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The Budapest Gambit: 3 dxe5 Ng4 4 Nf3 Bc5 5 e3 Nc6 [A52]
Last month I wanted to cover the Budapest, but couldn’t find a suitable recent game and then along came Andrushchak, M - Pawlicz, D. Yes, both players are rated below 2000, but the game is still an excellent illustration of Black’s chances with 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e5!? and then 3 dxe5 Ng4 4 Nf3 Bc5 5 e3 Nc6 6 Nc3 0-0:
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After 7 a3 Black might calmly go 7...Re8!? 8 b4 Bf8, but the thematic 7...a5 was preferred in the game where, yes, six moves later Black followed up with the good, old 13...Ra6, heading for h6.
The Dutch: 2 Bf4 Nf6 3 e3 e6 4 Be2 [A80]
Next we come to one of Simon’s favourite fighting defences, 1 d4 f5 and then 2 Bf4 Nf6 3 e3 e6 4 Be2, with no less an expert than Glenn himself sitting behind the white pieces. After 4...d6 5 c4 Be7 6 Nc3 0-0 he went 7 h4!?:
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This is certainly thematic, as now would be 7...Nc6, whereas Black was worse, but fought back well to draw after 7...Na6?! in Flear, G - Conquest, S.
The Dutch: 2 c4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e6 4 Nf3 d5 [A85]
Like theory, I’ve never had a particularly good view of 1 d4 e6 2 c4 f5 3 Nc3 (we’ll also see Simon in action against 3 a3!?, where he too went for a Stonewall style approach) 3...Nf6 4 Nf3 d5?!, largely because 5 Bf4 c6 6 e3 Be7 7 Qc2 gives White pretty easy play:
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Moreover, if White meets 7...0-0 with 8 Bd3 Ne4 9 g4! Black has long been known to be in trouble. The slower 8 h3 was preferred in Vaidyanathan, A - Golding, A, where White still emerged with an edge before gradually falling victim to Black’s highly direct play on the kingside.
The Neo-Grünfeld: 3 g3 c6 4 Bg2 d5 5 Nf3 Bg7 6 0-0 0-0 7 Qa4 [D78]
A popular and pretty solid line for Black against 1 Nf3 d5 2 g3 is 2...g6 when 3 Bg2 Bg7 4 0-0 0-0 5 c4 c6 6 d4 0-0 returns play to Fianchetto Grünfeld waters. Here 7 Qa4 isn’t as popular as it was a few years ago, in part because of 7...Nfd7! 8 cxd5 Nb6 9 Qd1 cxd5 10 Nc3 Nc6:
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The black knight might have been dragged from f6 to b6, but White has lost two whole tempi and Black is fairly comfortable from what I can see, as we’ll explore further in Theodorou, N - Ma Qun.
The Neo-Grünfeld: 3 g3 c6 4 Bg2 d5 5 Nf3 Bg7 6 0-0 0-0 7 cxd5 cxd5 8 Nc3 [D79]
The main line after 1 Nf3 d5 2 g3 g6 3 Bg2 Bg7 4 d4 Nf6 5 0-0 0-0 6 c4 c6 remains 7 cxd5 cxd5 8 Nc3 when Black has a choice.
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8...Nc6 maintains the symmetry and after 9 Ne5 Bf5 10 Bf4 Rc8 11 Rc1 Black faces a further choice, where I suspect they might do better with 11...Qb6 than the 11...e6 12 h3! of Van Foreest, J - Erigaisi, A.
It’s also possible to beat White to the central bounce with 8...Ne4!?, although after 9 Ne5 Nxc3 10 bxc3 Black may do best to offer a return to symmetry after all with 10...Nc6 11 Nxc6 bxc6:
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White can try to press, but 12 Qa4 Qb6! 13 Ba3 Qa6 is an important defensive manoeuvre, as we’ll see in Xu Xiangyu-Bai Jinshi.
The Exchange Grünfeld: 7 Nf3 c5 8 h3 [D85]
After 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4 Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7 7 Nf3 c5 Wesley So opted for 8 h3 and then 8...0-0 9 Be2 cxd4 10 cxd4 Nc6 11 Be3 Qa5+ 12 Bd2 Qa3 13 d5 Ne5 14 Rb1 in a bid to trouble the Vachier-Lagrave memory bank at the Sinquefield Cup:
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Here 14...Bd7!?, heading for a4, was a notable choice from MVL, who was able to figure out the path to a draw, despite running out of theory on move 20 in So, W - Vachier-Lagrave, M.
Will we see some more cut-throat Grünfeld encounters next month?
Richard
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