Download PGN of January ’26 d-Pawn Specials games
The Trompowsky: 2...Ne4 3 h4 c5 4 d5 d6 [A45]
After 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 Ne4 3 h4 c5 4 d5 Black by no means has to go 4...Qb6. One decent alternative is 4...h6, another 4...d6 when 5 Qd3!? forces the issue in the centre:
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This was an old favourite of Julian Hodgson’s, and still seems in decent shape, especially after 5...Qa5+ 6 Nd2, as we’ll appreciate in a miniature from Hastings, Williams, S - Herzwurm, R.
The Trompowsky: 2...d5 3 Nd2 g6 [D00]
After 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 d5 White doesn’t have to exchange on f6, with 3 Nd2 one reasonable way to maintain the tension. Then 3...g6 4 e3 Bg7 5 c3 0-0 6 Bd3 c5 offers the chance to transpose to a Torre:
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White probably should go 7 Ngf3 or 7 Ne2!?, whereas 7 f4?! Qb6 already left him on the back foot in Skytte, R - Verbin, V.
Torre Attack: 2...g6 3 Bg5 Bg7 4 Nbd2 0-0 5 c3 d5 6 e3 c5 [A48]
Talking of that transposition, I thought that we should probably take a look at 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 Bg5 Bg7 4 Nbd2 d5 5 e3 0-0 6 Bd3 c5 7 c3:
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Here Black has a few options, as we’ll see, including 7...b6 8 0-0 Bb7 when 9 Qb1 was a new move for us, keeping Black out of e4 while preparing b2-b4 in Sevdimaliev, U - Bayramov, Z.
Jobava-Prié Attack: 3...c6 4 e3 Bf5 [D00]
After 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 Bf4 I’m not quite sure why Black needs to go 3...c6 before 4 e3 Bf5, but some solid types do like to. Unsurprisingly the critical test is 5 f3 e6 6 g4 Bg6 7 h4:
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Black must decide what to do with the h-pawn. Likewise, after 7...h6 8 Bd3 Bxd3 White must decide how to recapture. Here 9 Qxd3 looks decent enough, but Carlsen preferred 9 cxd3!? and went on to display the superior understanding in Carlsen, M - Radjabov, T.
Jobava-Prié Attack: 3...c5 4 e3 cxd4 5 exd4 a6 [D00]
A more active defence to 1 d4 d5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 Bf4 is, of course, 3...c5 when 4 e3 cxd4 5 exd4 a6 remains sensible and quite popular for Black. After 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Ne5 Bd7 Carlsen remained true to 8 Ne2!? in another game from Doha:
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Here Anish Giri’s 8...Qb6!? looks a decent try and there was also absolutely nothing wrong with 8...e6 in Carlsen, M - Abdusattorov, N.
The Colle-Zukertort: 5...Nc6 6 Bb2 cxd4 7 exd4 Bd6 [D05]
After 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 d5 3 e3 e6 4 Bd3 c5 5 b3 Nc6 6 Bb2 the traditional view was that 6...cxd4 7 exd4 only helped White by making it easier for him to control e5. The latest engines aren’t quite so convinced and 7...Bd6 8 Nbd2 Nb4 (8...0-0 9 0-0 b6 10 a3 Bb7 would transpose) 9 Be2 Nc6 10 0-0 0-0 11 a3 b6 12 Bd3 saw some fairly typical to-ing and fro-ing in L’Ami, E - Suleymanli, A.
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In this encounter from Wijk aan Zee no less, the very solid 12...Bb7 13 Qe2 Rc8 14 Ne5 Ne7! was debated, whereupon the strong Dutch Grandmaster went for the principled 15 f4 and a tough fight quickly ensued.
The Colle-Zukertort: 5...Nc6 6 Bb2 Bd6 7 Nbd2 0-0 8 0-0 b6 [D05]
Via a 1 b3 Nf6 2 Bb2 c5 3 e3 d5 4 Nf3 e6 5 d4 Nc6 6 Nbd2 0-0 7 Bd3 0-0 8 0-0 b6 9 a3 Bb7 10 Ne5 Rc8 move order, an important tabiya arose in one of the games from last summer’s British Championship:
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Here the calm 11 Qe2 gets the nod in a recently released book, The Killer Colle-Zukertort System, which builds on the Chessable course of the same name. There’s also the more direct 11 f4 when 11...Ne7 12 Qf3 b5! has long been approved by theory for Black, and if 13 dxc5 Bxc5 14 b4 Bb6. Clearly ...Ne4 is on the way and while Black should be fairly comfortable, the position is by no means prospectless for White, who went on to land something of a haymaker in Conquest, S - Royal, S.
Let us hope for more crushing attacks and white wins next month! Until then, Richard
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