Lessons From Altea VI: That Old Familiar Feeling

In round seven of the Cap Negret 65+ seniors, against Belgian Fide master Johan Goormachtigh (2173), I played a new opening - new to me, that is - over the board for the first time.

The game began 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bb4, the starting point of the Ragozin Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined.

Previously I had mostly played 4...Be7 and especially 4...c5, but decided to try something new after picking up an old ChessBase DVD on the Ragozin as a "material" prize at a tournament - cannot recall which one - earlier this year.

In preparing for the game I had seen that Goormachtigh usually meets the Ragozin with the main reply, 5.Bg5, although he also once played 5.Qa4+.

Against me he chose 5.cxd5, which is second-most popular in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database, and has been the main weapon of Garry Kasparov (you may not be surprised to learn Magnus Carlsen has played all three moves, and 5.e3 and 5.Qb3).

I replied 5...exd5, and the game continued 6.Bf4!?, which is the top choice of Dragon1, marginally ahead of the commoner 6.Bg5. Stockfish17 fluctuates between the two moves, and also likes 6.Qa4+.

After the further 6...0-0 7.e3 the game reached an instructive point.

How should Black proceed?

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Drawing on my experience of the Exchange Variation of the QGD, especially from the black side, I played 7...c6.

The move appears 26 times in Mega25, is perfectly reasonable and has been played by grandmasters.

The resulting pawn-structure is immediately reminiscent of the QGD Exchange, and indeed can arise from that variation, as is shown by the fact that the position after 7...c6 occurs, thanks to transpositions, 37 times in Mega25.

However, I discovered after the game that the most popular move in the diagrammed position is 7...c5!?, which I immediately recognised as a typical idea in the Ragozin.

During the game I was put off 7...c5!? by the reply 8.dxc5, which turns out to be the mainline in Mega25.

But the engines continue 8...Qa5 9.Be5 Nfd7!?, claiming equality, one line running 10.Bd6 Rd8 11.Rc1 Nxc5 12.Be7 Nd3+!? 13.Bxd3 Bxe7 14.h3 Nc6 15.0-0 Rb8!?

Summing up, then, my understanding post-game is that 7...c5!? is possible, and indeed may be the best move in the position, because White is not exerting as much pressure on the black centre as would be the case, for example, if the white dark-square bishop were on g5.

True, I should have been able to work this out over the board, and so not dismiss 7...c5!? so lightly.

But I am sure a greater familiarity with the ideas of the Ragozin would have made 7...c5!? much easier to find or, rather, having found it, to actually play it.

LESSON: contrary to the old proverb, in chess at least familiarity breeds contentment.