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This month’s burning question is: does White need to hurry to castle kingside in some of our favourite lines? Of course, castling is rarely a bad move and often highly prudent, but we’ll see that White can sometimes do even better by pursuing aggressive policies instead on the kingside. I should also point out that we’ll get to enjoy a game from the current world championship match. At the time of writing, both Ding Liren and the London now have 75% in world championship matches!

Download PGN of November ’24 d-Pawn Specials games

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The Trompowsky: 2...Ne4 3 h4 c5 4 d5 Qb6 5 Nd2 [A45]

To celebrate the release of The Tricky Tromp by Popular Chess, the successor to Everyman Chess, I really had to begin with 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 Ne4 3 h4, as covered in that aggressive repertoire. After 3...c5 4 d5 Qb6 5 Nd2 Black has three main options, of which 5...h6 is probably the best and 5...Nxd2?! 6 Bxd2 Qxb2 probably the worst due to 7 Nf3!, taking control of e5:

After 7...d6 8 Rb1 Qxa2?! 9 e4 Nd7? 10 Bc3 young Russian talent, the 2664-rated, 18-year-old GM Volodar Murzin found that his queen was trapped in Askarov, B - Murzin, V, where White won the queen, correctly opened lines on the kingside and then, later, painfully fell for a cheapo against his king, still on e1.


The Trompowsky: 2...Ne4 3 Bh4 c5 4 f3 g5 5 fxe4 gxh4 6 e3 [A45]

Another tricky try for White after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 Ne4 is 3 Bh4 when a key tabiya arises after 3...c5 4 f3 g5 5 fxe4 gxh4 6 e3:

Here we’ll discuss developments after the critical 6...Bh6! 7 Qd3, as well as 6...Nc6!? 7 Nf3 Bg7 8 Nf3 when 8...h3? is rather misguided due to just 9 gxh3 and after 9...0-0? 10 Rg1! White’s attack was already rather serious in Voitovich, V - Fernandez Siles, L.


The Trompowsky: 2...e6 3 e4 h6 4 Bxf6 Qxf6 5 Nc3 Bb4 6 Qd2 [A45]

It was great to see a blitz tournament, the Vaganian Cup, being held in Yerevan to celebrate the career of Rafael Vaganian. The man himself not only played, but also stayed true to 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5, including against fellow legend and 73-year-old Ulf Andersson, who countered in typical positional fashion with 2...e6 3 e4 h6 4 Bxf6 Qxf6 5 Nc3 Bb4 6 Qd2 d5. After 7 e5 I suspect that the queen should go all the way back to d8, since 7...Qe7 8 a3 Bxc3 9 Qxc3 is fairly pleasant for White:

He maintained control of d4 and castled long in Vaganian, R - Andersson, U, before failing to correctly time things on the f-file.



The Torre Attack: 3...d5 4 e3 Nbd7 5 Nd2 h6 6 Bh4 [D03]

The Tricky Tromp prefers to meet 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 e6 with 3 Nd2 when we’ll look at developments after both 3...c5 and 3...d5, with the latter then 4 e3 Nbd7 5 Ngf3 transposing into Torre waters. Here 5...h6 6 Bh4 g5!? 7 Bg3 Nh5 was rare, interesting and seemingly fully viable in Aravindh, C - Aronian, L.

Note that 8 Be5 would be fairly well met by 8...Nhf6!, and 8 Bd3 Nxg3 9 hxg3 Bg7 also seemed fine for Black as both sides elected to keep their kings in the centre and away from potential danger on the h-file.



The London System: 3...c5 4 e3 e6 5 c3 Bd6 6 Bb5+ [D02]

Ding Liren has once again played the London in a world championship match and followed up with an early Bb5(+), 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bf4 d5 3 e3 e6 4 Nf3 c5 5 c3 Bd6 6 Bb5+!? Nc6 7 Bxc6+ bxc6 8 Bxd6 Qxd6 9 Qa4 reaching something of a tabiya in Ding Liren - Gukesh, D.

After 9...0-0 Ding was able to defend against Magnus Carlsen at Wijk aan Zee last year following 10 0-0, but as White preferred 10 Qa3 Ne4 11 Nfd2, Levon Aronian’s idea. If he was hoping to catch Gukesh out, Ding was to be disappointed as 11....e5! appeared and even getting in queenside castling didn’t give White the upper hand, although Gukesh’s risky play later did.


The London System: 3...c5 4 e3 e6 5 c3 Bd6 6 Bg3 Nc6 7 Nbd2 0-0 8 Bb5 [D02]

We haven’t examined 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bf4 d5 3 e3 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nd2 e6 6 Ngf3 Bd6 7 Bg3 0-0 (plenty of other move orders also reach this big tabiya) 8 Bb5!? for a while. I’ve taken a look at a few recent developments and am still not overly impressed with the once-praised 8...Ne7?! due to 9 Bd3! when after 9...Ng6 10 Ne5 the engines even suggest that 10...Ne7!? is Black’s best move! Instead, 10...Qe7?! 11 f4 b6 was far too routine from Black in Kamsky, G - Zarnicki, P.

Here White can do much better than castling and 12 h4! already gave Kamsky a big initiative.


The London System: 3...c5 4 e3 e6 5 c3 Bd6 6 Bg3 Nc6 7 Nbd2 0-0 8 Bd3 [D02]

After 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 d5 3 Bf4 e6 4 e3 c5 5 Nbd2 Nc6 6 c3 Bd6 7 Bg3 0-0 Kamsky also plays 8 Bd3 and here 8...g6!? is new for us, intending a quick ...Nh5.

At this point 9 0-0 is just pretty sensible and after 9...Nh5 10 Bxd6 Qxd6 11 Re1 White would perhaps have been slightly better in Theodorou, N - Park, E, even if Black had now found 11...e5!.



Will we see more white kings heading to g1 next month?

Until then, Richard

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