ForumHelpSearchMy ProfileSite InfoGuests InfoRepertoireLinks
I cannot say it makes me exactly jump with joy when, having thought I had covered the toughest lines last time (with those 15 games...), I had to spend another complete week examining finesses, of which 99% of my opponents probably have no inkling.
But because I bet on my repertoire for a living and do not simply accept what I find in books I am ready to pay for it with my time.

Download PGN of November '08 d-Pawn Specials games


London System [D02]

In any case my worries came neither from: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bf4 d5 4.e3 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 Bd6 7.Bg3 0-0 8.Bd3 Re8 (After the 8...Qe7 examined last time this is the second idea threatening ...e6-e5. Hence...) 9.Ne5 Qc7 10.f4 As a rule, this move begins to be a lot more interesting when the e4 square is unlikely to be attained by Black's king's knight. 10...a6 11.Bh4!:

which allowed White to get a strong attack in Game One, where the rook's move just appeared to be a waste of time.

Nor from: 9...Bxe5 10.dxe5 Nd7 11.Nf3, which proved sufficient to save the infiltrated scout on e5 with honors in Game Two, and the pawn sacrifice 11.f4 also proved interesting in Game 3, all depending on the estimation of the position resulting from 11...c4 12.Bc2 Qb6 13.0-0 Qxb2 14.Rc1 Nc5!:

To get rid of what is obviously White's best piece. Correspondence chess... And even if the engines in 2002 were not as strong as today, they had already started to make speculative theory crumble..

Nor: 9...g6!? 10.f4 Nh5 as in Game Four.

But, finally, the real problem is: 8...b6!, leading to equality according to the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings if I believe J-K. 9.e4! is the recommendation of the book which only concentrated on the reply 9...dxe4?! as in Game 5.

However, 9...Be7!, parrying the 10.e5 fork by 10...Nh5, is the unnoticed critical continuation:

And this required me to put in considerable effort just to find an acceptable position for White!

Actually, it took me even more painful hours to convince myself that 9.Ne5 (which had brought me a rewarding success in Game 6 after the thematic, but probably inaccurate, 9...Ne7?!, since White does not need a pawn on f4 to move forward on the kingside with 10.h4! Bb7 11.Qf3) was premature, and at best nothing for White had the opponent plainly reacted by 9...Bb7!, with the idea 10.f4 Ne7! threatening to occupy the hole on e4 after 11.Qf3 Nf5 12.Bf2 (The question is not to preserve this bishop anymore but to free the g-pawn in case Black threatens ...f7-f6 after having moved his Nf6, and free the h3 square for the white queen so that to be able to take at least once on e4.) 12...Be7! 13.0-0 Nd6 14.Qh3 (A good square for the queen, eyeing the e6 pawn and enabling the exchange manoeuvre Bf2-h4 in some cases.) 14...Nfe4 15.Rad1 c4! stopping all the tricks on the d-file as mentioned in Game 7, which speaks for itself:

8.Bb5?! is another example of a lack of rigueur, leading to theoretical misleading ( i.e. to prefer 8.Bd3 Qe7 by transposition, actually played prior to castling, to 8...b6!) with this eccentric move extolled by Cox this time.

8...Ne7! (instead of the poor 8...Qe7? 9.Bxc6 bxc6 10.Qa4), with the familiar set-up ...b6, Bb7 just refuted the concept in Game 8.

Nevertheless, the 'priceless', all-time, on all seasons' scale, World champion of theoretical quack, passes to the one who, having managed to neglect some 1500 games after 6...Bd6 (not to include related variations) dared to only highlight this capital chapter of the d-Pawn Specials universe with the suspect 8.Ne5?!, calling for 8...Qc7 9.f4, and enriched this with the comment "White has successfully established a Stonewall formation."

The advance of the f-pawn is everything but innocent, however, and was immediately questioned by 9...Ne4!? which immediately led to a comfortable equalization in Game 9.



See you soon, Eric