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We begin this month with good and bad news. The former is that we’ve an entire update to enjoy of games from the recent Budapest Olympiad, which was another absolute feast of chess. The bad news is that two Swedish stars, Nils Grandelius and Martin Lokander, came well prepared for the Trompowsky, posing questions for White en route to scoring instructive victories. We’ll also see a masterclass against the London from Dommaraju Gukesh, as well as, thankfully, four wins for White!

Download PGN of September ’24 d-Pawn Specials games

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The Trompowsky: 2...b6 [A45]

Meeting 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bf4 with 2...b6 has become slightly topical in recent years, which begs the question: why not meet 2 Bg5 with 2...b6?

White has a few options here and I won’t be surprised if 3 Nc3 gains some attention if 2...b6!? becomes trendy. There’s also nothing wrong with 3 Nd2 Bb7 4 Ngf3, which is very Torre-like and after 4...d6 5 Bxf6 exf6 6 e4 a hard-fought struggle ensued in Wiedenkeller, M - Grandelius, N.


The Trompowsky: 2...c5 3 Bxf6 gxf6 4 d5 f5 [A45]

After 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 c5 3 Bxf6 gxf6 4 d5 Black’s main move is still 4...Qb6, but 4...f5 is an important alternative. Here I would be tempted to go 5 Nd2!?, as after 5 c4 Bg7 it’s not so easy to find a great continuation for White:

6 Qc2, for example, can be met by 6...b5! or just 6...d6 7 Nc3 e5!?, which quickly led to Black getting on top in Grigorov, G - Lokander, M.



The Torre: 3...d5 4 e3 c5 5 c3 Nc6 6 Nd2 h6 7 Bh4 [D03]

Our next encounter also begins with 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 before transposing into Torre waters with 2...d5 3 e3 e6 4 Nd2 h6 5 Bh4 c5 6 Ngf3. I’m still not overly impressed with the classical 6...Nc6 7 c3 Be7 for Black, with 8 Bd3 Qb6 9 Rb1 looking quite pleasant for White:

In the all-grandmaster clash Martinovic, S - Delgado Ramirez, N, White was quickly clearly better before Martinovic gave something of an endgame masterclass.


The Torre: 3...h6 4 Bh4 d6 5 Nbd2 g5 [A46]

A critical response to 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 Bg5 is still 3...h6 4 Bh4 d6 when 5 Nbd2 g5 6 Bg3 Nh5 7 e4 Bg7 8 c3 is all fairly thematic:

Black has a few options here, including 8...Qe7!?, which Radjabov employed to draw with Abdusattorov earlier in the year. There White went 9 Ng1, but 9 Nc4!? f5! 10 e5! d5 was preferred in Gascon Del Nogal, J - Neiksans, A, where Stockfish draws attention to the remarkable 11 Ne3!?, and if 11...f4 12 Nh4!.



The London: 3...c5 4 e3 Nc6 5 Nbd2 Bg4 [D02]

Vladimir Fedoseev defeated the world number one at the Olympiad and twice appeared on the white side of 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bf4 d5 3 e3 c5 4 Nf3. We’ll see how Ding Liren opted for 4...e6 5 Nbd2 Qb6!?, while 4...Nc6 5 Nbd2 Bg4 6 c3 e6 was preferred in Fedoseev, V - Gukesh, D.

Here we’ve tended to focus on 7 Qb3, not 7 Qa4!?, which Fedoseev deployed and which has also been used of late by Daniil Dubov. Black must avoid 7...Bd6? 8 Ba6, but 7...Nd7! seems fine, as the world championship challenger demonstrated.


The London System: 3...e6 4 e3 Bd6 5 Ne5 [D02]

I’ve never been totally sold on the aggressive 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bf4 d5 3 e3 e6 4 Nf3 Bd6 5 Ne5!?, in part because after 5...0-0 6 Nd2 c5 7 c3 Black can just go 7...Nc6 8 Bd3 Qc7!. There’s also 7...c4!?:

Here the AlphaZeroesque 8 h4!? may well actually be best, despite the mess which White quickly got into in Vaishali, R - Hakimifard, G.


The London System: 3...e6 4 e3 Bd6 5 Nbd2 [D02]

If after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 d5 3 Bf4 e6 4 e3 Bd6 White doesn’t want to go 5 Bg3, I’d prefer 5 Nbd2!? to 5 Ne5, and if 5...Bxf4 6 exf4 0-0 7 c3 Qd6 8 g3:

White’s central clamp is quite a useful asset and while there was something of a rating disparity, he went on to win an instructive game with a beautiful finish in Saraci, N - Sihlongonyane, S.



Will we see more pretty finishes next month?

Until then, Richard

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