Download PGN of July ’18 d-Pawn Specials games
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The Trompowsky: 2...d5 3 Bxf6 gxf6 4 e3 c5 5 dxc5 [D00]
A critical battleground after 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bg5 remains 2...d5 3 Bxf6 (or 3 e3 c5 4 Bxf6 gxf6) 3...gxf6 4 e3 c5:
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Mamedyarov has tried 5 Nf3!? of late, since White has been struggling to show anything after 5 dxc5 and then 5...Nc6, whereas 5...Qa5+, while natural, should not equalise, as we’ll see in that great struggle Antipov, M - Tekeyev, Z.
The Pseudo-Trompowsky: 2...h6 3 Bh4 c6 [D01]
Or should I say the Veresov, since after catching up on a few independent developments after 1 d4 d5 2 Bg5, we’ll consider 2...h6 3 Bh4 c6 4 Nc3!? in Romanov, E - Admiraal, M ?
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This angles for a transposition into a rare line of the Veresov, as indeed occurred after 4...Bf5 5 f3 Nf6 6 Qd2, after which Romanov became quite ambitious, but Black still held without any real difficulty.
The Jobava-Prié Attack: 3...a6 4 e3 e6 [D00]
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 Bf4 remains a decent enough way to bypass the theoretical highways. This month we’ll take a look at Wesley So’s idea of 3...Bf5 4 Nb5, as well as at 3...a6 4 e3 e6:
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Now White, in turn, made a useful enough move in 5 a3!? ahead of winning a positional masterpiece in Horvath, J - Vrolijk, L.
The Jobava-Prié Attack v KID 1...Nf6 2 Bf4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 e3 [D00]
Bauer, C - Apicella, M actually began via a slightly unusual 1 d4 d5 2 Bf4 Nf6 3 Nc3 g6 4 e3 move order and after 4...Bg7 5 h4 I remain far from totally impressed by 5...a6?!. That said, 6 h5! Nxh5 7 Rxh5 gxh5 8 Qxh5 Be6!? was a decent enough novelty:
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White enjoys decent compensation here and soon had much more than that after Black unnecessarily gave up d5. In the notes we’ll also consider the more testing 5...0-0 6 h5 c5! and 5...c6.
Sticking with 1 d4 Nf6 2 Bf4 g6 (we’ll also consider developments involving Fabiano Caruana after the critical 2...c5) 3 Nc3 d5 4 e3, we should also consider the immediate 4...c6:
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Black waits while hinting at queenside expansion, but his opening was not a total success in Oleksiyenko, M - Kovchan, A, allowing White to reach a favourable type of Barry, while in the notes we’ll consider a couple of recent pure Barry Attack encounters.
The London System 2...Nf6 3 e3 c5 [D00]
1 d4 Nf6 2 Bf4 d5 3 e3 c5 is both quite a natural and quite a critical choice for Black. White’s modern-day choice is really between 4 Nf3 Nc6 5 Nbd2 and 4 dxc5!?. We haven’t considered the latter for a while on ChessPub or before 4...e6 5 b4 a5 6 c3 Bd7!?, which is quite clever from Black, teeing up ...Nc6 without it being pinned by Bb5.
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I haven’t found any route to an advantage for White here, although he can certainly do better than the 7 Qb3? of Nakamura, H - So, W.
The Colle-Zukertort: 3...c5 4 Bd3 d5 5 b3 Nc6 [D05]
I rarely include blitz games, but Hikaru Nakamura really deserved a change of luck after that previous encounter. That said, while his 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 e3 c5 4 Bd3 d5 5 b3 Nc6 6 0-0 Be7 7 Bb2 0-0 8 Nbd2 b6 was quite a topical and decent line, meeting 9 a3!? Bb7 10 Qe2 with 10...Qc7 might not be best:
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White was quick to pinpoint the queen’s location with 11 Rc1! Rac8 12 c4 and soon enjoyed a strong initiative before a sudden turnaround in Mamedyarov, S - Nakamura, H.
Let’s hope for more such enthralling games next month.
Until then, Richard
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