Download PGN of February ’19 d-Pawn Specials games
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The Trompowsky 2...Ne4 3 h4 c5 4 d5 [A45]
1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 c5 3 d5 allows White to hope for both the Vaganian Gambit and 3...Ne4 4 h4!?. Black has various ways to grab b2 and 4...Qb6 5 Nd2 Nxd2 6 Bxd2 Qxb2 is reasonable, so long as after 7 e4...
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...Black goes 7...Qe5. Instead, 7...Qb6 8 Bc3 d6 9 Rb1 left White with promising compensation at this stage in Bellon Lopez, JM - Lalith, B.
The Trompowsky 2...Ne4 3 Bf4 c5 4 d5 Qb6 5 Bc1 [A45]
Of course, Bellon might instead have transposed into the line 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 Ne4 3 Bf4 c5 4 d5, after which 4...Qb6 5 Bc1 e6 6 f3 Qa5+ 7 c3 Nf6 8 e4 d6 remains fairly topical:
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White has a few options here, including the 9 Na3 of Balog, I - Babula, V, a game which is all about the timing of the g2-g4 advance.
The Trompowsky 2...d5 3 Bxf6 exf6 4 e3 [D00]
The position which arises after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 d5 3 Bxf6 exf6 4 e3 Be6 5 Nd2 c6 looks fairly natural, but has not been so common and is new for us:
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With 6 Ngf3 in Duda, JK - Rapport, R, White eschewed any Bd3, Qf3 and 0-0-0 type set-up, and here 6...b5!? already saw the Hungarian star beginning to display his trademark creativity.
The Torre Attack v KID 2...g6 3 Bg5 Bg7 4 Nbd2 0-0 5 c3 d6 6 e4 c5 [A48]
It’s been a few months since we considered the fairly important line 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 Bg5 Bg7 4 Nbd2 0-0 5 e4 d6 6 c3 c5 7 dxc5 dxc5 8 Bc4 Nc6:
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White normally castles or goes 9 Qe2 at this point, but he settled for the seemingly modest 9 h3 in Galego, L - Hansen, E, and soon emerged with an edge after Black likely became too ambitious.
The Jobava-Prié Attack 3...c5 4 e3 a6 [D00]
GingerGM have recently released a DVD, The Jobava London System, by Simon Williams and Blair Connell, so don’t be surprised if 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 Bf4 becomes trendy down the chess club. After 3...c5 4 e3 Black can, of course, take play into a type of Exchange Caro, but 4...a6 5 dxc5! Nc6 6 Nf3 may not be so bad for him:
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6...Bg4 is one idea to explore, but 6...e6 7 Na4 Ne4? was certainly not good in Williams, S - Melaugh, S.
The Neo-London 2...e6 3 e3 b6 4 Nd2 [A47]
A very creative idea is 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bf4 e6 3 e3 Be7 4 Nd2 b6 5 Qf3, to which I’m tempted to award an exclam.
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It was used by the other half of the GingerGM team, IM Simon Ansell, to obtain a significant early gain of space after 5...d5 6 Bb5+ c6 7 Bd3 Ba6 8 Bxa6 Nxa6 9 c3 0-0 10 g4!? in Ansell, S - Cyborowski, L.
The London System 3...e6 4 e3 c5 5 Nbd2 Nc6 6 c3 cxd4 7 exd4 Nh5 [D02]
Ju Wenjun and Wesley So put 1 d4 d5 2 Bf4 Nf6 3 e3 e6 4 Nf3 c5 5 Nbd2 Nc6 6 c3 cxd4 7 exd4 Nh5!? on the map and it’s now been played almost 200 times. The critical test is arguably 8 Be3 Bd6 9 Ne5 g6 10 g4:
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As we’ve seen before, Black should be OK after 10...Ng7, whereas 10...Nf6?! 11 f4 allowed White a clamp in Naroditsky, D - Smirnov, A.
The London may not be as trendy as it was two or so years ago, but I dare say it may well make another appearance next month. Until then, Richard
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