at some point Black will need to play ...Ra8 to bring his rook back into play. In the game my opponent basically let me achieve everything Black aims for in this variation.
My inspiration for the above effort was the game Andreikin - Tomashevsky, where Black played a very interesting setup with an early ...g6, leading to the following position:
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Ruslan previously felt that such positions should favour White, but my analysis indicates that Black achieves a fair share of the chances with fairly consistent plans. That's the beauty of this ...g6 setup in general; Black knows exactly what he is aiming for and White has to make some sort of strategic decision on almost every move, so Black has plenty of chances to outplay his opponent. Another key idea for Black is to exchange the strong f4-bishop with ...Nh5 if White plays e3 before h3; study the notes for more details.
Queen's Gambit Declined fans, don't be disappointed - I will cover your opening in detail next month! Max
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