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Classical Variation with 6...Re8 [E91]
I first came across 6.Be2 Re8 in the games of Danil Dubov:
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At first I was rather astonished that he could play what seems like a beginner's move, but Dubov has been using this line with some success (for example see Sadek, S - Dubov, D and Suleymenov, Al - Dubov, D).
One of the ideas is to play 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Nb4, with ...e7-e6 coming soon:
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another is that after 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Be3 Black has 8...e5 9.d5 Nd4!:
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Jan Krzysztof Duda did not seem particularly well prepared for this line in Duda, J - Dubov, D, and that is despite the fact that he had previously been on the Black side (Melkumyan, H - Duda, J).
Classical Variation with 6...a5 [E91]
I can't decide whether I'm more surprised by Duda's 6...Re8 or the equally impudent 6...a5:
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Andrew Martin previously covered this move with the game Ftacnik, L - Istratescu, A, which went 7.0-0 Na6 and now 8.Bf4!:
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As this does not look very attractive for Black I looked for alternatives, finding that 7.0-0 Bg4 is not silly. After the further moves 8.Be3 Nfd7:
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we transpose into a game Ibrayev, N - Forster, R, which had been reached via a 6...Bg4 move order. Playing 6...a5 first allows Black to avoid options such as 6...Bg4 7.Be3 a5 8.h4, which I included in the notes.
If Black starts with 6...a5 then 7.Be3 produces a position which can be reached via several move orders, in fact it's difficult to know where this line belongs in the ECO codes.
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Black has two main options in 7...Na6 (see Shaw, J - Hebden, M) and 7...Ng4 (see Lupulescu, C - Niemann, H and Martirosyan, H - Praggnanandhaa, R). This in turn seems to give the ...a7-a5 concept value in several lines.
I was originally hoping to cover such flexible ideas against the fianchetto systems, but with so much material this will have to wait until next month.
Till next month, Nigel Davies
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