Download PGN of January '10 1 d4 d5 games
Chigorin Defence [D07]
Gareev - Stripunsky: Timur Gareev confidently refuted his opponent's over ambitious play in a very rare line:
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Polak - Markos: Tomas Polak came up with a very rare but interesting approach to counter the Chigorin Defence and quickly smashed his opponent.
The Slow Slav
Kempinski - Zawadzki: Robert Kempinsky cleverly exploited Black's early bishop sortie by an interesting approach connected with K-side pawn advances.
Chebanenko System [D15]
Kacheishvili - Gareev: The bishop's lunge to f5, which has never really been popular (one of a few occasions was the game Kramnik - Shirov/Vienna 1996), has recently brought Black many points:
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Here is one example, in which White was punished in style for just one inaccurate move in the opening.
Kramnik - Karjakin: Vladimir Kramnik showed how merciless he can be in a Catalan type of position.
QGA [D20-29]
Sokolov - Golod: Vitaly Golod came up with a very unusual set-up to counter Ivan Sokolov's attempt to play the a4 QGA line - however, White's energetic play cast doubt on Black's approach. The result of the game had no connection with the opening as both players were too far from perfect handling a rather messy position.
Peralta - Gonzalez Garcia: Fernando Peralta chose one of the most promising lines against the QGA:
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In fact Black's position is solid enough but here it quickly collapsed after a couple of careless moves.
Borovikov - Horvath: White's restrained approach might be poisonous but Black's counter chances should be sufficient. Here he successfully realised thematic c-pawn advance but then was in a bit of a hurry to get the pawn back - it actually cost him his queen!
QGD [D38 & D53]
Ernst - Miedema: Sipke Ernst explained why it was dangerous for Black to move his bishop back home early in the opening:
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A series of energetic moves took his opponent's king out of its shelter!
Gelfand - Jakovenko: Boris Gelfand refuted his opponent's ambitious approach with a series of precise and far from obvious moves.
See you next month, Ruslan
If you have any questions, then please post a message at the 1 d4 d5 Forum, or subscribers can email me at ruslan@chesspublishing.com.