Download PGN of September '15 1 d4 d5 2 c4 games
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Exchange Slav with 5...Qb6?! [D10]
Yes, you read that correctly - I think that after 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 cxd5 5.Bf4, Vigus's old recommendation from 'Play the Slav' of 5...Qb6 is a mistake because of the gambit 6.e3! Qxb2 7.Bb5+ as played in the recent Svidler - Dubov:
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Strong players have generally gone for 7...Bd7 as Dubov did, but in this case it is quite easy for White to obtain an advantage by playing for f3 and e4 as Svidler did in the game. White quickly obtained a clearly better position but missed two big opportunities and only drew. There have been a lot of engine games with 7...Nc6 and I think this is the best try for Black, but White keeps very good compensation and I would say that not only he is objectively better, but that the positions are a lot easier to play for White in an over-the-board game. I don't expect to see much of the winning try 5...Qb6 in the future, to be honest.
Slow Slav, Pin Variation with 6.g4 [D11]
You can always count on Anand to know what he is doing in the opening, and while I had declared six months ago that this 4...Bg4 5.h3 Bh5 6.g4 Bg6 7.Ne5 line gives White an advantage, Anand came up with a very nice plan that allows Black to gradually equalise:
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In Giri - Anand Black played the very accurate 12...Nf8! to stabilise the kingside with ...Ng6 in anticipation of e4, although White achieved a small advantage in the game after Anand made an inaccuracy on move 16, before the game soon ended in a draw regardless. I am still very enthusiastic about this line for White though, as he has quite a few interesting tries and Black has to be accurate against all of them to achieve equality (and White is not risking anything either). In practice Black usually plays an inaccurate move very quickly, so I expect this line to continue to be trendy.
Blackburne Variation with 6.a3/Old Main Line [D37]
Taking another Sinquefield Cup game, Carlsen - Nakamura, we have the opportunity to complete our coverage of the super-trendy Blackburne by investigating the old main line starting with 6...c5. However Scherbakov's analyses at large have held up with the following tabiya position being better for White:
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My main reason for revisiting this was that Predojevic had recently offered some ideas for Black to try and equalise, but I've given some improvements of my own to demonstrate how White keeps an advantage. I've also updated my old analysis of the 3.Nc3 Be7 4.Bf4 Nf6 5.e3 0-0 6.a3 move order I had covered a year ago, and my conclusions are still the same, although you'll find some coverage of 6...b6 7.Nf3 which is a natural option I had somehow neglected to analyse in the past.
Blackburne Main Line 6...Nbd7 7.c5 with 7...Nh5 [D37]
Usually I don't cover correspondence games as main games in my selection each month as I like to show how different fresh ideas have worked in over-the-board practice as much as to demonstrate the objectively strongest lines, but my analysis of this variation became so detailed I had to split it into two games! Therefore we start with Nickel - Karachurin as a very detailed examination of how White can play for an advantage in the following tabiya position:
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Although I covered this position only about six months ago, I became very interested in this variation recently and therefore wanted to go beyond the existing games with the variation and determine the very best plans and some strategic guidelines for both sides. I explain these in the game and my conclusion is that Black can achieve full equality, but he has to be accurate and have a good understanding of the position. I also found that the computers often don't really get these positions so there is plenty of opportunity to outplay your opponent if you are White. As Black you are basically playing for a draw, but if you know my analysis you are extremely likely to achieve it.
Blackburne Main Line 6...Nbd7 7.c5 with 7...Ne4 [D37]
In the Sinquefield Cup, Caruana twice played his favourite 7...Ne4 variation. The results weren't so great as he lost both games, but is that a reflection on the theoretical value of the line? I address this in Aronian - Caruana, a great game that contributed to Aronian's eventual tournament victory:
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After some pretty heavy analysis of the alternatives I established that this position from the game is the critical one for the assessment of 7...Ne4, and here Caruana played the inaccurate 17...a4?! which allowed Aronian to open the centre with 18.Nd2! followed by e4 and win with a very lovely attack (sacrificing both rooks). I have offered the improvement 17...g4!? as the way for Black to equalise, although the positions are rich enough that my analysis is not necessarily the final word and I would not be surprised to see more practical tests from the above position. Objectively Black should be fine but I would say that White's position is easier to play because of Black's constant problems unravelling his queenside. It will be very interesting to see further developments and whether 4...Be7 will lose some of its popularity, or if strong players will analyse it to death as a way of holding a draw with Black.
Ragozin with 6...h6 7.Bh4 c5 [D38]
A line that we haven't looked at for a while is meeting the Ragozin with 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 and now 7...c5, which has been played in a lot of Grandmaster games in the past year. The fresh super-GM game Wang Yue-Ding Liren is quite reflective of the 8.dxc5 variation in general - White has various ways to obtain a slightly easier game, but in all cases Black has no problems holding the draw:
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The above position is a typical example, where the engines slightly prefer White, but top-level games have shown that White can't realistically hope to make any progress. I've analysed lots of alternatives to the 9.Qb3 of the game but Black either equalises completely or gets a fractionally worse position he can hold without much trouble. I also checked out 8.e3 to show the strength of Yu Yangyi's plan of 8...c4 9.Be2 Bf5, which equalises with accurate play. It's hard to say whether strong players will turn away from 5.cxd5 because the equalising methods for Black are well known, or if they will keep trying their luck in pressing from a symbolically better game, knowing they aren't risking much in doing so.
Anti-Meran with 7.Bd3, featuring 10...Qe7!? [D46]
In the game Fressinet - Ganguly I have a quite unusual idea to offer for Black, namely that in the 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 b5 10.Be2 variation, Black does not have to play 10...Bb7 but can go for Adhiban's favourite 10...Qe7!? as a less theoretical way to equalise:
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Black's idea is to be ready with the ...e5 break if White plays for e4, but to switch to preparing ...c5 if White handles the position more quietly. In the game the surprise worked brilliantly as Black soon obtained an advantage and went on to defeat his opponent, which was particularly significant given that this was a team match from the Spanish League. I think 11.e4 e5 12.a3 is White's best try, albeit insufficient for an edge if Black is prepared.
Catalan, The Ukranian Variation [E01]
Normally I don't cover the same opening two months in a row, but there were quite a few GM games with the 4...Bb4 5.Bd2 Bd6 variation and I thought it would be interesting to show that even some very strong players are still not so familiar with the theory of this interesting sideline. The game Ragger - Mamedyarov was the exception in that White tried an unusual move with 9.b3!? to try and catch out his opponent:
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However it didn't lead to anything after Mamedyarov played the Stonewall approach I'd recommended in a similar position last month. I also covered some alternatives but the conclusion is the same - Black is fine, but if you do your homework you have good chances to set problems for even very strong players with either colour as the theory on this variation isn't fully established yet. I hope that my analyses go some way toward expanding 'common knowledge' about this variation.
I hope you've been enjoying the World Cup games! I will be focusing on them next month, singling out the ideas from the tournament I consider most interesting and theoretically important. I will be pretty busy with the Malaysian Open and Isle of Man Open for the next few weeks and hopefully I will have a good game or two to share from those events! Max
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