Mariánské Lázně Lesson 8: Chess Is Deep

WHAT would you play with white in the following position - it arose in my round-eight game - which started as an Exchange Variation of the French, but quickly became more typical of the Queen's Gambit Accepted?

There are 2,058 examples of this position in ChessBase's 2024 Mega database

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

Almost three-quarters of the games saw the move I played, 7.0-0, which scores a very respectable 56% in Mega24.

But Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1 prefer 7.Qe2+!?, which occurs 347 times and scores an excellent 62%.

After the main continuation, 7...Qe7 8.Qxe7 Bxe7, queens are off the board, which must reduce White's attacking chances in this IQP position.

Play usually proceeds 9.0-0 0-0 10.Re1 Bd6!? 11.Nc3

Black scores just 25% after 11.Nc3 in Mega24, although the engines reckon White is at best only slightly better

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

It is not easy, at least for me, to understand what is going on.

I guess the answer is that, as I discovered in my game, with queens on the board, White's position in general, and the isolated queen's pawn in particular, come under strong pressure.

With queens off the board, White is unlikely to develop a mating attack, but the IQP will probably come under little or no pressure, and meanwhile White enjoys a central space advantage with lots of pieces remaining.

LESSON: general considerations, such as keeping queens on the board when playing with an IQP in order to generate attacking chances, take second place to the specific circumstances of a position.