The statistics bear this out. Of the games with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 from 1919-27 in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database, 358 continued with the Classical: 3...Nf6 compared with just 105 for 3...Bb4.
The main reason for the relative unpopularity of 3...Bb4 was 4.exd5, which was played in 67 of the 105 games.
It was thought that switching into a line of the Exchange Variation: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 was detrimental to Black because in that variation the black dark-square bishop was believed to be best-placed on d6.
Then came game one of the Capablanca - Alekhine world championship, in which Capablanca played 4.exd5 against Alekhine's Winawer and lost.
From 1928-39, when World War Two brought another cessation to most international chess, 3...Nf6 featured in 631 Mega20 games compared with 262 for 3...Bb4.
In other words the percentage of Winawer games, compared with Classical, rose from 22.7% to 29.3%.
That was significant, but even more dramatic was the eclipse of 4.exd5 as the preferred answer to the Winawer.
It was played 63.8% of the time from 1919-27 but just 16.8% from 1928-39.
The new kid on the block - actually, not so new but suddenly much more popular - was 4.e5, which accounted for 55% of the games from 1928-39.
The main champion of the Winawer became Mikhail Botvinnik. He played it throughout the 1930s, continued (when he could) during World War Two and kept faith with it in the 1948 tournament to decide who should replace the deceased Alekhine as world champion.
Samuel Reshevsky - Mikhail Botvinnik
1948 World Championship Round 19
French Winawer
1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3
This is now firmly established as the main move but for a long time it played second fiddle to 5.Bd2.
5...Bxc3+!?
Botvinnik won with 5...Ba5 against the same opponent two years earlier at Moscow in a match between the Soviet Union and the US.
6.bxc3 Qc7 7.Qg4!?
Reshevsky was noted for his positional play, while also excelling at tactics. At the time this game was played, the main move was the non-forcing 7.Nf3, but here Reshevsky aims to take advantage of Black's vulnerability on the kingside dark squares.
7...f5!?
A major alternative is 7...Ne7, transposing to a position normally reached via the move-order 6...Ne7 7.Qg4 Qc7.
8.Qg3!?
The first game in Mega20 to feature this move, which is now standard.
8...cxd4 9.cxd4 Ne7 10.Bd2
Not 10.Qxg7?? Rg8 and 11...Qc3+ etc.
10...0-0 11.Bd3
Defending c2 and hoping to later lever open the b1-h7 diagonal.
In many lines of the Winawer with Qg4, Black sacrifices one or two kingside pawns in return for dynamic piece-play on the queenside and in the centre. Here material is level but positionally unbalanced - White has more space and kingside attacking chances, while Black has pressure down the half-open c file and generally the better of it on the queenside.
White also has the bishop-pair, although the blocked centre means that is not an advantage at present. Nevertheless Black has a bad bishop, so Botvinnik sets about exchanging it.
11...b6 12.Ne2 Ba6 13.Nf4 Qd7 14.Bxa6!?
The point of voluntarily exchanging is that the black queen's knight has few immediate prospects on a6.
14...Nxa6 15.Qd3 Nb8 16.h4 Nbc6 17.Rh3 Rac8 18.Rg3 Kh8
Kasparov (2795) - Short (2690), Novgorod (USSR) 1997, saw 18...Rf7 19.h5 Nd8 20.c3* with an edge for White, according to the analysis engines Stockfish11 and Komodo11.01 (1-0, 31 moves).
19.h5 Rf7 20.h6 g6 21.Rc1!?
A rule-of-thumb from Cecil Purdy, the first world correspondence champion, was to never put a rook behind an unmoved pawn, even if you intend to move the pawn fairly quickly. Such rules are often broken, correctly, but here the engines much prefer 21.a4 or 21.Kf1!?
21...Rff8!? 22.Nd2
White's kingside pressure has not resulted in a breakthrough, but he still has an edge, according to the engines. However, Black now has time to try to work up an initiative on the queenside.
22...Nb8!?
Opening a line for the queen's rook, but the engines are unimpressed, preferring 22...Nd8 with the idea of proceeding with ...Nf7!?
23.Kf1 Rc4
A rook in the middle of the board in a crowded middlegame can easily get into trouble, but it will be hard for the white knight to harass it.
24.Kg1 Nbc6!? 25.Bg5 Ng8 26.Re1 Qf7 27.c3 Na5
Botvinnik decides the knight is a better occupant of the c4 outpost.
28.Nf4 Rc6
Defending e6 as well as clearing the c4 square and possibly preparing to add pressure down the c file with ...Rfc8.
29.Bf6+?
A serious misjudgment. The engines reckon White keeps an edge - "winning," according to Stockfish11, "slight," according to Komodo11 - with a move such as 29.a4.
29...Nxf6 30.exf6
 |
| How should Black proceed? |
30...Nc4
Did Reshevsky miss this simple zwischenzug? White is massively better after 30...Qxf6? 31.Rge3, but 30...Nc4 scuppers Reshevsky's plans.
31.Qb1 Qxf6
The net result of 29.Bf6+? is that White has lost a pawn and exchanged an active bishop for an inactive knight.
32.a4 g5
Botvinnik seizes the initiative on the kingside while the white pieces are uncoordinated.
33.Nd3 f4 34.Rh3 g4 35.Rh1 Rc7 36.Qd1 Qg6 37.Rh4 f3 38.g3
Reshevsky has been able to close lines on the kingside, but his forces remain uncoordinated. His one plus is pressure against the weak e pawn.
38...Rcf7?
Abandoning the c file lets White off the hook. The engines reckon Black keeps an edge with 38...Rfc8 or 38...Rf6.
39.Nf4?
Walking into a simple and very strong exchange sac. The position seems equal after 39.Ne5 Nxe5 40.Rxe5, White's giving up the c file meaning he cannot reply 40...Rxc3.
39...Rxf4! 40.gxf4 Rxf4
Black has two pawns and a powerful attack for the exchange.
41.Qb1
This is best, according to the engines, but White is already busted.
41...Rf5 42.Qd3
The engines give 42.Re4 or 42.Kh2 as best but in each case a simple answer is 42...Nd2.
42...g3 43.Qf1 gxf2+ 44.Kxf2 Rg5 45.Qh3 Rg2+ 46.Kf3 Nd2+ 47.Ke3 Rg3+ 0-1
*The move-count was one less in Kasparov-Short, but the game reached the same position as in Reshevsky-Botvinnik.
*The move-count was one less in Kasparov-Short, but the game reached the same position as in Reshevsky-Botvinnik.
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