In 61 of those games he started 1.e4, in two he played 1.d4, two also for 1.Nf3 and one for 1.c4.
Stefan Arndt (2176) - Spanton (1771)
So it was something of a surprise when our game began 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Nf6 4.e3!?
The oldest game in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database to reach the position after 3...Nf6 also saw 4.e3!? That game was played in 1877 and featured Johannes Zukertort with white.
The set-up with the white dark-square bishop inside the white pawn-chain is known as the Normal Position of the Queen's Gambit Declined, or at least it used to be so known when such play was popular.
I replied 4...c5, at which point Aron Nimzowitsch in chapter 12 of My System recommends continuing 5.Nc3 Nc6.
His idea was White should practise playing two continuations: A) 6.Bd3 cxd4 7.exd4 dxc4 8.Bxc4, and B) 6.cxd5 exd5 7.dxc5 Bxc5.
Nimzowitsch wrote (Lou Hays' 1991 translation for the "21st Century Edition): "It will do [White] good to realise how dangerous an enemy isolani may be, and how difficult it is to save his own from an untimely end."
Nimzowitsch also stated: "The problem of the isolated d pawn is in my opinion one of the fundamental problems in the whole theory of positional play."
My opponent accelerated, as it were, the second continuation by choosing 5.cxd5, but after 5...exd5 he omitted 6.dxc5 in favour of the much more popular 6.Bb5+!?
He told me after the game his plan was to give me an isolated queen's pawn and play against its weakness.
It is well known White should try to avoid playing dxc5 until Black has spent a tempo on developing the dark-square bishop, the hope being dxc5 will then oblige Black to move the dark-square bishop for a second time.
The move 6.Bb5+!? has been played by Magnus Carlsen, and Vladimir Kramnik, and is a favourite of English grandmaster Mark Hebden. It is also the choice of Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02.
However, after 6...Bd7 7.Bxd7+ Qxd7 White has speeded Black's development. True, a possible defender of the isolani has been exchanged, but so has a potential attacker.
The later is arguably the more significant in that it is generally accepted the best role for the white light-square bishop in this type of position is to be fianchettoed by g3 and Bg2.
For example the mainline of the Tarrasch Defence to the Queen's Gambit starts 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6, and now 6.g3, as seems to have been first played by Carl Schlechter at Prague 1908.
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| Position in the Tarrasch Defence to the Queen's Gambit after 6.g3 |
The move 6.g3 was avidly taken up by Akiba Rubinstein, Frank Marshall and many other strong players.
Returning to my game in Brno, it continued 8.0-0 Nc6 9.b3, White's plan being to fianchetto the dark-square bishop so it covers d4, the square the black d pawn will "lust to expand" into, using Nimzowitsch's memorable phrase.
I now played 9...cxd4!?, voluntarily isolating my queen's pawn. The point is that if, instead, 9...Be7, then 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.Bb2 Be7 causes Black problems.
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| Position after 11...Be7 |
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The engines reckon both 12.Qd3 and 12.Nc3 give White at least a slight edge, thanks to pressure against d5.
After 9...cxd4!? my game continued 10.Nxd4, when the white knight is ideally placed as a blockader but also neutralises some of the white pressure against d5.
The game Magnus Carlsen (2863) - Fabiano Caruana (2835), Chessable Masters Internet Rapid 2020, continued 10...Nxd4!? 11.Qxd4, when the masking of potential pressure along the a1-h8 diagonal from the white dark-square bishop allowed Caruana to play the active 11...Bd6, although after 12.Bb2 0-0 the engines agree White has a slight edge (1-0, 45 moves).
I preferred 10...Be7 11.Bb2 0-0, reaching a position occurring six times in Mega22. Three of those games saw 12.Nc3, which pressurises d5 but obstructs the white dark-square bishop, while the other three continued 12.Nd2.
After 12...Rac8 13.N2f3 Rfd8 the following position was reached.
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| Black is fully developed, whereas the white rooks are passive and the white queen has not moved - nevertheless White may be able to get a slight edge |
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14.a3
But this is probably too slow. The engines suggest the natural-looking 14.Rc1 and the interesting 14.Ne2!?
The text allowed me to equalise with 14...Ne4 15.Rc1 Nxd4!? 16.Nxd4 Rxc1 17.Qxc1 Rc8.
Following 19.Qd1 Bf6 20.f3?! Nc3 21.Qd2 Bxd4 22.exd4 Nb5 Black was probably slightly better, thanks to having an active knight against a bishop hampered by its own central pawn, and the game was quickly agreed drawn.
SA was more than 400 points stronger and had white, and so was heavily favoured to win.
His 'mistake' was a psychological one in using a system with which he was (apparently) not familiar.
Effectively he probably lowered his rating in this game by 200 points or more, but was perhaps also unlucky in that I knew some of the key ideas and was able to find reasonable moves.
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