Download PGN of October '15 d-Pawn Specials games
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The Trompowsky 2...e6 3 e4 c5 [A45]
I'm slowly coming round to the view that White may do best after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 e6 3 e4 c5 to shy away from the critical 4 e5 in favour of 4 d5. After 4...d6 5 Nc3 Black tends to go 5...Be7, but 5...a6!? very much deserves the right to exist too. At this point the stiffest if not most exciting challenge appears to be 6 Nf3 Be7 (6...b5 is premature in view of 7 dxe6 Bxe6 8 a4) 7 Be2 0-0 8 0-0:
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Now Black should kick the bishop with 8...h6, as 8...b5 again seems a little early and was countered with some lovely Karpov-like play in Harika - Pap.
The Trompowsky 2...d5 3 Bxf6 exf6 [D00]
Against the more solid 2...d5 3 Bxf6 exf6 4 e3 Bd6, White can spice things up with 5 c4 c6 6 Nc3 dxc4 7 Bxc4 f5 8 Nf3 0-0 9 Qc2, preparing long castling:
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Black should be OK here, but needs to precise, which he wasn't entirely against a Trompowsky legend in Bellon Lopez-Ask.
The Trompowsky 2...d5 3 e3 c5 4 Bxf6 gxf6 [D01]
More topical after 2...d5 remains 3 e3 c5 4 Bxf6 gxf6 and we'll consider developments here from the World Cup in Rahman - Tomashevsky. The Bangladeshi GM elects to take play into a rare line of the Veresov with 5 Nc3 e6 6 Bb5+, which I doubt will gain many imitators, even if White does have good chances of holding the draw.
The Jobava-Prié Attack 3...Bf5 [D01]
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 Bf4 continues to remain quite topical, but after 3...Bf5 White seems to be going off 4 f3 e6 5 g4 Bg6 6 h4. Instead, the more London-like 4 e3 e6 5 Nf3 has gained some recent attention:
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This surely can't lead to any objective advantage, but 5...a6 6 Ne5 Nbd7 7 g4!? certainly unbalanced things at any early stage in Chigaev - Iskandarov.
The Torre Attack v KID [A48]
Positions like that arising from 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 Bg5 Bg7 4 Nbd2 d5 5 e3 0-0 6 Bd3 c5 7 c3 b6 8 0-0 Bb7 are sometimes considered 'dull', but that's a bit unfair as there is plenty of tension beneath the surface. Here White tends to opt for a queenside advance, but it's also possible to wait for the moment to strike, as with 9 Bh4!? Nbd7 10 Rc1 Re8 11 Re1 h6 12 c4!:
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I rather like this vigorous approach and White was swiftly rewarded for her bravery and creativity in the resulting IQP structure in Rodriguez Rueda-Utiatskaja.
The London System 3...c5 4 c3 Qb6 5 Qc1 [A46]
We've tended to look at 5 Nc3 after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 Bf4 c5 4 c3 Qb6, but that doesn't mean there's anything whatsoever wrong with 5 Qc1. Now Black should be looking for an early ...Nh5, as 5...Nc6 6 c3 d5 7 h3 Bd7 8 Nbd2 Rc8 9 Qb1 feels like an edge for White:
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White's queen is much the happier and he can prevent any notion of ...Bb5 with a2-a4. It's only a blitz game, but the Moscow Blitz Championship is always very strong, just as Grachev - Savchenko is very instructive.
The Colle-Zukertort 4...Be7 5 b3 b6 6 Bb2 Bb7 [D05]
Bartel, Kempinski, Mamedyarov and Sedlak have dabbled in 1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 e3 e6 4 Bd3 of late, with most having to face an early ...c5, as we'll see. However, Black can also hold back on that advance, with 4...Be7 5 b3 b6 6 Bb2 Bb7 7 Nbd2 Nbd7 8 0-0 0-0 9 c4 Ne4 10 Rc1 Bd6 11 Qc2 f5 12 Rfd1 the manoeuvring, Queen's Indian-like course of Mamedyarov - Idani:
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Here, however, it really is time for 12...c5, as 12...Qe7?! quickly allowed the Azeri star an early edge.
More Colle-Zukertorts next month I hope! Until then, Richard
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