Chess Evolution: QGD Exchange (part seven)

BLACK'S plan with an early ...Bf5 became regarded by many whites as a threat to the whole idea of playing 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5.
But an interesting answer soon became popular - once players were sure it was not simply a positional mkistake.

After the continuation 4...exd5 5.Bg5 c6, instead of the normal 6.e3, Reshevsky in a game in 1951 played 6.Qc2!?

His opponent replied 6...Be7, and so Qc2 seemed a harmless transposition. But could Black play 6...g6!? followed by ...Bf5?

There are two possible tactical problems with 6...g6!?

Position after 6...g6!?

Thomas Schian (2305) - Jerzy Struk (2125)

Berlin Summer 1996

7.Bxf6!?

This is the first game in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database in which this move appears.

7...Qxf6 8.Nxd5 Qxd4

Not 8...cxd5?? 9.Qxc8.

9.Rd1 Bb4+ 10.Nxb4 Qxb4+ 11.Rxd2 0-0

Black is fine (0-1, 35 moves).

Siniša Sarić (2462) - Zoltán Simonyi (2219)

Senta (Serbia) 2012

7.Nxd5!? Qxd5!

Black loses a pawn after 7...cxd5 8.Bxf6.

8.Bxf6 Bb4+ 9.Kd1 0-0 10.e4 Re8 11.Bd3 Nd7 12.Ne2?

White had to play 12.Nf3 in order to meet 12...Qh5 with 13.Bh4 or 13.Bg5, after which Black has good compensation for his pawn deficit.

12...Qh5 (0-1, 93 moves).

However, it turns out there is a reasonably straightforward answer to 6...g6!?

Boris Alterman (2585) - Jonathan Parker (2400)

Lloyds Bank (London) 1994

7.e3 Bf5 8.Qb3

Mega20 has more games with 8.Bd3!? Bxd3 9.Qxd3, but Black should be fine.

8...b6 9.f3 Be7 10.g4 Be6 11.Bh6 Bf8 12.Bxf8 Kxf8 13.Nge2 Qd6 14.Nf4 Nbd7 15.0-0-0!?

Sharp play. Alterman judges his kingside attack will come before Black's queenside counterplay.

15...h5!?

A pre-emptive strike, one point being that opening lines with 16.gxh5?! Nxh5 17.Nxh5 Rxh5 almost certainly favours Black as White is no longer threatening a kingside breakthrough.

16.g5 Ne8 17.Bd3 Kg7 18.Qc2 Nf8 19.Nfe2 Qe7 20.h4 c5

My main analysis engines Stockfish12 and Komodo11.01 suggest 20...Nd6!?, but like White.

21.Qd2 c4 22.Bc2 Nc7 23.e4 b5 24.exd5 Bxd5 25.Nxd5 Nxd5 26.Be4 Qd6 27.Bxd5 Qxd5 28.Nc3 Qf5 29.d5!

White has not managed a kingside breakthrough, but his pieces are much better coordinated and Black seems helpless.

29...Nd7

If 29...Qxf3, then 30.Rhf1 is strong, eg 30...Qg4 31.Rf4 Qd7 32.Qd4+ Kg8 33.Ne4 with a massive attack.

30.Qd4+ Kh7 31.Ne4

Alterman is not interested in the loose b5 pawn, although Nxb5 was perfectly reasonable at move 30 and 31.

31...c3?!

The best the engines can come up with is 31...Rhf8 32.Nd6 Qxf3 33.Rhf1 Qg2, when White has several pleasant continuations, perhaps the simplest being to equalise material with 34.Nxb5, when White remains with much the better coordination.

32.bxc3 b4 33.c4 Rab8 34.Rd3 Rb6 35.d6 Rc8 36.Kb2

A common defensive technique - White uses the black b pawn as shelter.

36...Rbc6 37.Rc1 a5 38.Qd5 Ne5 39.Rd4 Nxc4+?

A miscalculation, but the engines reckon Black is lost anyway.

40.Rcxc4 Qxd5 41.Nf6+!

Parker presumably missed this fork, or rather that Black is lost at the end of the combination.

41...Kg7 42.Nxd5 Rxc4 43.Rxc4 1-0

The point is 43...Rxc4 loses to 44.d7.