Download PGN of September '11 1 d4 d5 games
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The Slav Defence early ...d5xc4 [D10]
Aronian - Vallejo Pons: After 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 dxc4 4.e4 b5 5.a4 b4, White's results with the retreat 6.Nb1 have been fairly lukewarm. Following 6...Ba6 Aronian chose a gambit continuation that his second GM Gabriel Sargissian used earlier this year: 7.Qc2!?
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Vallejo boldly grabbed the d4 pawn but defended imprecisely, eventually falling victim to Aronian's world-class handling of the initiative.
The Slow Slav 6.Nh4 Be4 [D12]
Malakhov - Nyback: Continuing our coverage of the dynamic line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 Bf5 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nh4 Be4, we focus on the main continuation 7.f3 Bg6 8.Qb3 Qc7 (check the August update for 8...Qb6) 9.Bd2. Nyback continued in straightforward fashion with 9...Be7 10.g3 0-0 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Rc1 dxc4 13.Bxc4 Nbd7 14.0-0 Rac8, but - like Grachev last month - Vladimir Malakhov is remarkably adept in handling White's flexible pawn structure. After 15.Ne4!? Nxe4 16.fxe4:
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Black lacked a useful plan and quickly found his hands tied.
Queen's Gambit Delined 5.Bf4 [D37]
Olszewski - Fedorovsky: Several players have experimented with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.a3:
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wherein White postpones e2-e3 for the time being. Black continued in the style of the super-solid Tartakower-Makogonov-Bondarevsky (TMB) via 6...b6, but then offered a pawn with 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Nxd5 Qxd5!? 9.Bxc7:
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Here Fedorovsky chose 9...Nc6?!, but GM Yannick Pelletier's 9...Ba6! is a better way to obtain compensation.
Moscow Variation 6.Bxf6 [D43]
Cmilyte - Muzychuk: GM Alexey Dreev's 2010 work The Moscow & Anti-Moscow Variations had a short chapter on the interesting line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 g6:
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Black eschews ...Nb8-d7 and intends to capture White's pawn after e3-e4 (instead of the more common ...dxc4). Dreev was optimistic about the evolution of this line, and it has indeed become quite popular. Following 8.Bd3 Bg7 9.e4 (I also examine the more demanding 9.0-0) 9...dxe4 10.Nxe4 Qd8 11.c5 0-0 12.Nd6?! b6!:
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White cannot profit from the occupation of d6.
Moscow Variation 6.Bh4 [D43]
Nakamura - Anand: Likely drawing inspiration from the game Kasimdzhanov - Gelfand, Nalchik RUS 2009, Anand essays a combative sideline with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Ne5 Nbd7!?:
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Proving an advantage for White is by no means easy. After 10.Nxc6 Qb6 11.d5 Bb7 12.a4 a6 13.Be2, the World Champion improved upon Gelfand's play with 13...Bxc6, a move Ruslan had considered back in 2009 (check the archives for his full notes). After 14.dxc6 Qxc6 it would be interesting for White to play 15.e5!? instead of the game's 15.axb5.
Anti-Meran [D46]
Finally, we examine two games in the hyper-popular Anti-Meran line 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Bd3 b5 11.a3:
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Danielian - Ruan Lufei: Extremely complicated battles have been waged in the principled piece-sac line 11...a6 12.b4 a5 13.Rb1 axb4 14.axb4 Qe7 15.e4 e5 16.Ne2 Bxb4 17.Ng3 exd4 18.e5 Nxe5 19.Nxe5 c5!:
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Black has been doing well here lately. After 20.Bf4 c4 Danielian innovated with 21.Bf5?, but Black's pawns proved stronger.
Socko - Czarnota: Black's most flexible move is 11...Qe7, when 12.Ng5 offered a pawn, which Black accepted with 12...Bxh2+ 13.Kxh2 Ng4+ 14.Kg1 Qxg5 15.f3 Ngf6 16.e4 Qh4. Socko now played a very logical novelty with 17.Be3 (suggested by Ruslan in the ChessPub Guide):
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obtaining compensation for the pawn. My analysis shows that Black had a simpler and reliable alternative in 12...h6, declining the pawn and permitting White to carry out the knight transfer to e4.
Ruslan is back for the October issue, bye for now, John
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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.