Exeter Chess Club: *\n Openings\black_d4.htmPlaying Black against Queen's-side Openings
White plays 1. d4 or plays one of the flank openings, and you reply with either a solid or an aggressive systemBlack's basic solid set-up            |
Black's basic active set-up |
Bibliography:
Norwood, Trends in the King's Indian Attack
Evans, The Chess Opening for You
Kasparov/Keene, Batsford Chess Openings 2
Walker, Chess Openings for Juniors
Varnusz, Play Anti-Indian Systems
Wall, 500 English Miniatures
Soltis, The London System
Botvinnik, 100 Selected Games
Schiller, The Cambridge Springs Defence
Polugaevsky, Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defence
Various magazines and other books Contents
Introduction
Playing solidly against the Queen's-side and flank openings
Playing aggressively against the Queen's-side and flank
openings
A. Queen's pawn openings
A1 Playing solidly against 1. d4
A(a) The Stonewall System
A(b) London System
A1.1 The Cambridge Springs Defence against the Queen's Gambit
A1.1a Cambridge Springs with 7. Nd2
A1.1b Cambridge Springs with 7. Bxf6
A1.1c Cambridge Springs with 7. Bd3
A1.1d Main line Cambridge with 7. cxd5
A1.1d(b) Back to the main line with 8. Qd2
A1.1d-1 Main line with 8... N7b6
d-1(1) Main line with 8...N7b6 9. Bd3
d-1(2) Main line with 8...N7b6 9. Nxd5
d-1(3) Main line with 8...N7b6 9. a3
d-1(4) Main line with 8...N7b6 9. Rc1
A1.1d-2 Main line with 8... Bb4
A1.1e White avoids the Cambridge Springs
A1.1e-1 White avoids the Cambridge Springs after 5. Nf3
A1.1e-2 White avoids the Cambridge Springs after 5. e3
A1.1e-3 White avoids the whole QGD by playing the Catalan
Example Cambridge Springs games
Example games where White avoids the Cambridge Springs
A1.2 The Semi-Slav
A1.2(a) The Meran System
A1.2(b) The Anti-Meran Gambit
Semi-slav theory
A1.2a Main-line Semi-Slav with 5. Bg5
A1.2b Main-line Semi-Slav with 5. e3
A1.2b-1 Semi-Slav with 6...Bd6
A1.2b-2 Semi-Slav with 6...Bb4
A1.2c White avoids Nc3
A1.2c-1 White deviates with 4. Qc2
A1.2c-2 White deviates with 4/5. Nbd2
A1.2d Main line Abrahams variation [D31]
A1.2d-1 Abrahams' Variation with 5. e4
A1.2d-2 Abrahams' Variation with 5. e3
A1.2d-3 Main line Abrahams' Variation with 5. a4
Example games in the Semi-Slav:
Deviations by White:
Example of Tchigorin Variation:
Abrahams' Variation
0-1
A1.3 The Exchange Variation
A1.3a The minority attack with b4 and b5
A1.3b Central break with f3 and e4
Example Games in the Exchange Variation
Black plays solidly
Black wins with a King's-side attack:
White wants to play in the centre:
White castles Queen's-side:
A2 Playing actively against 1. D4
The Stonewall Attack
A2.1 The Dutch Defence, Stonewall Variation
A2.2 White avoids the Stonewall
A2.2a Modern System with Bg5xf6
A2.2b Staunton Gambit with e4
A2.2c Korchnoi Gambit with g4
A2.2d Others
Examples of White avoiding the Dutch
B. English opening
B1 Playing solidly against 1. c4
B2 Playing actively against 1. c4
Theory of the Anglo-Dutch
Example games in the Anglo-Dutch
System with 2...d6
System with 2...Nc6
Reversed Closed Sicilian
C Reti Opening and King's Indian Attack
C1 Playing solidly against 1. Nf3
C2 Playing actively against 1. Nf3
D Sokolsky opening (Polish)
D1 Playing solidly against 1. b4
D2 Playing actively against 1. b4
E Nimzo-Larsen Opening
E1 Playing solidly against 1. b3
E2 Playing actively against 1. b3
F Various other openings
F1. Benko's Opening, 1.g3
F3. The Dunst, 1. Nc3
Example game in the Dunst:
F4. Grob's opening, 1. g4
Also ran: 1. e3, 1. a3, 1. a4, 1. h4, 1. f3
The repertoires below offer you solid and aggressive ways of playing against most of the Queen's side openings, and also tells you what to do against some of the less common lines where only one line need be learned.
Playing solidly against the Queen's-side and flank openings
| Black's basic solid set-up |
When I say solid, I mean, solid and going forward, not solid and standing still. So, you must plan where your counterplay is coming from: play ...e5 to get your Bc8 out and working play ...Bd6 and ...Qc7 play ...Bb4 and ...Qa5 play ...dxc4 and ...b5 Of course you can combine these plans. |
| play ...e5 to get your Bc8 out |
play ...Bd6 and ...Qc7 |
play ...Bb4 and ...Qa5 |
...dxc4 & ...b5: keep the P/ hit
a
Bc4 |
Playing aggressively against the Queen's-side and flank
openings
play ...Qe8 and ...Qh4 |
play ...Kh8, ...Rg8 and ...g5 |
play ...Ne4 and ...Ndf6 |
re-organise bishops ...Bd6 /
...Bd7-e8-h4 |
Under the Section A, Queen Pawn Openings you can see both these lines at work. You can see straight away that it may be possible to head towards one then choose the other.
I'll also show you how to play against some of the more off-beat approaches to playing White in sections B-F. Analysis and Games
I'll go through each approach in turn, looking at a system to play against each White opening.
As your chess improves you will meet more and more players who prefer the slower Queen's-side openings, which although slow, are dangerous because they are also trying to take over the centre, and it is harder to stop this than after 1. e4. The reason for this is worth thinking about:
In the e4 openings, you can often easily play ...d5, but in the 1. d4 openings, ...e5 takes a lot longer to arrange. You may prefer to give up on the idea for a while, and concentrate on active development.
There are several systems below which combine solidity and winning chances in varying proportions:
The Cambridge Springs Defence to the Queen's Gambit Declined
The Semi-Slav Defence: the Tchigorin, Romih and Abrahams variations
The Stonewall Dutch
A1 Playing solidly against 1. d4
I assume that White will follow 1...d5 with 2. c4. Sometimes White will play 2. Nf3 and later 3. c4, but basically White usually needs the c2-c4 move to put Black's centre under pressure, or Black will be able to use the c7 and e7 pawns to hit out at the d4 pawn. There are a few White systems that don't involve c2-c4:
*
The Stonewall System
1. d4 2. e3 3. Bd3 and 4. f4*
The London System
1. d4 2. Nf3 3. Bf4*
The Colle System
: 1. d4 2. Nf3 3. e3 4. Bd3 ( see the booklet devoted to this opening
(Notes from Fine, 1943)
1. d4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Bd3
[3. f4 is sometimes played to avoid the 3...Nc6 line. Black can always play ...Bf5]
3... c5
[Another good system is 3... Nc6 4. f4
[4. c3 e5]
4... Nb4 5. Nf3 Nxd3+ 6. cxd3 g6 7. Nc3 Bg7 8. O-O O-O=]
4. c3 Nc6 5. f4
5... e6
blocks the Bc8; probably not best.
[5... Bg4 6. Nf3 e6 7. Nbd2 Bd6 8. h3 Bh5 9. b3 cxd4 10.
cxd4 Rc8
Black is comfortable]
The dangers in this line can be seen in this line, given by Fine:
6. Nf3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. Ne5 Qc7
Ne5 needs some response; Black could also try to occupy e4
9. Nd2 Re8 10. g4
with a crushing attack
This can be a dangerous system: e.g.
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. c3 e6 5. e3 Be7 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Bd3 b6 8. Ne5
[8. O-O Bb7 9. a4
[9. Ne5]]
8... Bb7 9. Qf3 Nc6 10. Qh3 g6 11. Bh6 Re8 12. f4 Nd7
[12... Nxe5 13. fxe5 Ne4 14. Bxe4 dxe4 15. O-O with a strong attack: White can contemplate Rxf7!]
13. O-O f5 14. Ndf3 Ncxe5 15. fxe5 Bf8 16. Ng5 Bxh6 17. Qxh6 Nf8
[17... Qe7 18. g4 Qg7 19. Qxg7+ Kxg7 20. Bb5 Rad8 21. gxf5 gxf5 22. Nh3 with an endgame plus]
18. Rf3 Re7 19. g4 Rg7 20. Raf1 Qd7 21. Kh1 Qe7 22. h4 Bc8 23. Rg3 a5 24. Rfg1 Ra7
Black fiddles while the King's side burns... White won an endgame in about 40 moves.
Let's try again from the top:
1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. c3 e6 5. e3 Be7 6. Nbd2
Now 6... Nc6
Black should be prepared to snap off a Knight coming to e5, and can also think about ...Nh5 to exchange the Bishop.
7. h3
[or 7. Bd3 Nh5 8. Be5 f6 9. Bg3 g6 10. Qe2 O-O
Eslon-Cramling, 1984. BCO confidently gives this as an edge to Black. The Black pawns look odd but cover a lot of key squares. If White castles King's- side Black will play ...Nxg3; if O-O-O Black should not open a file but ...a6.]
7... O-O 8. Bd3 b6 9. O-O Bb7 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. Bxe5 c4 12. Bc2 b5 13. a3 Nd7
= Remon-Agzamov 1984
The only other system which may cause concentr is the Colle System; early development of the Bc8 to f5 or g4 is the antidote (see booklet).
White has other non-standard plans eg...
[3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 e6 5. O-O Nc6 6. c3 Qb6 7. e3 Bd6
= Ardiansyah-Farago 1983.]
....but these should not cause you sleepless nights. The strongest move is c2-c4, so let us look at these variations.
A1.1 The Cambridge Springs Defence against the Queen's Gambit
The Queen's Gambit is a strong and solid approach for White.
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5
The main line is 4...Be7 but the line I recommend starts:
4... Nbd7
Can White win a pawn here?
[5. cxd5 exd5 6. Nxd5 Nxd5 7. Bxd8
[7. Bd2 N7f6]
7... Bb4+ 8. Qd2 Bxd2+ 9. Kxd2 Kxd8 and Black has an extra piece!]
No, so White usually continues:
5. e3 c6 6. Nf3 Qa5
This is the Cambridge Springs Defence, a counter-attacking line where Black aims to put the White Queen's-side under pressure. White has ways of heading off to other variations on moves 4,5 and 6 and we will look at those later. First, let us look at an example game:
Marshall,F - Tarrasch,S, Nuremberg, 1895
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 c6 6. Qc2 Qa5
7. cxd5 Nxd5 8. Nf3 ? 8... Bb4 9. Kd2
Black's attack on c3 has given White a real headache.
9... c5 10. a3 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 cxd4 12. exd4 N7b6 13. Bd3 Bd7 14. Rhc1 Rc8 15. Qb3 O-O
16. Ke2
[16. Rc2 Ba4]
16... Rxc3 17. Rxc3 Qxc3 18. Qb1 h6 19. Bd2 Qc7 20. Kf1 Nc4 21. Bc1 Ba4 22. Qa2 Rc8 23. Qe2 Nc3 24. Qe1 Na5 25. Bxh6 Nb3 26. Bd2 Nxa1 27. Qxa1
27... Bb5 28. Bxb5 Nxb5 29. g3 Qc6 30. Kg2
30... Rd8 31. Be3 Qe4 32. Qb2 Rd5 33. a4 Nd6 34. Bf4 Nf5 35. Be3 Nxe3+ 36. fxe3 Qxe3 37. g4 f5 38. g5 Qe4 39. Qc3 f4 40. Qc8+ Kh7 41. Qc3
41... e5 42. h4 Rxd4 43. g6+ Kh6 44. Kh2 Qe2+ 0-1
Quite a long haul, but not difficult to understand. I predict you will win a few games like this to White players who do not really see the attack coming. All the theory below is designed to give you enough ideas to see you through games where your opponents do know what they are doing.
From the main line position:
White has several different moves here, but the same ideas are present in each line: White hopes to safeguard the bishop on g5 and/or to minimise the attack on c3. We will look at:
a. 7. Nd2, stopping ...Ne4
b. 7. Bxf6, removing the target
c. 7. Bd3 - a poor move (...dxc4!)
d. 7. cxd5 - stopping ...dxc4
The first and last of these are the most important and most common amongst masters.
A1.1a Cambridge Springs with 7. Nd2
Black has got two ways to try and equalise here I recommend 7. Nd2 Bb4 but Black has also tried
7.Nd2 dxc4
e.g.
8. Bxf6 Nxf6 9. Nxc4 Qc7 10. Rc1
which may be about equal but I don't fancy it as well. Let's try instead
7. Nd2 Bb4
8. Qc2 O-O
[8... e5 also equalises according to Polugaevsky]
9. Be2
White has also tried:
[9. a3 Ne4]
[9. Bh4 e5
always this blow! But Black can also try
[9... c5 10. Nb3 Qa4 11. Bxf6 Nxf6 12. dxc5 Qc6 13. cxd5 exd5=]
10. dxe5
[10. Nb3 Qc7 11. Be2 [or 11. Bg3 Ne4] 11... dxc4 12. Bxc4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Ne5 = Straat-Spielmann, Scheveningen 1923]
10... Ne4 11. Ndxe4 dxe4 12. e6 Ne5 13. exf7+
[13. e7 Re8 14. O-O-O Ng6 15. Rd8 Bf5]
13... Rxf7 14. O-O-O Bf5 15. a3 Nd3+
16. Bxd3
[16. Kb1 Bxc3 17. Qxc3 Qxc3 18. bxc3 Re8 with good compensation for the piece]
16... exd3 17. Qd2 c5 18. axb4 ? 18... cxb4 19. Nb1 Rc8 20. b3 b5 with a strong attack for the piece]
9... e5
10. O-O
Again White has tried other moves:
[10. dxe5 Ne4 11. Ndxe4 dxe4 12. O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 Nxe5
[13... f6 14. Bh4 Qxe5 =]
14. Qxe4 Ng6 15. Bf4 Nxf4 16. Qxf4 Qxc3
is OK for Black]
[10. Bxf6 Nxf6 11. dxe5 Ne4 12. Ndxe4
[12. cxd5! Nxc3 13. bxc3 Bxc3 14. Rc1 Bxe5 15. dxc6 Rd8 16. Bd3 bxc6 17. O-O Ba6 18. Nc4 Bxc4 19. Bxc4 += bukic-nikolac, yugoslavia 1976]
12... dxe4 13. O-O Bxc3 14. Qxc3 Qxc3
15. bxc3 Re8 16. Rad1 Kf8
]
10... Bd6
[10... exd4 11. Nb3 Qc7 12. Nxd4 dxc4 13. Bxc4 Ne5 14. Be2 Neg4 15. Bf4 Qe7 16. h3 Ne5 17. Rad1 Ng6 18. Bg3 Rd8 = Spraggett-Saed, Taxco 1985]
11. Nb3
[11. cxd5 exd4 12. dxc6 dxc3 13. cxd7 cxd2 14. dxc8=Q Raxc8]
[11. c5 Be7 12. b4 Qc7
with chances for both sides; White has more space but while Black maintains the tension in the centre it will not be easy for either side
(...e4, though, would be a mistake) 13. b5]
11... Qc7 =
A1.1b Cambridge Springs with 7. Bxf6
7...Nxf6 8. Bd3 Bb4 9. Qc2
[There is an old line 9. Qb3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 O-O 11. O-O Bxc3 12. bxc3 b6 13. Ne5 Bb7 14. Be2 c5 15. Nc4 Qa6 16. Qb2 Bd5 17. Ne5 Qc8 18. a4 Nd7 19. c4 Be4
= Capablanca, Lasker,Ed. NY 1924]
9... c5
Black has a simple equalising plan: exchange centre pawns, castle, then develop your Bc8.
10. Nd2 [or 10. O-O] 10... cxd4 11. exd4 Bxc3 12. Qxc3 Qxc3 13. bxc3 dxc4 14. Nxc4 Ke7 15. Kd2 Bd7
= Kmoch-Vajda, Kecsemet 1927
A1.1c Cambridge Springs with 7. Bd3
This is a feeble move, although it looks natural.
7... Ne4 8. Nd2
[8. Bf4 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Qxc3+ 10. Kf1 dxc4]
[8. Bxe4 dxe4 9. Ne5 Bb4]
8... Nxd2 9. Qxd2 dxc4
And Black has won a piece.
A1.1d Main line Cambridge with 7. cxd5
7...Nxd5
Now White usually plays Qd2 but first we will need to examine an alternative in 8. Qb3.
A1.1d(a) White deviates from main line: 8. Qb3
8. Qb3 Bb4
Others can be confidently tried:
[8... h6 9. Bh4 Bb4 10. Rc1 c5 11. a3 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 cxd4 13. exd4 O-O = Euwe-Capablanca 1931]
[8... Bd6 9. e4 Nxc3 10. bxc3 e5 11. Bd2 O-O 12. Bd3 Qc7 = Peev-Atanasov, Varna 1974]
9. Rc1 e5
!? Tartakower
10. Bc4 !
Best. Alternatives include:
(a) [10. dxe5 Nc5 11. Qc2 Na4
[11... Qxa2]
]
(b) [10. Nxe5 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Be6 12. a3 Nxc3 13. Qxb4
[13. axb4 Qxe5 14. Bf4 Bxb3 15. Bxe5 Na2]
13... Qxb4 14. axb4 Na2 15. Rd1 Nxb4]
(c) [10. Bd3 h6 11. Bh4 exd4 12. exd4 Nf4]
...with Black comfortable in each case.
10... N7b6
[10... exd4 is more solid 11. Bxd5 Bxc3+ 12. bxc3 cxd5 13. exd4 O-O 14. O-O Nb6 =]
11. Bxd5 Nxd5 12. Nxe5 Be6 13. Nc4
[13. a3 Nxc3]
13... Nxc3 14. Nxa5 Nxa2+ 15. Qxb4 Nxb4 16. Kd2 f6
=/=+ As in a consultation game Euwe & Weenink - Alekhine & Van Den Bosch, Amsterdam 1931
A1.1d(b) Back to the main line with 8. Qd2
8. Qd2
Black now has the sharp
8... N7b6
and the solid
8...Bb4
A1.1d-1 Main line with 8... N7b6
Now White has a choice:
(1) 9. Bd3
(2) 9. Nxd5
(3) 9. a3
(4) 9. Rc1
Only the last of these is dangerous.
d-1(1) Main line with 8...N7b6 9. Bd3
9. Bd3 (?)
This move anticipates transposing to the Rc1 system after
9... Nxc3
but Black can dodge with
9... Na4 !
with no problems after
10. Nxd5
[or 10. Nxa4 Bb4]
[or 10. O-O Nxb2 11. Qxb2 Qxc3 -+]
10... Qxd2+ 11. Kxd2 exd5 drawn: Adorjan-Ivkov 1980
This is worth knowing about, because it is not in all the books.
d-1(2) Main line with 8...N7b6 9. Nxd5
An attempt to avoid any theoretical novelties, but abandining any pretence at keeping the White advantage.
9... Qxd2+ 10. Nxd2 exd5 11. Bd3 a5
= Karpov-Kasparov 1984/85 #47
d-1(3) Main line with 8...N7b6 9. a3
9... Nxc3
the pawn grab with ...Bb4 is rather risky
10. Qxc3
[10. bxc3 Nd5 11. e4
[11. c4 Bb4]
11... Qxc3]
10... Qxc3+ 11. bxc3 f6 12. Bh4 c5