The full game can be seen at S9 but here I want to concentrate on the opening, which featured a popular line in the Veresov.
The game began 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5, at which point there are three moves that each feature more than 4,000 times in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database, including 3...Bf5, which can be thought of as a 'liberated bishop' approach.
4.f3 and 4.Bxf6!? are popular continuations, but I preferred 4.e3, all three moves appearing more than 1,000 times in Mega22.
The main idea after 4...e6 is to challenge the developed black bishop with 5.Bd3, when 5...Bg6 is reasonably common but usual is 5...Bxd3.
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| How should White recapture? |
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Most popular now is emphasising development with 6.Qxd3, but Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02 slightly prefer my choice of 6.cxd3!?, which gives greater central control and half-opens the c file, but leaves the white pawn-structure a little less flexible.
Black's commonest response is 6...Be7, but the game saw 6...c6!?, which is preferred by Stockfish15 but not Komodo13.02. After the further moves 7.Nf3 Nbd7 I got in 8.Ne5, intending to follow up with a quick f4.
Most popular in Mega22 is the routine 8.0-0, but the engines like an immediate advance in the centre with 8.e4!?
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| Position after the engine-recommended 8.e4!? |
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Kurt Richter, a pioneer of the Veresov (it is sometimes called the Richter Attack), had this position as White in 1933, and, 70 years later, so did Igor Miladinović, who is well-known for playing the Chigorin Defence to the Queen's Gambit: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6. The point about the latter playing the Veresov is that the Veresov often resembles a Chigorin or Pseudo-Chigorin (without an early c4 by White) with colours reversed and White having an extra tempo.
After 8.e4!? the most popular move in Mega22, albeit from a small sample, is 8...Be7, when an interesting continuation is 9.e5 Ng4 10.Bd2!? with a position not easy to assess, although the engines give White a tiny edge.
Instead of 8...Be7 the engines reckon Black should prepare to break the pin on the king's knight with 8...h6!? Then 9.Bh4 can be met by 9...g5 or 9...Qb6, when Stockfish15 prefers Black although Komodo13.02 calls the position equal.
Perhaps White's best response to 8...h6!? is 9.Bd2, reaching a position not in Mega22. Stockfish15 continues 9...Be7 10.0-0 0-0 11.e5 Nh7 12.Ne2!?, fluctuating between claiming a slight edge for White and rating the position as equal. Komodo13.02 prefers 9...Bb4!? 10.e5 Ng8!? 11.0-0 Ne7 12.a3 Bxc3!? 13.Bxc3, reckoning Black has more-or-less equalised.
CONCLUSION: 3...Bf5 against the Veresov is both active and solid. It is not easy for White to get a theoretical advantage in the opening, and much depends on the players' familiarity with the middlegame positions that typically arise.
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