Download PGN of July ’23 d-Pawn Specials games
The Trompowsky: 2...Ne4 3 Bf4 c5 4 f3 Qa5+ 5 c3 Nf6 6 d5 Qb6 7 Bc1 e6 [A45]
Beginning with the old main line of the Trompowsky, 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 Ne4 3 Bf4, we have developments after 3...d5 and 3...d6 to consider, as well as 3...c5 4 f3 Qa5+ 5 c3 Nf6 6 d5 Qb6 7 Bc1 e6 8 e4 exd5 9 exd5 Bd6?!, which nowadays feels a little old-fashioned and with good reason.
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I can see why the line still appeals to creative types, but after 10 Na3! 0-0 11 Nc4 White should just be doing pretty well, as we’ll see in Garcia Ramos, D - Pranav, V.
The Trompowsky: 2...Ne4 3 Bf4 c5 4 d5 e6 5 f3 Bd6 [A45]
A somewhat more theoretically-approved line which you may also remember from Peter Wells’s classic Winning with the Trompowsky (Batsford, 2003) is 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 c5 3 d5 Ne4 4 Bf4 e6 5 f3 Bd6 6 Bxd6 Nxd6:
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This still looks like it should offer Black decent dynamic counter-chances, as, indeed, 7 e4 b5 8 dxe6 dxe6 did in the generally very instructive encounter Vanczak, T - Tabatabaei, M.
The Trompowsky: 2...c5 3 dxc5 e6 [A45]
I’ve sometimes presented meeting 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 c5 with 3 dxc5 as quite a simple and safe approach, but it doesn’t have to be, even after 3...e6. Then 4 e4?! Bxc5 (4...h6 is perhaps even stronger) 5 Nc3 Nc6 6 Qd2 h6 is one fairly critical line:
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Here 7 Bxf6?! Qxf6 8 f4 wouldn’t have turned out well in Dardha, D - Kanyamarala, Ta, had Black found the classic Sicilian riposte 8...g5!, but instead 7 Bh4 should maintain the rough balance, as played by former ChessPub columnist Danny Gormally.
The Trompowsky: 2...d5 3 e3 c5 4 Bxf6 gxf6 [D00]
Just when you might have thought that the modern main line of the Trompowsky, 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 d5 3 e3 c5 4 Bxf6 gxf6, had slightly faded from fashion...along came summer 2023 when it was very topical once again, especially in some high-level rapid and blitz encounters.
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Here Richard Rapport quite likes 5 Bb5+ and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 5 Nf3, although I’m not too sure about the latter after the 5...Nc6 6 c4 cxd4 7 exd4 e5! of Mamedyarov, S - Bachmann, A.
White’s main choice though is very much still 5 dxc5:
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Here we’ll round up developments after 5...e6 in Firouzja, A - Paravyan, D, noting that the current world no.6 and French no.1 has finally come round to following in Michael Adams’s footsteps with 6 Nf3 Bxc5 7 Be2.
The major alternative for Black is the more unbalanced 5...Nc6 when 6 Bb5 e6 7 b4!? a5 8 c3 Bd7 is rather like a reversed Abrahams-Noteboom and still looks OK for the second player, as we’ll see in Firouzja, A - Bok, B.
The Colle-Zukertort: 3...e6 4 Bd3 c5 5 b3 Nc6 6 Bb2 Bd6 7 0-0 b6 8 Nbd2 Bb7 [D05]
With the British Championships currently on, I was keen to include a game from Leicester (the hometown of H.E. Atkins, Mark Hebden and Glenn Flear, for fans of trivia), but unfortunately our favourite openings haven’t yet been too popular in the top section there. However, I did enjoy following one fairly important Colle, which saw 1 d4 e6 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 e3 b6 4 Bd3 Bb7 5 0-0 c5 6 b3 Nc6 7 Bb2 d5 8 Nbd2 Bd6 9 Qe2 0-0 10 a3 Rc8 11 Ne5, reaching a position which can come about from a number of different move orders, as well as this one from Bates, R - Pollock, O.
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Here 11...Ne7! is an important manoeuvre to help bolster the black kingside and after 12 dxc5!? Bxc5 I recommended 13 b4!? Bd6 14 Rad1 on The Killer Colle-Zukertort System, but 13 Rad1 is also pretty sensible and quickly led to a rather sharp scenario in the game before play rather burnt out to a draw.
Will we have more games from Leicester as well as some Londons to enjoy next month?
Until then, Richard
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