unusual

queens
gambit
declined

by Chris Ward
EVERYMAN CHESS
Everyman Publishers pk www.everyman.uk.com
First published in 2002 by Everyman Publishers pk, formerly Cadogan Books pk,
Gloucester Mansions, 140A Shaftesbury Avenue, London WC2H 8HD

Copyright 2002 Chris Ward

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To my nephew Geor:ge, whose own chess is coming along nice/y!

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 CONTENTS I

Bibliography 4
Introduction 5

Albin Counter Gambit

1 The Albin Counter Gambit: Introduction 7
2 Spassky's 4 e4 and Tartakower's 4 ... cS 27
3 Main Line 5 g3 39

The Baltic Defence

4 Main Line 3 cxdS 62
5 3 'l!Vb3 and 3 tllc3 e6 4 'l!Vb3 81
6 3 ti:lf3 97

The Chigorin Defence

7 3 cxdS 110
8 3 tllc3 129
9 3 ti:lf3 and 1 d4 dS 2 ti:lf3 tllc6 148

Index of Complete Games 159

 8/8LIOGRAPHY I

Books
The Baltic Defence to the Queen's Gambzf, Andrew Soltis (Chess Digest 1993)
The Chigorin Queen's Gambit, Angus Dunnington, (Batsford 1996)
Nunn's Chess Openings, John Nunn, Graham Burgess, John Emms and Joe Gallagher
(Everyman 1999)

Periodicals
ChessBase Magazine
The Week in Chess

Videos
Albin Counter Gambit, Andrew Martin (GM Video 1997)
 INTRODUCTION I

\Velcome to a unique experience in chess opening books. Yes, it's three for the
price of one as this text covers a triad of club players' favourite defences. That
means if you are looking for a new way to do battle with all those solid queen's
pawn players out there, then the next nine chapters of this book are going to pro-
vide you with plenty of options. Perhaps you admire the entertaining style of that
Russian superstar Alexander Morozevich and fancy taking a leaf out of his book by
making the Chigorin your main defence. Or maybe you fancy an early pawn sacri-
fice to spice up your chess and are contemplating dabbling in the Albin Counter
Gambit. But what of 1 d4 dS 2 'Llf3, doesn't that spoil the party? Well, not if you
are flexible enough to employ 2 ... i<.fS, transposing into a favourable line of the Bal-
tic Defence. A spot of mixing and matching could be the solution that changes your
life forever and puts an end to that stale predictable repertoire you once rigidly
stuck by.
As it happens, I have employed all three of these unusual defences to the
Queen's Gambit Decline (QGD) at one time or another. On the other hand, you,
like me, might be a 1 d4 player that has had trouble facing these offbeat lines. Inevi-
tably you may have wondered why there are still people wheeling them out when
general opening texts invariably inform White that he is at least clearly better after
just a few moves. Well, read this book and hopefully you'll learn the truth. I may be
a grandmaster but I can tell you that I really have come to understand a lot more
about these tricky variations during the completion of this book.
If you're really lucky then you'll benefit from botb sides of the coin; a category
that I now hope is going to include me. Please, though, I've got some tournaments
coming up, so don't tell anyone about my surprise weapons!

Chris Ward
London, December 2001

5
 CHAPTER ONE I
The Albin Counter Gambit:
Introduction
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5
Far be it from me to suggest that the
.\!bin Counter Gambit is just a bag of
rricks, but I'm pretty sure that the trap
encountered in the first game of this
chapter is an initial attraction to the
opening for your average club player.
Certainly, as a junior, I was taken in by
rhe concept of what I suppose one
might these days term as 'cheap tactics',
but I loved the quick victories that came
with the gambit and only ditched it
when listening to the preachments of 'a
pawn is a pawn'!
In fact, the truth is that back then I
hadn't even touched on the complexi-
ties of the Albin. The next three chap-
ters of this book analyse the positional
compensations that are afforded to
Black. In this first chapter White gener-
ally tries to pressurise Black's pawn on
d4 and transform the captured pawn on
eS into a clear pawn plus for the end-
game. Specifically, White looks to chal-
lenge Black with e2-e3 and in Games 2,
3, and 8 a swift a2-a3 helps to make this
a reality. Black, of course, has a variety
of ways to counter White's intentions
and, as in general he is quite successful,
Games 4, 5 and 6 concentrate instead
on 5 'tJbd2. Essentially, this is a non-
main line chapter (the main line is cov-
ered in Chapter 3). Throughout there is
the possibility for White to play g2-g3 at
any stage and transpose to a later part
of the book (particularly with the flexi-
ble 5 'tJbd2) but that aside, I'm rea-
sonably happy with the way that I've
classified things.
Gamel
Madej-Gruz
Polish Girls Ch., Zakopane 2001
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5
No self-respecting queen's pawn
player should really even conremplate
declining the gambit, but it is inevitable
that some \vhite players will. Of the at-
tempts seen in rhe past, 3 e3 at best
transposes to an unpopular variation of
the French Defence after 3 ... exd4 4
exd4 'tJf6, whilst 3 'tJc3 can also be
frowned upon. Indeed, though Black's
7
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
response is not forced, 3 ... dxc4 trans-
poses to a generally acknowledged infe-
rior line in the Queen's Gambit Ac-
cepted,
In lines of independent significance,
only 3 cxd5 stands out, Then 3,,.exd4 is
a possible gambit continuation, but
clearly fine for Black is 3,,.'liVxd5 4 li::ic3
(or 4 dxe5 'liVxdl+ 5 @xdl li::ic6 {also
no doubt appealing to the Albin player
would be the 5,,.~c5 6 e3 li::ic6 7 f4 f6 8
li::if3 ~g4 9 ~b5 0-0-0+ 10 @el li::ib4,
Storkebaum-Mehler, Darmstadt 1993,
which gave Black a nice initiative} 6
li::if3 ~g4 7 ~f4 li::ige7 8 li::ibd2 li::ig6 9
~g3 0-0-0 10 a3 hS 11 h4 ~xf3 12 exf3
li::igxe5 with an advantage to Black)
4,,,'liVxd4 5 'liVxd4 exd4 6 li::ib5 ~b4+ 7
~d2 ~xd2+ 8 @xd2 li::ia6 9 li::ixd4 li::if6.
Now 10 f3>! c5 11 li::ib5 ~d7 12 li::id6+
@e7 13 li::ic4 .l:thd8 14 @el ~e6 15 e4
li::ib4 unsurprisingly saw Black go on to
win in the encounter Gordivsky-
Kotsuba, Sevastopol 2000, but the al-
ternative try 10 e3 should be roughly
equaL
3,,,d4
I have seen 3,,.dxc4>! attempted but,
seeing as it simply leads to an inferior
endgame and it's no longer in the gam-
bit style, such a ridiculous continuation
hardly seems worthy of serious atten-
tion.
4 e3?
This is the move all black players are
hoping that White will play when they
first entertain the notion of the Albin
Counter Gambit. It's natural enough for
White to want to free his bishop and
undouble his e-pawns but with the text
he is on the rocky road to falling into
the main trap.
8
4,,,.\lb4+ 5 .lld2
5 li::id2 dxe3 6 fxe3 'liVh4+ 7 g3 'liVe4 8
'liVf3 'liVxe5 leaves Black (who has re-
gained his pawn) with a superior pawn
structure. Not long ago 9 'liVf2 li::if6 10
li::igf3 'liVe7 11 'liVe2 0-0 12 ~g2 .l:te8 13
0-0 'liVxe3+ 14 'liVxe3 l:Ixe3 15 li::ib3 l:Ie8
16 ~f4 c6 17 cS li::ia6 18 l:Iacl li::ie4 19
~e3 li::ixg3 20 hxg3 l:Ixe3 21 @f2 l:Ixb3
22 axb3 ~xc5+ 23 @e 1 ~g4 24 l:Ic2
li::ib4 25 l:Ic4 ~e6 26 l:Ic3 .l:te8 27 @d2
l:Id8+ 28 @e2 ~b6 29 l:Id 1 li::idS 30
l:Icd3 ~fS 31 l:I3d2 l:Ie8+ 0-1 was seen
in Vainius-Uogele, Vilnius 2000 and one
can't really argue with the final result.
5 ... dxe3 6 .llxb4
Contrary to the belief of some, 6
'liVa4+ li::ic6 7 ~xb4 doesn't bail White
out of trouble because of 7,,.exf2+ 8
@xf2 'liVh4+! 9 @f3 (this is of little use,
but the 9 g3 'liVd4+ 10 @g2 'liVxb2+ 11
~e2 'liVxal 12 li::if3 'liVb2 13 ~d2 ~g4
14 'liVb3 'liVxb3 15 axb3 0-0-0 16 l:Iel
li::ige7 17 ~c3 l:Ihe8 18 li::ibd2 li::ig6 19
h3 ~f5 0-1 of Obdrzalkova-Ramik,
Trinec 1998 is hardly a significant im-
provement!) 9,,.~d7 10 @e3 (a rather
unattractive attempt to avoid losing the
queen to the likes of ,,.li::ixeS+, but
frankly there is not much on offer!)
 The Albin Counter Gambit: Introduction
10 .. .'i!i'd4+ 11 @e2 'ili'xb2+ 12 .1i.d2
0:ld4+ 0-1 Larusdottir-Grigorian, Co-
penhagen 1999.
6 ... exf2+ 7 @e2
To promote to a queen now would
allow 8 'ili'xd8+ ~xd8 9 l:i:xgl. However,
Black has a surprise in store for his op-
ponent.
7 ... fxg11il+ !
Yes, even in the twenty-first century
White players are still falling hook, line
and sinker for the average trickster's,
I'
dream scenario.
\
8 @e 1
With ....tg4+ floating in the air, this
is the only way to avoid losing the
queen.
8 ... 't\l'h4+ !
In capturing a knight and simultane-
ously promoting to a knight, Black has
gone from being a piece down to a
piece up. A trade of queens now would
leave the knight stranded but, as we can
see, Black has other plans.
9 @d2 lilc6 10 .ltc3 't\l't2 + 11 @c 1
ii.ts 12 lild2 0-0-0
It's looking pretty grim for White,
whose opponent is merrily progressing
his position.
13 b4 lild4 14 't\l'a4
Not helpful, but White was totaE:-
lost anyway.
14 ...lilge2+ 15 .ltxe2 lilxe2+ 0-1
Next comes ...lllxc3 when the knight
on d2 drops too.
Game2
Hsu Li Yang-Handoko
Singapore 199 7
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 a3
In view of the previous game, it's no
wonder that many nervous White play-
ers are eager to play this move. Indeed,
whether whipped out before or after the
usual inclusion of 4 illf3 lllc6, there is a
dual purpose to it. Firstly, it prevents
the enemy bishop check on b4. Useful
at any stage, this is particularly handy if
e2-e3 is White's intention. Secondly, a
queenside expansion is prepared. This
may be threatening if Black castles
queenside and perhaps more relevant is
that Black's cl-pawn can be further pres-
surised. There's the option of .tb2,
whilst b4-b5 to kick a future knight on
c6 is also on offer. The general debate is
\Vhether or not this fairly mnocuous
pawn move is too slow.
4 .. .lbc6 5 e3
9
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
White gets in his desired pawn push
but he hasn't taken time out to guard
his extra eS-pawn.
5 ... dxe3
With the white knight not yet on f3,
this game is of independent significance
to the ones that follow.
6 1i!'xd8+ @xd8 7 .lil.xe3 li:lxe5
As the two centre files are open and
Black can't castle, one might suggest
that White is slightly better here. How-
ever, arguably White's c-pawn is unfa-
vourably placed on c4 and so l would
say that there is very little in it.
8 li:lf3!?
A very aggressive continuation. It ap-
pears that White is prepared to signifi-
cantly compromise his kingside pawn
structure in the name of piece activity.
8 ... .lil.d6
The safest response. I'm still not to-
tally convinced, but certainly the
8... lt:lxf3+ 9 gxf3 i.e7 10 lt:lc3 c6 11
0-0-0+ ~es 12 i.d3 f5?! 13 l:!.hel ~7
14 lt:le2 i.f6 15 lt:lf4 lt:le7 16 c5 g6 17
i.c4+ ~g7 18 i.d4 l:!.eS 19 i.xf6+
~xf6 20 l:!.d6+ ~g7 21 lt:le6+ i.xe6 22
l:!.dxe6 ~7 23 l:!.xe7+ 1-0 of Jasny-
J.Lukac, Tatranska Lomnica 1999 is of
some instructive value. Kings are re-
10
quired in the centre for endgames but
when exactly do they cease to be m
danger?
9 li:lc3 .lil.g4 10 0-0-0 li:lxf3 11 h3
Always the intention. 11 c5 lt:lxh2 is
less clear, but after 11 h3 i.h5, White
can choose between 12 c5 or 12 i.e2.
11 ... .lil.d7 12 gxf3 li:lf6?!
Possibly Black took this position too
lightly. 1n view of the game continua-
tion, developing the knight on e 7 or h6
may have been shrewder.
13 J;[g 1 J;[gS
This is the sort of forced passivity
that justifies White's decision to effec-
tively self-isolate his kingside pawns.
Note that 13 ... g6? 14 l:!.x<l6! cxd6 15
i.g5 loses two pieces for a rook.
14 .lil.g5 .lil.e7 15 .lil.d3
I'm sure that Black would have been
sweating at this point as White defi-
nitely has a strong initiative. The black
king is awkwardly placed and struggles
to find a home that will help to coordi-
nate his rooks.
15 ... @eS 16 li:le4
Although it concedes the bishop pair,
it has to be said that 16 i.xf6!? i.xf6 17
lt:ld5 would look to cause Black even
more problems.
 The Albin Counter Gambit: Introduction

16 .. .luxe4 17 .txe4 .txg5+ 18 that his first 'developing' move has ro

ll:xg5 h6 be 8 i::la2, just to keep him on the
board. It looks pretty ugly though!
6 ... dxe3
Black is committed to this now as
6... ~g4 would obviously look ridicu-
lous, whilst 6 ... ~c5 would walk into 7
b4.
7 11i'xd8+ J:l.xd8 8 .ixe3 li:lge7

19 l:tg3
19 i::le5+ ~e6 20 ~xb 7, with 21 .\ll,d5
to follow, looks more promising.
19 ... c6
Now I think that Black's position is
defensible.
20 .i1.h7 l:tf8 21 l:txg7 .txh3 22 l:th1
.ie6 23 .i1.d3 Wd7 24 l:txh6 We7 25 White is a pawn up but Black has a
Wc2 l:tad8 26 Wc3 l:th8 27 lhh8 slight lead in development and intends
l:txh8 28 Wd2 l:l'.h4 29 c5 b6 30 l:tg8regaining the pawn on eS with a com-
%-% mon manoeuvre of the king's knight via
The extra half-a-pawn on the f-file g6.
isn't that important. 9 li:lc3
The premature 9 li:lg5?! might gain a
Game} bishop fot a knight but after 9 ... li:lf5 10
Agrest-Glenne li:lxe6 fxe6 11 .\ll,g5 .\ll,e 7 12 .\ll,xe 7 @xe 7
Bergen 2001 13 li:ld2 li:lxe5 14 li:lb3 li:ld4 15 li:lxd4
.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _,. l:!xd4 it was Black who held the upper
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 a3 hand in Sbarra-Marchio, Corsico 1996.
li:lc6 5 e3 .ie6 9 ... a6
Black is determined that the 'Albin' In this line I could probably conclude
should remain a gambit and White's that Black has a choice of slightly infe-
next move effectively transposes the rior endgames. The text cuts out a lbbS
position into the more regular move possibilitY, but Black also has:
order 4 li:lf3 luc6 5 e3. a) 9 ... li:lf5 and now:
6 li:lf3 al)IO.\ll,g5J::ld711 J::ldl h6?! 12l:l:xd7
6 exd4?! 'lil'xd4 7 'lil'xd4 luxd4 is very @xd7 13 .\ll,d2 g5 14 li:le4 .\ll,g7 15 luc5+
awkward for White, who might just find @e 7 16 li:lxe6 @xe6 17 g4 iufd4 18

11
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
.'.z:lxd-l+ 12\xd4 19 .lil.g2 .lil.xe5 20 h4 f6?!
(instead 20 ... c6 21 hxg5 hxg5 22 l:i.xh8
.lil.xh8 23 .lil.xg5 i2lb3 24 'iildl li:ia5
would offer Black reasonable drawing
chances as his superior king position
helps negate White's bishop pair advan-
tage) 21 hxg5 fxg5 22 .lil.xb71 c6 23 @fl
li:ib3 24 .lil.b4 a5 25 i:!.h3 axb4 26 l:i.xb3
bxa3 27 bxa3 and White's pawn advan-
tage eventually told in Pushkov-
Poddubnyi, Elista 2001.
a2) 10 .lil.f4
11...h6 11 h4 .lil.e7 12 li:id5 .lil.xd5 13
cxd5 l:i.xd5 14 .lil.c4 l:i.c5 15 J:i.cl a5 16
0-0 @f8 Oust one of the slightly baffling
moves in this rare high-level encounter.
Presumably Black was angling for ... g7 -
g5 where, with his e7-bishop possibly
deflected, he wouldn't be prone to a
future discovered attack with .lil.xf7+.
I'm sure White stands better throughout
the game but eventually the wares are
shared.) 17 e6 g5 18 .lil.xc7 g4 19 li:id2
'1Jcd4 20 .lil.b6 l:i.c6 21 .lil.xa5 fxe6 22 g3
@f7 23 .lil.d3 i:l.hcS 24 l:i.xc6 i:l.xc6 25
l:i.el .lil.f6 26 .lil.e4 l:i.a6 27 .lil.c3 b5 28
.lil.d3 J:i.d6 29 .lil.bl l:i.c6 30 .lil.e4 i:!.d6 31
@g2 l:i.d8 32 .lil.b 1 l:i.cS 33 .lil.a2 i:l.c6 34
li:ie412lf3 35 i:!.dl .lil.xc3 36 'Lixc3 'Li5d4
37 @fl 'Lih2+ 38 @g2 li:ihf3 39 .lil.bl
12
J:i.b6 40 .lil.e4 b4 41 li:ia4 J:i.b5 42 J:i.cl
l:i.a5 43 l:i.c7+ @f6 44 'Lib6 bxa3 45
bxa3 i:l.xa3 46 i:!.h7 li:ifS 47 'Lid7+ 'iilg6
48 li:if8+ @f6 49 li:id7+ '/2-'/2 Babula-
Krasenkow, Brno 1994.
b) 9... li:ig6 10 12\bs l:i.d7 11 12lbd4
li:igxe5 12 li:lxeS li:ixe5 13 li:lxe6 fxe6 14
.lil.e2 'Lid3+ (arguably more forcing than
14 ... .lil.e7 15 i:!.dl l:i.xdl+ 16 @xdl @f7
17 @c2 i:!.dS 18 l:i.<ll l:i.xdl 19 @xdl
j/.f6 20 b4 b6 21 @c2 which also left
White with an edge in Van der Wiel-
Ligterink, Groningen 2001) 15 j/.xd3
l:!.xd3 16 @e2 J:i.d8 17 J:i.hdl .lil.e7 18 b4
a6 19 j/_f4 .lil.d6 20 .lil.g5 .lil.e7 21 l:i.xd8+
j/.xdS 22 j/.xJ8 @xd8 23 i:!.d 1+ @e 7 24
@e3 l:i.f8 25 f4 e5 '/2-'/2 Farago-Mestel,
Belgrade 1982.
10 li:lg5
10 ... li:lxe5 11 li:lxe6 fxe6
White has the bishop pair and a nice
target on e6, but Black has some handy
short term options for his knights.
12 l:Id1 J:i:xd1 + 13 li:lxd1 li:l7c6
13 ... li:ifS!?, looking to pinch a bishop,
certainly appears to suggest itself. If
then 14 .lil.f4, Black could play 14... .lil.d6,
threatening 15 ... 12\f3+.
14 f4 li:lg4 15 .ltg1 e5
Black seeks to offload this blatant
 The Albin Counter Gambit: Introduction
weakness. The board now becomes
more open, but although this is theo-
retically in White's favour, currently
residing on the back rank is in fact his
entire army!
16 .ie2 11:lt6 1 7 fxe5 11:lxe5 18 .id4
11:lc6 19 .ie3 .id6 20 .if3 ll:ld7 21
c5 .ie5 22 b4 l:l'.e8 23 ll:ld2
23 ... 11:le7?
A bluff which doesn't come off.
Black was hoping to solve the b7-pawn
pinning problem but he clearly underes-
timated White's response. Virtually any
other move would have been preferable
and most would still leave White with a
lot to prove.
24 .ixb7! c6 25 .ixa6 11:led5 26
ll:lc2 11:lc7 27 .id3
It's all gone horribly wrong. The ad-
venturous bishop has safely returned,
leaving White two clear pawns up.
27 ... 11:lcd5 28 .ic1 ll:lc7 29 g3 h5
30 l:i'.e 1 h4 31 gxh4 .ixh2 32 l:i'.xe8
11:lxe8 33 .ig5 11:lef6 34 11:lc3 .ie5
35 11:lxd5+ 11:lxd5 36 ll:lb3 .ig3 37
.it5 11:lt4 38 a4 11:lg2 39 h5 11:lf4 40
.ig4 11:ld5 41 .it3 11:lt4 42 .ie7 11:le6
43 .ig4 11:ld8 44 b5 11:lb7 45 .if3
.if2 46 ll:lb4 .ie1 + 47 ll:lc4 11:la5+
48 ll:ld3 .ig3 49 .i 18 1-0
Game4
Karr-Jossien
Bethune 1999
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 11:lt3
11:lc6 5 11:lbd2 .ie6 6 a3
With 5 li:lbd2 White effectively rules
out the idea of an early e2-e3. The c4-
pawn is protected by the knight and the
option is now there to transfer it to b3
in order to try and round up the thorn
on d4.
6 ... a5
Presumably a critical 'getting straight
to the point' alternative is 6 ... li:lge7 7 b4
li:lg6 (for 7 ... 'lifd7 see below) 8 .i:l.b2
'lifd7 9 g3 (the impatient 9 b5 li:lcxe5 10
li:lxd4 wins the cl-pawn but loses the c-
pawn) 9 ... J:1.d8 10 J:1.cl .i:l.e7, for example
11 h4 li:lgxe5 12 b5 li:lxf3+ 13 li:lxf3
li:la5 14 'lifa4 b6 15 li:le5 (not losing in
itself but certainh offering Black play is
15 .i:l.xd4 0-0 16 .i:l.g2 a6', for example
17 0-0 axb5 18 cxb5> {or 18 'lifxb5
li:lxc4} 18 ... .i:l.b3 when disaster has
struck) 15 ... 'lifd6 16 li:ld3 0-0 (16 ... li:lxc4
17 J:l.xc4 'liVd5 18 J:l.xd4 'lifxh 1 could go
either way!) 17 .i:1.g2 .i:1.g4 18 'liV c2 J:l.fe8
19 0-0 .i:l.f6 with an unclear position,
13
- ,':usual Queen's Gambit Declined

::-cekic-Dena, Nis 1993. cling queenside is really a trifle optimis-

\\'ith clear similarities to the above, tic!
.ilso of relevance is 6 ... 'li'd7 7 b4 {jjge7
and now:
a) 8 {jjb3 {jjg6 (8 ... ..\txc4 9 {jjbxd4
.:::l.dS 10 ..ltb2 {jjg6 11 .:::l.cl looks good
for White in view of 1 J...{jjgxeS? 12
{jjxeS {jjxeS 13 f4) 9 {jjbxd4 ..ltxc4 10
{jjxc6 'li'xc6 11 ..ltb2 aS!? offers Black
some reasonable compensation al-
though the rating point superiority
eventually told after 12 {jjd4 'li'a6 13 bS
..ltxbS 14 .:::l.cl ..ltc4 15 'li'c2 bS 16 'li'e4
..lte7 17 h4 0-0-0 18 hS {jjfS 19 {jjc6
.:::l.d7 20 .:::l.xc4 bxc4 21 e3 ..ltcS 22 ..ltxc4 7 b3 'l!Vd7
'li'b 7 23 0-0 {jje6 24 a4 {jjds 25 ..tbs Definitely a shrewder plan than the
.:::l.d2 26 ..tc3 .:::l.d7 27 l:!.bl ..ltb6 28 'li'c4 one now attempted would have been
{jjxc6 29 ..txc6 'li'a7 30 ..txd7+ ~xd7 7 ... {jjge7 8 ..tb2 {jjg6. Black is simply
31 'li'xf7+ ~cs 32 e6 'li'b7 33 'li'xg7 1-0 aiming to regain the e-pawn and upon 9
Volzhin-Rewitz, Aarhus 1997. {jje4, which unleashes the queen against
b) 8 bS {jjas 9 'li'a4 b6 10 ..ltb2 cS 11 the black d-pawn, Black can stay alive
e3 dxe3 12 fxe3 {jjg6 13 l:!.dl a6 14 'li'c2 by pressurising c4 via 9 ... a4!.
axbS 15 cxbS 'li'b 7 16 {jjc4 ..te 7 17 8 i.b2 0-0-0?! 9 b4!
{jjxaS l:!.xaS 18 ..tc4 0-0 19 0-0 'li'cS 20
{jjd2 .:::l.aS 21 ..ltxe6 'li'xe6 22 {jjc4 l:!.fd8
23 l:!.xd8+ l:!.xdS 24 a4 l:!.d7 25 aS bxaS
26 {jjxaS ..ltdS 27 {jjc4 ..ltb6 28 'li'fS
'li'xfS 29 l:!.xfS l:!.b7 30 {jjxb6 l:!.xb6 31
e6 l:!.xbS 32 exf7+ ~fS 33 ..ta3 ~e7 34
..txcS+ ~e6 35 g4 .:::l.xcS 36 l:!.xcS ~xf7
37 ~f2 1-0 R.Fernandez-Limp, Santos
1998. A far from conclusive encounter
that might however suggest that the
acquired doubled isolated e-pawns
aren't as bad for White as they look.
The selection of 6 ... aS offers up an- 9 {jje4 was probably good too, but
other debate. Halting White's space- the text sets about refuting Black's
gaining b2-b4 certainly takes some overambitious play.
stress off of the d4-pawn but is it an 9 ... axb4 10 g3
admission that Black's play elsewhere is White is encouraging open lines on
mo slow> The only really clear thing is the queenside. 10 'li'a4 also suggested
rhat after this move, the concept of cas- itself as 10 ...{jjxeS?> would be rather

74
 The Albin Counter Gambit: Introduction

dramatically floored by 11 'i'aS mate,

and 10 ... WbS 11 axb4 is hardly much
better.
10 ... i.h3 11 axb4 i.xf 1 12 ll:a8 +
ltlb8 13 'ili'a1
Ignoring the recapture of the bishop
in favour of threatening 14 'i'a7.
13 ... c6

Game5
Bilobrk-Levacic
Bibin;e 2001

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 ltlt3
ltlc6 5 a3 i.g4

14 c5
14 'i'a7 'i'c7 15 bS, with 16 b6 in
mind, was an alternative but the text
offers a promising knight route.
14 ... i.g2 15 ltlc4 'ili'e8
15 ... 'i'e6 is no better, for example 16
'i'a7 Wd7 17 'i'xb7+ We8 18 l:txbS
Sl.xhl 19 li:lgS 'i'xc4 (observe !9 ... 'i'd7
20 l:txdS+ 'i'xdS 21 'i'xf7 mate!) 20 e6',
which basically forces Black to relin-
quish his gueen.
16 'ili'a7 Wc7 17 ltla5 Here Black chooses g4 instead of e6
Having solved the b8 problem, Black as a home for the bishop. White no
now faces significant difficulties on the longer has to worry about defending his
b 7 -square. c-pawn but he does now have to con-
17 ... Wd7 18 ltlxb7 ll:c8 19 ll:xb8 sider the pressure on his knight and the
19 li:ld6+ l::c 7 20 e6+ is also rather e-pawn.
1mpress1ve. 6 ltlbd2 ltlge 7
19 ... i.xh1 20 ltld6+ .l:l.c7 21 'ili'a8 We've already seen plenty of this
'ili'e7 22 .l:l.e8 1-0 move with a ... li:lg6 follow up. In this
Black's kingside development leaves game another idea is investigated.
something to be desired' 7 ltlb3

15
~ nusual Queen's Gambit Declined

.\rcer what looked like a bit of play

:or Black, 7 h3 .ie6 8 '!Wa4 li:ic8 9 g3
~e- 10 .ig2 0-0 11 0-0 li:ib6 12 '!Wc2
"i;\i'c8 13 lii'h2 a5 (13 ... Jl.f5!? 14 '!Wdl d3
i:-- another approach that deserves atten-
tion) 14 b3 l:td8 15 .ib2 Jl.f5 16 '!We!
'liV e6 17 c5 li:id7 18 li:ixd4 'Llxd4 19
Jl.xd4 li:ixe5 20 '!Wc3 li:ic6 21 e3 '!Wh6 22
li:if3 Jl.e4 23 b4 '!Wh5 24 li:ie5 Jl.xg2 25
lii'xg2 li:ixd4 26 exd4 Jl.f6 27 l:tfel fi-
nally turned into a real pawn advantage
for White in Nogueira-Gonzalez Gil,
Lisbon 2001. 15 'i'c3 li:lfd4 16 .id1 'i'f5
7 .. .lbt5 Although Black wins this game, it's
7 ....ixf3 8 exf3 merely concedes a not exactly entirely convincing. As an
bishop for a knight as after 8... li:ig6 9 f4, alternative, 16 ... Jl.c5 keeps up the pres-
Black won't even regain the pawn. The sure, e.g. 17 b4 li:ixf3+ 18 li:ixf3 Jl.d4 19
notes to White's previous move in- li:ixd4 '!Wxd4 with active play.
cluded a ... li:ic8-b6 manoeuvre. We've 17 li:lxd4 'li'xf4 18 li:lxc6 bxc6 19
seen plenty of ... li:ig6 and now comes .ig4+ <;i;>b7 20 g3 'i'd4 21 1!Vxd4
another option. On f5 the black knight l:i'.xd4 22 .if3
adds the required protection to the d4-
pawn.
8 'i'd3
8 g3 enables Black to regain the pawn
via 8 ... Jl.xf3 9 exf3 li:ixe5 and so instead
White employs a flexible queen move.
8 ... 1!Vd7 9 .if4 0-0-0 10 li:lbd2
White has bolstered the extra pawn
but is yet to complete his kingside de-
velopment. The text paves the way for
the likes of b2-b4 but although this
seems very reasonable, there are plenty
of candidate moves here. Although White is a pawn to the
10 ... li:lfe7 11 h3 .if5 12 e4 dxe3 good, has a superior structure and has
Now it is a genuine pawn sacrifice, al- pressure on c6, in fact the position is
though Black certainly has some play fairly unclear. Black has the bishop pair
for it. and an active rook with which to try
13 'l!Vxe3 .ig6 14 .ie2 li:lf5 and exploit the space behind White's
The knight returns to its prev10us position (e.g. the holes on c2 and d3).
rose but this time with the d4-square in 22 ... .ie7 23 b4
:r::: ::-:i~hts. On the face of it White is actively

,6
 The Albin Counter Gambit: Introduction

looking to hit Black's weak c6-pawn li:lc6 5 li:lbd2 .i.f5

further. In reality, though, he does also
have some problems with his awk-
wardly positioned knight.
23 ... i.c2 24 b5 a6
After 24 ... l:hdS 25 ~xc6+ @b6,
White has 26 ~dS so Black is seeking
queenside confusion with the text.
25 i.xc6 + l!lb6 26 li:lf3
Although two pawns up, White still
has problems with his knight and, as
... l:hd8 was imminent, he opts to off-
load one pawn now. Alas, this decision
to complete his development (i.e. move
One of three obvious candidates for
the light-squared bishop. On this
the knight to get castled) now costs him
his material advantage. square, though, there is a sting in the
tail. If now 6 g3?, then 6 ... lt:ib4! would
26 .. Jhc4 27 0-0 axb5 28 .i.d5 l:l:c3
29 li:ld4 .i.96 be rather embarrassing.
6 a3
Black still has the two bishops but
White's selected move is good for
now he has a queenside pawn majority
preventing both ... lt:ib4 and ... ~b4+. If
too. His king is also more centralised,
thus leading to a conclusion of a clear
he gets straight to the point (that is of
advantage to Black. attacking the d4-pawn) with 6 lt:ib3,
then 6 ... f6 has been suggested as an in-
30 l:!fc1 l:!c5 31 i.g2 l:!d8 32 li:lc6
l:!e8 teresting way to keep things on the boil:
Rather unnecessary m view of
a) A hole I have observed in limited
previous analysis is that although 7
32 ... l:xcl+ 33 l:xcl ~xa3 34 l:al ~b2
lt:ibxd4 ~b4+ 8 ~d2 lt:ixd4 9 lt:ixd4
35 l:a2 l:dl+ 36 @h2 l:d2. However,
'iifxd4 10 ~xb4 'iir'xb2 looks good for
although White should grab the bishop
on e7 now, Black is still favourite.
Black, surely 10 'iiVa4+' is a big im-
provement.
33 l:!xc5 i.xc5 34 li:lb4 l:!xe5 35
li:ld5+ @a5 36 li:lxc7 l:!e2 37 li:ld5
b) 7 exf6 'iifxf6 8 a3 h6 (as well as
l:!xf2 38 l!lh2 i.e4 39 li:lf4 g5 40
preparing an expansion, the text is use-
l!lh 1 gxf4 41 .i.xe4 fxg3 42 i.g2 f5
ful for preventing ~gS, which in turn is
0-1 of course vital if Black plans castling
long) 9 g3 (after 9 it:ifxd4 0-0-0, I guess
The f-pawn will secure victory.
10 e3 lt:ixd4 11 exd4 - not 11 lt:ixd4? cS
Game6 - 11...'iiVg6 12 'iiVf3 ~c2 offers Black
Singer-Diermair some play for the two pawns, for exam-
Oberwart 2000 ple 13 lt:iaS - or 13 dS?! l:e8+ 14 ~e2
,__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ~xb3 15 'iifxb3 'iir'xg2 16 J:fl ~cs -

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 li:lf3 13 ... ~e4 14 'iiVg3, but it's not clear how

17
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

much) 9 ... 0-0-0 10 ..tg2 g5 11 0-0 d3! 7 g3 f6

with reasonable compensation and ob-
viously a threat of ... dxe2 and ... ..td3.

Also possible is 7 ... luge7 8 lub3

0-0-0 as 9 luc5?! 'lie8 10 'lia4 looks
6 ... 'l!i'd7 tempting, but 10 ... lug6 11 'lib5 ..txc5
Regarding alternatives, I suppose 12 'lixc5 lucxe5 13 luxe5 luxe5 14
6 ... a5 is a candidate as it halts 7 h4, but 'lixa7 lud3+ 15 @d2 luxf2 16 'lia8+
no doubt most interesting to the crowd @d7 17 'lixb7 'lie6! is in actual fact
would be the immediate 6 ... f6 7 exf6 better for Black.
'lixf6 (with 7 ...li'lxf6, Black's bishop 8 exf6 li:lxf6 9 ~g2 d3 10 0-0 0-0-0
might prefer to be on g4) and now: 11 e3
a) After 8 b4 0-0-0 things look fairly
double-edged. White has the likes of
lub3 and ..tb2 to pressurise the d4-
pawn, whilst 'lia4 and b5 also spring to
mind. However, he has a bit of diffi.
culty with his light-sguared bishop,
bearing in mind that Black may use the
half-open e-file, and ... d4-d3 is a move
to look out for too.
b) 8 ... 0-0-0 9 ..tg2 d3. As ... dxe2 and
... ..td3 is a serious threat (as in the main
game), 10 e3 is pretty much forced. The
black gueen prevents b2-b4 at present White has set his stall out. Black's
and 10 ... gS sets things in motion on the pawn on d3 is a thorn but if he can de-
kingside. I suspect White is objectively velop around it, then there is every
better after, for example, 11 J:!.bl ..tg7 chance that he could pick it off in the
12 b4 luge7 13 ..tb2 'lig6 14 ..txg7 endgame. He has options to expand on
'lixg7 15 0-0 h5 16 b5 but Black has the gueenside and his only worry is
perfectl: reasonable practical chances in whether Black can drum up a serious
rhi~ line. attack.

78
 The Albin Counter Gambit: lntroductior:
11 ... h5 12 b4 .id6?!
Although this offers up the eS-square
to the c6-knight, this looks suspiciously
like a bit of a time-waster. Surely 12 ... h4
or 12 ... il.h3 is what the position called .__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __.
for.
13 'l!ll'a4 lilb8 14 c5 .ie5 15 li:lxe5
li:lxe5 16 'l!i'xd7 l:txd7 17 .ib2
Now with the queens off, the
chances of Black mating the white king
are virtually non-existent. Hence it's full
steam ahead for the side with the extra
pawn and the two bishops.
17 ...li:leg4 18 h3 li:lh6 19 cG bxc6
20 l:tfc1 h4 21 g4
21 ... li:lhxg4
With his last move, Black intended
this sacrifice. However he is clutching at
straws and final result of the game is in
little doubt.
22 hxg4 li:lxg4 23 e4 .ie6 24 .ih3
J:te7 25 J:txc6 .id7 26 l:tg6 li:le5 27
.ixe5 .ixh3 28 14 .ic8 29 J:tc1 h3
30 lilh2 J:118 31 li:lb3 J:td8 32 li:la5
.ib7 33 li:lxb7 lilxb7 34 J:txg7 J:txg7
35 .ixg7 d2 36 l:td1 l:tg8 37 .ic3
J:tg2+ 38 lilxh3 l:te2 39 .ixd2 J:txe4
40 ll:e1 l:td4 41 J:te2 J:td3+ 42 lilg4
J:txa3 43 15 J:ta 1 44 16 ll:g 1 + 45
11115 ll:11 + 46 .il4 1-0
Gamel
Hove-Hvenekilde
T aastrup 2000
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 a3
li:lc6 5 li:ll3 .ig4
Note that after 5 ... il.e6 instead, both
6 e3 and 6 li:lbd2 would transpose to
positions already covered.
6 .il4
6 li:lbd2 has been previously studied
and for the sake of completion, other
alternatives to the text include:
a) 6 b4 which is best met simply by
6 ... il.xf3 7 exf3 12\xeS e.g. 8 f4 li::\g6 9 g3
li:lf6 10 il.g2 'iiw' e 7+ 11 ~fl 0-0-0 12
il.f3 hS 13 h4 with approximately equal
chances, Ovod-Shurygin, St Petersburg
1997.
b) 6 'iiw'b3 looks a little greedy and in-
deed was ultimately rebuffed rather
visually after 6... b6 7 'iiw'b5 'iiw'd7 8 it:lbd2
a6 9 'iiw'b3 lt:lge 7 10 e3 li:lf5 11 exd4
li:lfxd4 12 it:lxd4 it:lxd4 13 Wc3 0-0-0 14
cS 'iiw'a4' 15 b3 lt:lxb3 16 cxb6 'iiw'e4+!! 17
'iiw'e3 (rather than 17 li:lxe4 J:idl mate')
17 ... 'iiw'xe3+ 18 fxe3 lt:lxal and Black
won, Klak-Saenger, Neuwied 1993. I'm
not so sure that this should be followed
79
.... nusua! Queen's Gambit Declined
olindk b, either colour, though.
_--\mongsr other things, 6 ... b6 creates a
fe" holes and 9 'iil'd5 looks stronger
rhan 9 'iil'b3. Regarding 6 .ltf4, I am a
little reluctant to award it with a '?!' al-
rhough this game seems to suggest that
such an annotation might be justified.
6 ...li:lge7
The f4-bishop supports the e5-pawn
but Black will gain a tempo on it with
... l'i:lg6.
7 li:lbd2 li:lg6 8 i.g3
8 ... i.e7
With the text Black shows no ur-
gency to regain his sacrificed pawn.
White has it well protected but he has a
spot of difficulty developing his light-
squared bishop. That said, it would be
negligent of me to withhold from you
the miniatures that have occurred from
Black placing his queen on the e-file
with 8 ... 'iil'e7:
a) 9 'iil'a4 h5 10 h4 (I see no obvious
flaw in 10 l'i:lxd4, certainly as opposed
to when White chose this move!)
10 ... .ltd7 11 'iil'dl l'i:lcxe5 12 l'i:lxd4
l'i:ld3 mate, Martinez-Fernandez
..\.guado, Cajas 1989.
b) 9 'iil'b3>1 0-0-0 10 e3 l'i:lgxe5 11
-s,e5 !2ixe5 12 .ltxe5 'iil'xe5 13 h3 dxe3!
20
14 'iil'xe3 'iil'xb2 15 hxg4 'iil'xal+ 16 lt>e2
.ltxa3 17 liilf3 .ltcl 18 ..id3 ..ixd2 19
.!:l:xal ..ixe3 0-1 Hochstein-H.Miiller,
Bochum 1991.
c) 9 h3 ..ixf3 10 l'i:lxf3 0-0-0 11 'iil'c2
l'i:\gxe5 12 'iil'f5+ l'i:ld7 13 'iil'f4 l'i:lc5 14
l'i:\e5 'iil'e6 15 l'i:lxf7?, l'i:ld3+ 0-1 Kohler-
Stroup, Hagenbach 1998.
8... 'iil'd7 9 h3 ..ie6 10 e4 dxe3 11 fxe3
0-0-0 12 'iii'c2 ..ic5 13 'iii' c3 .!:i:he8 14 b4
..trn also didn't turn out that badly for
Black in Charkhalashvili-Koneru, Ath-
ens 2001.
9 li:lb3 h5!?
Suddenly a serious threat. Black gains
some space on the kingside and coinci-
dentally looks to trap the g3-bishop.
The essential point, though, is Black
desires the roo h-pawn interjections
before trading on f3.
10 h3 i.xf3 11 exf3 h4 12 i.h2
li:lgxe5 13 i.xe5
White concedes one of his bishops in
order to re-establish his material plus.
There was a danger, however, that
Black's cl-pawn could have caused some
trouble.
13 ... li:lxe5 14 'i!Yxd4
It's logical for White to want to trade
queens and, although Black now gets
very reasonable activity, 14 l'i:lxd4 in-
stead would also have offered Black
very reasonable compensation after
14... ..ic5 15 l'i:lc2 'iii'e 7.
14 ... 'i!Yxd4 15 luxd4 0-0-0 16 li:lt5
:!:the8
White is half-a-pawn up but his king
is still in the centre and he has much
developing to do. Black is also better
after 16 ... .ltf6 hut the text sets up the
delightful possibility of ... .ltb4+ and
... l'i:lxf3 discovered mate.
 The Albin Counter Gambit: Introduction
17 ie2 if6 18 0-0 ll:d2 19 ll:fe1
li::ig6 20 .lif1 ll:xe1 21 ll:xe1 ll:xb2
22 .!:te3 ll:b 1 23 g3 li::ie5 24 @g2
ll:c1 25 ll:e4 hxg3 26 f4
Black has played this game very
nicely and has a clear endgame advan-
tage. As 26 fxg3 drops a pawn to
26 ... 12lxf3, White is provoked into the
text.
26 ... li:if3! 27 @xf3
And not 27 fxg3 12ld2.
27 ...ll:xf1 28 li:ixg3 ll:a1
The pawn count is level but Black
has a bishop for a knight, the more ac-
tive rook and a far superior pawn struc-
ture.
29 ll:e8+ @d7 30 ll:f8 ll:xa3+ 31
li.lg4
Black is winning and really deserYes
the full point. Unfortunately, now
things slowly start to go horribly wrong'
31 ... a5 32 ll:xf7 + lllc6 33 li'ih5 ~b2
34 li::ixg7 ll:d3 35 li::ie6 ll:d7 36 .!:tf8
a4 37 ll:a8 a3 38 f5 b6 39 li.lg5
l!.>b7 40 .!:ta4 l:!.d3?
Black has made several inaccuracies
recently but this tops the lot. Now he is
lost.
41 f6 J;!f3 42 f7
Surely this is what Black missed. The
f-pawn is immune to capture because of
the fork on d8.
42 ... c6 43 c5 b5 44 .!:tf4 ll:xf4 45
\l.>xf4 .lie 1 + 46 li.lf5 .lih6 4 7 li.196
.lif8 48 li::ixf8 a2 49 li::ie6 a11!V 50
f81W 1-0
,--------------
Game8
Martinez-Yanez Acin
Narciso Yepes 200 I
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 a3
li:ic6 5 li:if3 li:ige 7
6 .lig5
After 6 e3, thanks to his last move,
Black now has 6 ...12lf5 at his disposal.
Then 7 e4 12lh4 8 jl_f4 12lxf3+ (or per-
haps 8...12lg6 9 jl_g3 jl_g4) 9 'li'xf3 gS,
21
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
\\irh ... $1.g7 in mind, should be okay.
6 Ji.f4 Jl.g4 7 lbbd2 lbg6 8 kg3 will
transpose to the previous game. 6 g3,
\\hich appears to mix systems (see
Chapter 3), was egually balanced after
6 ... lbg6 7 kg2 12:lgxeS 8 lbbd2 ke7 9
0-0 0-0 10 b4 d3 11 b5 lbd4, Pinter-
Souleidis, Dortmund 1998.
6 ... h6 7 i.h4
Even 7 Jl.xe7 Jl.xe7 8 g3 Jl.g4 9
lbbd2 l!i' d7 10 kg2 aS 11 0-0 0-0 12
l:el l:fd8 13 l:cl a4 14 c5 'l!Ve6 15 l:c4
l:aS 16 l:xa4 l:xcS 17 lbb3 l:c4 18
l:xc4 'l!i'xc4 19 'l!Vd3 l!i'e6 (Chmiel-
Blumel, Czech Team Ch., 1992) wasn't
that clear and there's 10 ... 0-0-0 to con-
sider as well, for example 11 b4 d3L
7 ... g5!?
Disaster would befall Black if a white
knight made it to f6, but Black has cor-
rectly weighed up his options. The
weaknesses created are offset by the
space gained and the new possibilities
for pressurising the eS-pawn.
8 i.g3 li:lg6
A logical continuation, although
8 ...12:lfS appears to have its merits too.
9 e3
An amusing line runs 9 lbbd2 g4 10
lbe4 gxf3 11 lbf6+ We7 12 12:ldS+. The
22
best White has, however, is a draw by
perpetual but I suspect that if Black is a
bit more adventurous with his king he
could play on.
9 ... i.g4 10 i.e2 dxe3 11 'l!Vxd8+
Il'.xd8 12 fxe3 i.f5
The text works out well for Black but
arguably due to poor white play.
12... i.cS is an obvious alternative can-
didate and another possible variation
runs 12... kxf3 13 gxf3 JI.cs 14 lbc3
kxe3 15 12:ldS kf4 16 lbxc7+ Wd7 17
12:ldS kxeS, when Black has the upper
hand.
13 i.f2?!
I'm really not sure what this is ail
about. 13 lbc3 must be best.
13 ... li:lcxe5 14 li:lxe5 li:lxe5 15 b4
li:ld3+ 16 i.xd3 Il'.xd3
Now White's position is not looking
good. His opponent has the two bish-
ops and the superior pawn structure,
while the bl-knight struggles to find a
way into the game.
17 0-0 i.e7 18 h3 i.f6 19 Il'.a2 i.e6
20 J:tc2 We 7 21 e4 i.d4 22 c5 l:td8
23 i.xd4 J.8xd4 24 J:te 1 Il'.d 1 25
J:tce2 i.c4 26 J:te3 J.4d3 27 li'f2
Il'.xe 1 28 Il'.xe 1 We6 29 Il'.e3 We5 30
li:lc3 Il'.d2+ 31 li'f3 i.f1 32 li:le2
 The Albin Counter Gambit: Introduction

ixe2+ 33 l:txe2 l:txe2 34 @xe2 26 l:dl ilxh4 27 'il!'d3 'ili'f2 28 'ili'e3

;l,,xe4 ilxg3 29 'ili'xg3 'ili'xf4+ 30 'ili'xf4 l:xf4
And of course the king and pawn 31 d6 1-0 Karpov-Stoma, Koszalin
endgame is completely lost. (simul) 1997.
35 @12 15 36 @g3 @d4 37 @13 @c4 6 exl6 li:lxl6
38 g4 14 39 h4 @b3 40 b5 @xa3 41 In his 'Foxy Openings' video on the
c6 b6 42 hxg5 hxg5 0-1 Albin, International Master Andrew
, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , , Martin arguably went a little overboard
Game9 on the line 6... 'ili'xf6 and now:
H.Visser-Van der Laar a) 7 ii.gs 'ili'g6 8 ilf4 (more recently
Dutch Junior Ch., Henge/a 1997 8 h4 h6 9 ilf4 'ili'f7 10 g3 ilf5 11 'ili'a4
- - - - - - - - - - - - 0-0-0 12 it:lbd2 it:lf6 13 ilg2 d3 14 'ili'bS
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 li:ll3 'ili'e6 15 e3 it:lg4 16 ~fl ile7 17 hS was
li:lc6 5 a3 16 a fascinating quick draw in Santa-Sosa
San Juan 1999) 8 ... 'ili'f7 9 ilg3 ilg4 10
it:lbd2 0-0-0 11 b4 it:lf6 12 bS it:laS 13
it:leS 'ili'e6 14 'ili'a4 b6 15 f3 ilfS 16 it:lb3
ilc2 17 it:lcS 'ili'f5 18 e4 dxe3 19 .ild3
'ili'xd3 20 it:lcxd3 ilxa4 21 it:lb2 ilb3 22
it:\f7 l:l'.d2 23 it:lxh8 l:l'.xb2 24 0-0 ilxc4
0-1 Tatayev-Naglis, Makhachkala 1964.
b) I guess that also critical is 7 g3
ii.ES 8 ilg2 h6 9 0-0 0-0-0 10 it:lbd2 gS.
Now 11 b4' is poor in view of 11...d3
and indeed it is interesting to make a
comparison with this position and the
Confirming the gambit, this idea of same with ... d4-d3 and e2-e3 already
the Norwegian IM Rojan is an impor- thrown in. Nothing is especially clear
tant theme in the Albin. except that in both instances a kingside
One more approach worth noting attack is on Black's agenda.
has restrictive intentions on the oppo- 7 g3 .ig4
nent. However, 5... aS has not scored Pressurising the knight and through
that well in practice, e.g. 6 ilgS ile 7 7 to the pawn on e2.
h4 ilg4 8 it:lbd2 h6 9 ilf4 'ili'd7 10 e3 8 li:lbd2
dxe3 11 fxe3 l:l'.d8 12 'ili'b3 b6 13 0-0-0 I'm loath to be too critical of this
(\X'hite's extra pawn is, of course, dou- move, but playe<l here it seems to lack
bled but his superior piece activity gives the flexibility that it does when em-
him the better game) 13 ... f6 14 exf6 ployed in other variations. The light-
it:lxf6 15 cS ile6 16 ilc4 ilxc4 17 squared bishop is already committed to
it:lxc4 'ilV e6 18 it:lxaS it:ldS 19 'ili'bS bxaS a fianchetto so why not just 8 ilg2
20 it:ld4 'l!i'd7 21 it:lxc6 .ilf6 22 e4 0-0 here' Specifically, I see the root of
23 l:l'.xdS 'ilVg4 24 g3 l:xd5 25 exdS 'ilV f3 White's problems in this game as his

23
~ 0usual Queen's Gambit Declined
::1.1b1li1Tto solve the problem of his
Jark-squared bishop and I wonder
,d1erher he could have completed his
kingside development and retained the
option of, for example, ~g5?
8 ... a5!?
Introducing a new dimension. Black
wants to park his bishop on c5 and so
prepares this by clamping White's
queenside.
9 b3 il.c5 10 il.b2 0-0 11 il.g2 'li!'d7
12 0-0 ll:ae8
Black's pieces have flowed nicely into
play and he appears to have the obvious
white breaks b3-b4 and e2-e3 firmly
under control. His last move pressurises
the e2-pawn and even with the kings
castled on the same side, it is possible
for him to launch an attack.
13 .!l:e1 il.h3 14 b4
After 14 ~xh3 'lii'xh3, the oncoming
...li::lg4 looks like a very powerful con-
tinuation, with serious threats mounting
on h2 and f2. Indeed, 15 12lg5 'lii'hS
hardly constitutes a solution to the
problems. Cynics might no doubt criti-
cise White's choice but what else is
there for him to do> Of course he could
sit back clutching his extra pawn but his
palms would no doubt sweat as Black
24
maximises the use of the half-open f-
and e-files and descends his queen on
White's monarch.
14 ... axb4 15 li:lb3 b6 16 li:lxc5 bxc5
17 axb4 li:lxb4 18 .!l:a5 il.xg2 19
l!lxg2 li:le4
White's pawn sacrifice has hardly
brought the activity he desired as his
bishop is still locked out, whilst Black's
knights stand tall.
20 il.a3
20 ... g5
Black's play looks quite impressive in
this game but it's a shame he failed to
employ the beautiful 20 ... 'lii'h3+!! 21
Wxh3 (or 21 Wgl 12lxf2! 22 Wxf2
'lii'xh2+ 23 @fl d3 with a crushing at-
tack) 2!...12lxf2+ 22 @g2 12lxd1 23
l:Ixd 1 (23 12lxd4 12le3+ 24 Wg 1 12lxc4
sees the knight doing some impressive
work) 23 ... l:Ixe2+ 24 @fl l:Ic2 (with a
winning ending!).
21 il.xb4 cxb4 22 J:td5 'lii'f7 23 ll:f1
g4 24 li:lh4
Possibly White's only chance in the
whole game was with the complications
of 2412lxd412lc3 25 l:IgS+ Wh8 26 'lii'd3
12lxe2 27 l:IfS. As it happens, the rest of
the game is rather painful.
24 ... c5 25 f3 li:lc3 26 .!l:g5+ l!lhB
 The Albin Counter Gambit: Introduction

27 'i'd3 lhe2+ 28 ll:12 gxf3+ 29 9 g3 i.g4

ti:lxf3 ll:xf2 + 30 @xf 2 'i'xf3 + ! 31 Offering the black queen a couple of
'i'xf3 ti:le4+ 32 @e2 ll:xf3 33 ll:h5 possibilities along the h3-c8 diagonal.
0-1 10 i.g2 ti:lxf4 11 gxf4 0-0-0 12
~------------~ ti:lb3 'i'f5 13 ti:lfxd4!
Game 10
Santos-N. Rodriguez
Athens 1998

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 ti:lf3
It strikes me that the breaking of the
'knights before bishops' rule with 4 .ltf4
merely provides Black with more op-
tions. As well as 4... IZk6 (and indeed
4...1Zle7, intending ...1Zlg6), Black also
has 4... .ltb4+ 5 1Zld2 cS 6 1Zlgf3 1Zle7 7
e3 1Zlg6 8 .ltg3 dxe3 9 fxe3 0-0 10 .lte2
1Zlc6, as played in Mantzouneas-Kahler, Now all of \v'hite's pieces are ready
Bad Wiirishofen 1992. for action.
4 ... ti:lc6 5 i.14 i.e6 13 ... ti:lxd4 14 ti:lxd4 'i'xf4+ 15 e3
5... .ltb4+ 6 1Zlbd2 .lte6 7 .i:cl 1Zlge7 8 'i'xf2 16 'i'xa7! 'i'xg2
a3 .ltxd2+ 9 'it'xd2 1Zlg6 10 .ltg3 .ltg4 After 16 ... 'it'xe3+ 17 lt>bl kfS+ 18
11 'it'gS .ltxf3 12 'it'xd8+ .l:xd8 13 exf3 lt>al, Black runs out of checks and has
'Dcxe5 is an interesting endgame that the impossible task of dealing with the
was reached in Brakedal-Ferkingstad, threat on b7.
Oslo 2001. White shades it because of 17 'i'a8+ @d7
his bishop pair.
The text does have its points but I
still prefer the previously seen 5 ...1Zlge7.
6 ti:lbd2 'i'd7 7 'i'a4
White plays actively. He intends solv-
ing the problem of his light-squared
bishop later.
7 ... ti:lge7 8 0-0-0!?
White seriously has it in mind to
pressurise d4.
8 ... ti:lg6
This is logical although, as an alterna-
tive may be sought, 8... 1Zlc8, preparing 18 'i'xd8+! 1-0
to come to b6, has something to be said 19 1Zlc6+ and then 20 .i:d8 mate
for it. would follow.

25
_ 0usual Queen's Gambit Declined

Summary
_\!though this chapter obviously finished better for White than it started('), Game 7
should indicate that perhaps the protective 1<-f4 doesn't fit in well with any long-
rerm white plans. In particular, development tends to suffer and, while I'm on that
ropic, Game 9 is an important one for Black to take note of.
There were some fascinating endgames earlier on with novel ideas for both sides,
but outside of 5 g3 (the main line covered in Chapter 3) only 5 12:lbd2 really stands
out. The whole concept of confirming the opening as a gambit with ... f7-f6 could
do with some further investigations and this section merely opens the debate as to
where Black's light-squared bishop is most effective.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 li:lf3 (D)

4 a3 12:lc6 5 e3
5... dxe3 - Game 2
5...1<.e6 - Game 3
4 e3 - Game 1
4 ... li:lc6 5 li:lbd2
5 a3
5... 1<.g4 - Game 7
5... luge 7 (D) - Game 8
5... f6 - Game 9
5 1<-f4 - Game 10
5 ... i.e6
5... 1<.g4 - Game 5
5... .if5 - Game 6
6 a3 (D) - Game4

4 li:lf3 5 ... li:lge 7 6 a3

26
 CHAPTER TWO I
The Albin: Spassky's 4 e4
and Tartakower's 4 'L'lf3 c5

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 e4 only be carried through immediately

and 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 and so Black has no time for ... 1<.b4+
li:lt3 c5 and ... dxe3, which is of course the dev-
Although the above-mentioned play- astating recipe against 4 e3. White con-
ers are both prominent figures in the cedes that Black retains a strong pawn
history of the game, this chapter refers on d4 but intends building up a big
to comparative sidelines. There is a cer- pawn initiative of his own on the king-
tain amount of logic behind 4 e4 but side.
Black appears to have a variety of at- 4 ... li:lc6
tractive ways to meet it. It's unusual for
respected opening books to offer pawn
sacrifices as their main lines but the
5... f6! of Game 11 is even recom-
mended by NCO as the antidote of
White's system. Indeed, none of this
chapter's first three encounters is espe-
cially inspirational to the first player and
the same could be said about Black of
Garnes 14 and 15.

Game 11
Meschke-Eulberg
Hassloch 1997
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 e4
The so-called 'Spassky' Variation. Bo-
ris craftily observed that en passant can
5 f4
You would have rhought that this
was an automatic choice, but at the be-
ginning of the last century Janowski
preferred not to weaken the e3-square.
Actually, after playing over the main

27
unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
game, you may conclude that he had a
reasonable point but his results weren't
encouraging, for example:
a) 5 12lf3 ~g4 6 'l!Vb3 ~b4+ 7 i2lfd2
'i'h4 8 a3 ..txd2+ 9 12lxd2 0-0-0 10 g3
'l!Vh5 11 4 g5 12 'l!V d3 gxf4 13 gxf4
12lge7 14 l:Igl l:Ihg8 with good play for
the pawn, Janowski-Marshall, Suresne
1908.
b) 5 ..tf4 12lge7 6 .ltg3 h5 7 h3 g5 8
h4 g4 9 12ld2 12lg6 10 f4 ..te7 (10 ... .lth6
also looks promising) 11 ..td3 12lxh4 12
'i'e2 /2lg6 with an advantage that Black
duly converted, Janowski-Maroczy,
Munich 1900.
5 ... 16!
In case you were wondering,
5... 12lxe5? 6 fxe5 'l!Vh4+ 7 'i!;>d2 'l!Vxe4 8
..td3 .ltb4+ 9 'il;>c2 'i'xg2+ 10 12le2 was
tried once (Popovics-Kiss, Ha-
jduboszormeny 1999) and it's not very
good!
6 exf6
Practical play has seen White decline
the pawn but, of the attempts, only 6
12lf3 fxe5 7 f5 holds any water and even
then (bearing in mind the check on b4)
I'd favour Black's dark-squared possi-
bilities over White's light-squared ones.
6 ...li:lxf6
28
Also possible is 6 ... 'i'xf6, e.g. 7 12lf3
.ltb4+ 8 'i!;>f2 i2lh6 9 ..td3 12lg4+ 10 'i!;>gl
12le3 11 'l!V e2 ~g4 12 h3 ~xf3 13 'l!Vxf3
0-0 14 a3 ..te7 15 ~xe3 dxe3 16 12lc3
.ltc5 and Black has good compensation
for the pawn, From-Sorensen, Vejle
1974.
In view of the attractive main game
continuation, however, it seems a bit
unnecessary.
7 .td3
7 e5 .ltb4+! 8 ..td2 12lg4 would incur
similar problems to the text.
7 ... .tb4+ 8 .td2
The only way to prevent ...12lg4 is to
escape the check with 8 'il,>1 but then
White experiences significant problems
on the -file, as highlighted by the visual
game Bouton-Raetsky, Cappelle la
Grande 1995: 8 ... 0-0 9 12lf3 ~g4 10 h3
~xf3 11 'l!Vxf3 12le5 12 'l!Vdl 12lh5 13
'il;>g 1 12lxf4 14 ..txf4 l:Ixf4 15 a3 'l!Vh4 16
.lte2 .Itel 17 12ld2 ..tf2+ 18 'il,>1 .lte3+
19 /2lf3 'l!V f2 mate.
8 ... li:lg4 9 li:lf3 li:le3
Just as in the main Albin trap, the
pinned White d2-bishop has no influ-
ence on e3.
10 1ii'e2 0-0
Hitting f4. White would love to fol-
low suit and castle kingside too but the
thorn-like black knight cruelly controls
fl.
11 g3 .tg4 1 2 a3
Upon first sight it looks as though
White is simply blundering here but
close inspection reveals that the obvious
12 h3 fails to l 2 ... ..txf3 13 'l!Vxf3 12le5
14 'i'e2 l:Ixf4!! 15 ~xb4 (or 15 gxf4
'l!Vh4+ 16 'l!Vf2 li:ixd3+) 15 ... l:If3! with all
sorts of nasty threats.
12 ... li:le5!
 The Albin: Spassky's 4 e4 and Tartakower's 4 Ci:Jf3 c5
Both of White's knights and his f4-
pawn are pinned. It's curtains!
13 .ixb4 li:lxl3+ 14 W12 lh14 0-1
Wrapping things up nicely. The rook
can't be taken because of 15 ... 'i!Vh4
mate.
Game 12
S. Gross-Eiber
German Bundesliga 1995
' - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - li:lge7 8 ..ig3 li:lg6 have occurred but it
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 e4 seems to me that Black is getting what
li:lc6 5 14 g5!? he is after.
Although the previously seen pawn
sacrifice 5 ... f6 appears to be justified,
there is also a certain amount of logic
behind this attractive move. Black sets
about disrupting White's congregation
of pawns. This is likely to be successful
when you note that 6 g3 is no solurion
in view of 6 ... gxf4 7 gxf4 'lii'h4+.
6 15
6 li:lf3 gxf4 7 ..ixf4 li:lge 7 looks to be
what Black is after; namely mopping up
the e5-pawn via ... li:lg6, ... ..ig7 etc. Now
8 e6 ..ixe6 9 li:lg5 li:lg6 10 li:lxe6 fxe6 11
..ig3 ..id6 is no help and indeed 12 'liVg4
'lii'd7 13 li:ld2 0-0-0 14 ..ixd6 'lii'xd6 15
c5 'lii'xc5 16 'lii'xe6+ lii>b8 17 'l!Vc4 'l!Vg5
18 0-0-0 li:lge5 19 'lii'a4 d3 20 lii>bl li:lg4
21 li:lf3 'i!Ve3 22 'lii'b3 li:lf2 23 l:!.el
'i!Vxel+ 24 li:lxel d2 25 ..ie2 li:ld4 26
'i!Ve3 li:lxe2 27 li:lf3 dl'i!V+ 28 l:!.xdl
l:!.xdl+ 29 lii>c2 l:!.cl+ 30 lii>d2 l:!.d8+ 31
lii>xe2 l:!.c2+ 32 lii>fl l:!.dl+ 33 li:lel li:ld3
34 'lii'xd3 l:!.xd3 35 li:lxd3 l:!.d2 0-1
(Praszak-Mozny, Prague 1990) was
fairly conclusive.
Aside from the text, 6 fxg5 ..ib4+! 7
..id2 'i!Vxg5 and 6 ..id3 gxf4 7 ..ixf4
6 . ..li:lxe5 7 li:ll3 li:lxl3+
Comparing 7 ... ..ib4+ now and with
my notes to Black's next move, it's pos-
sible that it is time to strike when the
iron is hot. After 8 li:lbd2 li:lxf3+ 9
'i!Vxf3 li:lf6, if this knight makes it to e5
then Black will have a more than com-
fortable game.
8 1Wxl3 .ig7
My initial thoughts on this position
were that Black had to be doing fine
provided he can keep the e5-square
firmly under control. Ideally a ... li:le7-
c6-e5 plan would work a treat but the
problems are the g5-pawn and having to
avoid f5-f6. One interesting encounter
saw White go on to win after 8... ..ib4+
29
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
9 Wdl .ltd7 10 .ltd3 'illle7 11 h4 g4 12
~g3 hS (it feels as though Black is do-
ing okay and 12 ... 0-0-0 or 12 ... .ltd6 are
more restrained yet, in a way, more to
the point than the text) 13 .ltf4 0-0-0 14
a3 jl_as 15 b4 li'if6 16 eS jl_a4+ 17 'i!lcl
li'id7 18 bxaS li'icS 19 li'id2, Petrosian-
Mukhitdinov, Tashkent 1951.
9 ~d3
9 ... c5
An obvious move although there is
an underlying feeling that Black is defer-
ring the problem of how he is going to
complete his development. Again I reit-
erate that 9... lue7??, with ... li'ic6 and
either bishop or knight to eS, would be
attractive if it didn't leave the g-pawn en
prise and allow the forking f5-f6. Un-
fortunately 9... 'lifo, preparing this, falls
foul of 10 'iig3!, simultaneously hitting
both gS and c7. Hence the text that ce-
ments a supported passed pawn on d4.
10 1Wg3 h6 11 h4!
Making sure that Black doesn't solve
the problem of his g-pawn quite so eas-
ily.
11 ... 1We7!
Deflecting the attention to both the
e4-pawn and the now effectively unpro-
tected fS-pawn. As well as the obvious
30
... jl_xfS, the positional threat of ... li'if6-
d7 is also there.
12 hxg5 ~xf5 13 gxh6
13 ... ~eS
I still can't shake off the feeling that
Black shouldn't be worse, and indeed
both 13 ... .ltxe4 14 jl_xe4 'illlxe4+ 15
'iild 1 jl_es 16 li'id2 'ii f4 and 13 ... .ltg6 14
.ltgS 'ii e6 15 lua3 a6 are difficult to
assess.
14 ~f4 ~xf4 15 1Wxf4 ~g6 16 lt:ld2
'l!i'f6
Although Black is a pawn down, by
way of some dark squares he obviously
has a little bit of compensation. The
text is clearly an attempt to readdress
the balance in the material situation and
in all fairness it probably works out just
fine.
17 g3
Instead 17 'illlxf6 4Jxf6 18 e5 4Jg4 19
jl_xg6 fxg6 20 lue4 luxes 21 luxes
luxc4 is also rather murky.
17 ... 'l!i'xf4
The price Black has to play is ironing
out White's pawns. Being picky, I'd pre-
fer 17 .. .l::ixh6 first as White then has to
be the one to trade rooks if he wants
Black to swap on f4.
18 gxf4 ll:xh6 19 @f2
 The Albin: Spassky's 4 e4 and Tartakower's 4 !:uf3 c5
A tad more flexible than 19 l:!.xh6,
thus justifying my last comment.
19 ... .llxh1 20 .llxh1 f6 21 11lf3 @f8
22 @g3 J:i.e8 23 f5 Sl.f7 24 @f4
White has several pawns on the same
colour as his bishop but his king is in a
dominant position and Black's pieces
are far more passively placed.
24 ... b5 25 J:i.c 1 b4 26 Sl.c2 J:i.d8 27
Sl.a4 Sl.h5 28 .llh1 Sl.xf3 29 @xf3
@g7
Were Black's knight able to make it
to eS, then we would be talking about
him being able to win the position.
Thar's not going to happen and, al-
though I think he should be able to
hold the draw, he appears to take one
liberty too many.
30 .llg1 + @f7 31 @e2 11le7 32 .llh1
@g7
I prefer 32 ... I:l.gS!. Black ultimately
trades rooks on a square that leaves his
king too far off the pace.
33 J:i.g1 + @f7 34 J:i.h1 @g7 35 @d3
.llh8?! 36 .llxh8 @xh8 37 e5 11lxf5
It's not so easy for Black to just shut
up shop and pass, e.g. 37 ... @g7 38 @e4
@f7 39 i.dl @g7 40 i.hS when
zugzwang leads to the white king find-
ing a way deeper into enemy territory.
38 @e4 11le3 39 e6 11lxc4 40 e 7
li:ld6+ 41 @d5 1-0
Game 13
Galovic-Dzurenda
Slovakian Team Ch., 2000
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 e4 c5
Evidently another playable move, al-
though it may appear a little casual.
Black supports his d-pawn in an aes-
thetically pleasing manner, although in
doing so rules a future ... i.b4+ out of
the equation.
5 f4 12:lc6 6 11lf3
6 ... Sl.e7
Black sets his stall out for the ... g 7-gS
rather than the ... f7.f6 break. The prob-
lem with the latter is that after, for ex-
ample, 6 ... f6 7 exf6 (the only testing
response) 7 .. .1Dxf6, White can happilv
play either 8 i.d3 or 8 eS. Without the
bishop check on b4, Black won't be
securing the e3-square for the knight. It
looks like a clear pawn to me.
7 .il.d3 g5 8 fxg5
Here 8 f5'! fails to 8 ... g4!, when
... ltJxeS follows. 8 g3 looks best met by
8... i.h3,, rather than 8 ... gxf4 9 gxf4
i.h4+ 10 @e2. Either way there is
31
Unusual Queen's Gamba Declined
some, if perhaps not really enough,
compensation for the pawn.
8 ... ~g4 9 ~14 ~xl3 10 'ill'xl3 'ill'd7
I don't know whether originally Black
had it in mind to recapture in order to
make a claim for the dark squares, but
after 10 ... .llxgS 11 e6! throws a spanner
in the works, for example 11...fxe6> 12
'l!i'hS+ netting the bishop.
11 lt:la3 a6
As it happens, things turn out quite
nicely for Black as it soon develops into
a sort of 'Benko Gambit situation' on
the kingside. White is two pawns up but
could do with a useful plan. He doesn't
find one and Black slowly swarms into
his position.
12 lt:lc2 h6! 13 gxh6 'llxh6 14 0-0-0
'llg4 15 e6 'l!li'xe6 16 e5 0-0-0 17
ll:hl1 lt:lgxe5 18 ~xe5 lt:lxe5 19 'lli'f4
lt:lxd3+ 20 ll:xd3 'l!li'xc4
And now Black is clearly on top. He
has a nice queenside pawn majority, his
bishop is preferable to the passive white
knight and amazingly he is material up.
21 li:ld1 'lli'xa2 22 ll:e1 ~d6 23
'lli'f5+ @b8 24 h3 ll:he8 25 ll:dd1
~g3 26 ll:11 ll:e7 27 ll:13 ~e5 28
:.a3 'l!li'd5 29 g4 c4 30 @b1 d3 31
8e3 'l!li'b5 32 lt:lxc4 'l!li'xc4 33 ll:axd3
32
ll:c8 34 ll:3d2 16 35 h4 J:l.c5 36 'lli'f2
ll:ec7 37 g5 'l!li'e4+ 38 ll:d3 ll:c1 + 39
@a2 'l!li'a4+ 40 ll:a3 'i'xd1 0-1
Game 14
E.Griinfeld-Tartakower
Kar/sbad 1923
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 'llf3
c5
A rather idealistic move that, as you
can see from this game, was a played a
bit in the old days. Black supports his
d4-pawn and, given time to complete
his development and to regain the e5-
pawn, he would sit very pretty. His cl-
pawn would be a thorn in the enemy
position and he could no doubt gener-
ate serious pressure against White's e2-
pawn by maximising the use of the half-
open e-file.
5 e3
In reality the note above was all waf-
fle as White is unlikely to sit back and
waste time doing nothing. The text gets
straight to the point and takes advan-
tage of the fact that ... .llb4+ (as in the
main trap) is no longer available.
5 ... lt:lc6 6 exd4
More accurate than 6 .lld3, which
 The Albin: Spassky's 4 e4 and Tartakower's 4 {i}f3 c5
lead to a novel draw after 6... .ltg4 7
11..e2 .ltfS 8 .ltd3 .ltg4 9 .lte2 1i..f5 I 0
.ltd3 11..g4, Ballinas-Manzur, Cuidad del
Carmen 1997.
6 ... cxd4
7 Sl.d3
Blocking Black's d-pawn doesn't look
like a ridiculous idea and it must be ob-
served that White shouldn't get too
complacent, e.g. 7 .ltgS .lte 7 8 .ltxe 7
Cugxe7 9 Cubd2 0-0 10 a3>! (presumably
White was worried about 10 .ltd3 Cub4
but that wouldn't have been a big prob-
lem and his choice is rather slow)
I 0 ... Cug6 11 Cub3 .ltg4 12 Cubxd4 Cuxd4
13 'lii'xd4 .ltxf3 14 'lii'xd8 l:Iaxd8 15 gxf3
CuxeS 16 f4 Cuf3+ 0-1 Aguilar-Manzur,
Mexico 1997. That game is an impor-
tant warning but speeding up Black's
development by expending time to
trade dark-squared bishops looks like a
poor plan. More logical would be 7 11..f4
Cuge 7 8 .ltd3 Cug6 9 .ltg3 .lte 7 (in view
of the queen check on a5, Black could
regain the pawn on eS immediately but
9 ... CugxeS 10 CuxeS CuxeS 11 0-0 is sim-
ply better for White because of the iso-
lated d-pawn) 10 0-0 .ltg4 11 l:Ie I with
White having to experience no real suf-
fering for the extra pawn. Indeed,
11 ... 'lii'aS 12 .ltxg6 hxg6 13 Cubd2 l:Id8
14 a3 .lte6 15 b4 'lii'c7 16 Cue4 'lii'd7 17
Cud6+ .ltxd6 18 exd6 @f8 19 b5 Cua5
20 Cuxd4 11..xc4 21 l:Ie7 'lii'c8 22 l:Ic7
'lii'aS 23 'lii'a4 b6 24 l:Ixc4 'lii'dS 25 l:Icc!
Cub7 26 'lii'c4 'lii'g5 27 'lii'c7 Cues 28
l:Ixc5 1-0 looked rather convincing in
Salus-Andrieu, Thonon Les Bain 1995.
7 ... si.g4
I suppose this doesn't look illogical
and it's certainly not clear what Black's
best is. However, let's analyse some
alternatives:
a) 7 ... h6>! hardly looks inspirational
and all the play was with White after 8
0-0 .lte6 9 a3 'lii'c7 10 l:Ie! 0-0-0 11 b4
g5 12 'lii' e2 .lte 7 13 Cufd2 g4 14 cS .ltgS
15 Cue4! .ltxcl 16 Cud6+ @b8 17 l:Ixc!
'lii'e7 18 Cud2 'lii'gS 19 Cu2c4 h5 20 b5 h4
21 bxc6. Now 21...g3 22 'lii'b2 was
effectively game over in Kapstan-
Roque, Winnipeg 1997.
b) 7 ... Cuge7 is in many respects the
most logical response. Favouring king-
side development, Black holds back on
... .ltg4.
bl) 8 Cubd2 .ltg4 9 'lii'b3 'lii'c7 10 0-0
0-0-0 11 l:Ie I Cug6 12 h3 .lte6 13 .lte4
Cugxe5 14 CuxeS 'lii'xeS 15 Cuf3 'lii'c5 16
1/..f4 .ltd6 was unclear in Tarrasch-
33
...,nusua! Queen's Gambit Declined
Tmakower, Berlin 1920.
b2) After 8 0-0 ti:lg6 (again I feel
8 ... .lil.g4 9 l:tel ti:lg6 10 h3 .lil.xf3 11
ijVxf3 leaves White with the upper hand,
although l J...j,,b4 12 j,,d2 0-0 13 j,,xb4
ti:lxb4 14 j,,xg6 hxg6 15 'ill'b3 'lll'a5 16
ti:ld2 l:tad8 17 ti:le4 d3 18 'lll'c3 b6 19
l:tedl ti:lc6 20 'lll'xa5 bxa5 was eventu-
ally drawn in Reti-Tartakower, Amster-
dam 1920) 9 h3 j,,e7 10 Mel j,,e6 11 b3
Wic7 12 j,,xg6 hxg6, it's clear that 13
ti:lxd4? is a mistake, for example
13 ... 0-0-0 14 j,,e3 ti:lxd4 15 j,,xd4 j,,c5
16 ti:lc3 j,,xd4 0-1 Szymanski-Ganguly,
St Lorenzo 1995. I still feel the variation
is good for White but perhaps this is
Black's best attempt.
c) 7... j,,c5 is a little slow
and 8 0-0 ti:lge7 9 a3 a5 10 ti:lbd2 0-0
11 ti:lg5' h6 12 ti:lge4 (incidentally 12
ti:lh7 ti:lxe5 13 ti:lxf8 ti:lxd3 14 ti:le4
ti:lc6 15 'lll'xd3 kxf8 saw White go on
to convert his extra exchange in Dus
Chotimirsky-Tartakower, Karlsbad
1911, but 14 ... fS! would have retained
material equilibrium) 12... j,,a7 13 Wih5
looks like a clear edge. White retains his
pawn plus and appears to have more
attacking chances than his opponent.
d) Thanks again to that little ... '!ll'a5+
34
trick, Black can regain his pawn imme-
diately with 7... ti:lxe5, but after 8 Wie2 f6
Oohner-Duras, Karlsbad 1907), I'm sure
White can even gain a simple edge with
9 ti:lxe5 'lll'a5+ 10 ti:ld2.
8 0-0 'Wic7 9 h3
An alternative and fascinating game
started off as being quite murky but
then solidified in White's favour before
completely changing (!): 9 kf4 0-0-0 10
j,,g3 ti:lh6 11 ti:lbd2 ti:lf5 12 j,,xf5+
j,,xf5 13 a3 d3 14 b4 ti:ld4 15 ti:lxd4
l:txd4 16 Wia4 ~b8 17 c5 j,,e6 18 'lll'dl
ke7 19 f4 g6 20 Wif3 Wic6 21 Wie3
l:thd8 22 kf2 g5 23 kg3 gxf4 24 kxf4
a5 25 'ill'f2 axb4 26 ke3 l:tg4 27 axb4
l:tdg8 28 g3 l:txb4 29 l:tfb 1 l:tgg4 30
l:txb4 l:txb4 31 ti:lf3 l:ta4 32 l:txa4 'lll'xa4
33 ti:ld2 ~c8 34 'ill'fl 'lll'c2 35 ti:le4 kd5
36 ti:lf2 d2 37 'lll'e2 '!ll'c!+ 38 'ill'fl 'lll'el
0-1 Takacs-Tartakower, Vienna 1922.
9 ... Sl.xf3 10 'Wixf3 li:lxe5 11 J:l:e1
Sl.d6 12 Sl.f4 li:le 7 13 Sl.xe5 Sl.xe5
14 li:la3
White's play is very sensible in this
game. The bishops are now of opposite
colour but Black's cl-pawn is clearly a
weakness, whilst White's queenside
pawn majority soon looks menacing.
14 ... a6 15 c5! Sl.f6
 The Albin: Spassky's 4 e4 and Tartakower's 4 '2,{3 c5
15 ... 'iii'xcS 16 'l!Vxb7 l:b8 17 'l!Vxa6
l:lxb2 is unplayable because of 18 li:ic4.
16 11:lc4 'l!Vxc5?!
The game continuation proves this to
be a mistake but the alternative 16 ... 0-0
17 b4 would simply have been very un-
pleasant.
17 'l!Vxb 7 0-0
This way Black has protected the
rook by castling but now there is a tac-
tic netting the exchange.
18 11:lb6!
No prizes for guessing that the
knight is heading for d7.
18 .. Jl:ab8
19 'l!Ve4
The point, of course, is that the white
knight is bought an important reprieve
by the mate threat on h 7.
19 ... 11:\96 20 11:ld7
Effectively a winning fork.
20 ... 'l!Vd6 21 11:lxf8 11:lxf8 22 J:l:ac1
.!:tb6 23 .!:tc8 96 24 .ltc4 @97 25
'l!Ve8
It's not just the material situation
which is important. Through persistent
pressure White is close to winning the
house.
25 ... l:!b7 26 l:!c6 'l!Vt4 27 93 'l!Vd2
28 .!:txf6! @xf6 29 'l!Ve5 mate
Game15
Martin del Campo-Manzur
Merida 1997
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 11:lf3
c5 5 93
Of course a fianchetto here is fine as
White certainly doesn't rule out break-
ing with e2-e3 a bit later. An alternative
to 5 g3 (and, of course, the 5 e3 of our
last encounter) is 5 il.f4 li:ic6 6 g3,
which could equally be reached via 5 g3
li:ic6 6 il.f4 (but I don't see why prefer-
ence should be given to White's queen-
side bishop). Anyway, amusing now was
the wacky 6... il.e 7 7 il.g2 gS 8 il.d2 g4 9
li:igl li:ixeS 10 il.f4 'i!VaS+ 11 il.d2 'i!Vb6
12 b3 il.fS 13 f4 li:ixc4 14 bxc4 'l!Vb2 15
li:ia3 'l!Vxa3 16 il.xb7 J:!b8 17 il.c6+ @f8
18 'l!Vcl 'l!Va6 19 il.g2 li:if6 20 e4 il.xe4
21 il.xe4 li:ixe4 22 li:ie2 li:ixd2 23 'l!Vxd2
'i'xc4 which, closer to the current cen-
tury('), Black wem on to convert (Joen-
sen-J.Hansen, Oyrabakki 2000). The
bishop on f4 doesn't fit in well with a
kingside fianchetto.
5 ... .lte6
The text breaks the good old 'knights
before bishops' rule. I guess Black tries
35
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

to provoke something like 6 lubd2 or 6 England's World U-18 Championship

b3. Black, no doubt, would look upon
that as a favourable trade-off as he
probably intends to castles queenside
anyhow. As it happens, he is in for a
shock but I would have thought that
5... luc6 6 1lg2 luge7 7 0-0 lug6 is criti-
cal.
representative Craig Hanley. Alas, I
can't provide too many details but could
that concept really be the future of this
variation?
6 i.g2 li:lc6
Black gives his opponent another
chance to change his mind but White is
determined to return the pawn.

a) Certainly 8 b3 1le 7 9 1lb2 lugxe5

10 luxes luxes 11 lud2 0-0 12 luf3 7 0-0
luxf3+ 13 1lxf3 'filc7 14 'filc2 1lh3 15 7 lubd2 luge7 8 0-0 lug6 9 'filc21le7
:re 1 :ad8 16 :ad 1, which lead to a 10 a3 'filc7 11 lue4 lugxe5 12 luxe5
quick draw m Kopinitz-Tasnadi, luxeS was fine for Black in Johansson-
Zalakaros 1993, is nothing at all for Harju, Turku 1997.
White. 7 ... i.xc4 8 1Wc2 i.d5 9 a3
b) 8 e3 d3. It's not clear whether the
pawn on d3 is a weakness or a strength
and although 9 b3 1lg4 10 h3 1lxf3 11
1lxf3 lugxe5 12 1ld5 lub4 13 luc3
'fild7 14 '.!lg2 h5 15 f4 lug6 16 a3 luxd5
17 cxdS 0-0-0 18 'filxd3 turned out well
for White in Bodnar-Urietyki, Eforie
Nord 1998, clearly there are plenty of
deviations available to both sides. As
seems to be consistent in this line, my
preferences are for White and it came as
no great surprise for me to see IM An-
dre\\' \lartin whip out an early ... f7-f6 Black has regained his pawn and
gambit style, later claiming 'tenuous theoretically has the better structure.
..-::r.'l::n.pen:::auon' in a blitz game with However, he is behind on development
 The Albin: Spassky's 4 e4 and Tartakower's 4 l:i:Jf3 c5
rnd, in view of the attacked cS-pawn,
1ias a spot of difficulty getting his king-
;ide pieces out. In addition, whilst
\\.hite's last move prevents a possibly
.rnkward ... 4Jb4, Black must also be
wary of a b2-b4 break.
9 ... .ie 7 10 J:l:d 1 'i'b6 11 lbbd2 'i'b5
12 b3 h5
Although this is a typical plan, I'm
not sure that Black is positioned so well
for a kingside attack. An Albin player is,
I suppose, unlikely to be tempted by a
smash and grab raid but perhaps the key
variation in this game begins with
12 ... 'lil'xe2. Now 13 ilfl doesn't trap the
queen because of 13 ... d3!, whilst 13
luxd4~ fails because 13 ... luxd4 hits the
white queen. I guess that there are a few
ways for White to seek compensation
and 13 ilb2 'li!'bS 14 ilfl 'iii'bG 15 b4 is
certainly amongst them. Regarding a
conclusion, I'm afraid that 'unclear' is
about as good as I'm going to offer!
13 lbc4 J:l:d8 14 e3 .ixc4?!
Black appears to cave in under pres-
sure. 14... h4 would have been a consis-
rent continuation that didn't relinquish
the light squares.
15 bxc4 'i'a6 16 J:tb1 lbh6 17 exd4
cxd4 18 e6!
Creating a few more light-squared
holes in the enemy camp.
18 ... f5 19 J:.b5
19 ilxhG l:txhG 20 'iii'xfS also looks
good but the knight isn't gomg any-
where.
19 ... 0-0 20 .ixh6 d3
In the general scheme of things, this
affects very little.
21 J:txd3 J:l:xd3 22 'i'xd3 gxh6 23
ll:xf5 'i'xa3 24 ll:xf8+ .ixf8 25
'lii'g6+ \i,h8 26 'i'xh5 'i'a1 + 27 .if1
'li!'f6 28 .ih3 a5 29 lbh4 a4 30
lbg6+ li,g7 31 lbt4
31 4Jxf8 and 32 'i!i'bS is another way
forward but the final result is never in
doubt.
31 ...lbe5 32 'i'e2 li,98 33 lbd5 W/g7
34 f4 .ic5+ 35 li,g2 li::ic6 36 f5
'i'd4 37 1l.g4 W/g1 + 38 Wh3 /bd4 39
e7 lbxe2 40 e8'1W + .its 41 W/96+
1-0
37
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

Summary
4 e4 may avoid the main theory of the Albin Counter Gambit but it clearly isn't the
best way to deal with this opening. I'm hardly risking too much by announcing that
I believe 4 'L\f3 to be White's best move and the guestion then is whether 4... cS (as
employed on numerous occasions in the early part of the last century) is a viable
alternative to 4... 'LlcG. Again I would have to conclude not, as both the 5 e3 of
Game 14 and the 5 g3 of Game 15 suggest that Black's plan is too slow.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 e4 (D)
4 'Llf3 cS
5 e3 - Game 14
5 g3 (D) - Game 15
4 .. .li:lc6
4... cS - Game 13
5 f4 f6 (D) - Game 11
5... gS - Game 12

4 e4 5g3 5 .. .f6

38
I CHAPTER THREE I
The Albin:
The Main Line - 5 g3

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 11:lf3 . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
11:lc6 5 g3 Game 16
Although it's fair to say that the Bellon Lopez-Cirabisi
move 5 IZ:lbd2 (which can often trans- Genua 1989
pose into this chapter) has often been .__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ___.
suggested as a simple way of meeting 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 11:lf3
the Albin, ever since employing and 11:lc6 5 g3 Ji.ts
facing the gambit as a junior I have
considered this to be the main line con-
tinuation.
Some interesting ideas come to light
over the next ten games and after
you've played through them all you
could easily decide that the first one
remains the most critical. What is clear
is that on move five there are three dis-
tinct bishop moves for Black to choose
from. Match these with caveman attacks
involving ... h7-h5-h4 or possibly an
... f7-f6 sacrifice and you could have a Throughout this chapter I will be dis-
dangerous weapon at your disposal. cussing the three main light-squared
Black players beware, though! It seems bishop deployments available to Black.
to me that despite gambiting the pawn, Whether it travels first to e6, g4 or fS as
an equal amount of tactics come from here, each has its own characteristics.
White's direction and that's true even if However, it is clear that often transpo5i-
Black quietly tries to equalise the mate- rions occur, particularly when a guick
rial with ... IZ:lge7 -g6. .. ...lll.h3 (after...'llt'd7) is fortbcomrnc

39
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
This specific game focuses on just that
speedy plan for Black. Take a look at
another encounter to reiterate my point:
5... ,te6 6 li:lbd2 'iii'd7 7 kg2 kh3 8 0-0
h5 9 li:le4 ,txg2 10 'ii;>xg2 h4 11 li:lxh4
li:lxe5 12 e3 d3 (The bishop could
equally have come from fS or g4 in or-
der to get to h3 and the launch of the h-
pawn may appear like caveman stuff
However, despite Black not even having
taken time out to castle, he has built up
a dangerous attack and the finish im-
plies that White seriously underesti-
mated this offensive.) 13 li:ld2 g5 14 f4
gxh4 15 fxe5 hxg3 16 hxg3 'iii'h3+ 17
'ii,f3 0-0-0 18 b4 li:le7 19 ,tb2 li:lf5 20
l:tg 1 li:lh4+ 21 'ii;>f2 'iii'h2+ 22 @fl l:tg8
23 'iii'el 'iii'h3+ 0-1 Hiemstra-Clemens,
Groningen 2001.
There aren't many serious alternatives
to bishop deployments. 5.. .f6 is a gam-
bit which we have seen (and will do
later) but it seems a little premature
right now (i.e. with White having wasted
no rime on a3 or li:lbd2).
A move primarily concerned with re-
gaining the pawn is 5... li:lge7 but again
this doesn't look so effective without a
white knight on d2 and 6 ,tg2 li:lg6 7
,tf4! looks like a sensible way to handle
the position, e.g. 7... f6 8 exf6 li:lxf4 9
f7+! 'ii;>xf7 10 gxf4 'iii'f6 11 0-0 h6 12 e3
,tcs 13 exd4 li:lxd4 14 li:les+ 'ii,[8 15 b4
li:le6 16 bxc5 li:lxf4 17 l:tel 'iii'gS 18 'iii'f3
,th3 19 'iii'xf4+ 1-0 Ligterink-Thiel,
Ruhrgebiet 1999.
6 ~g2 'l!l'd7 7 0-0 ~h3 8 a3
Basically, Black is not bearing about
the bush. He wants his queen in close
proximity to the enemy king and has
seen a possible way to get it there by
offering a swap of bishops. As will be-
40
come apparent throughout this chapter,
such a trade also has the benefit of re-
moving White's threats along the g2-b 7
diagonal.
There is no rook on d8 yet, but 8
kxh3 'iii'xh3 9 li:lxd4 is surely not what
White wants to get involved in -
9... 0-0-0! with ... li:lxe5-g4 on the agenda
is a worry. Black delays developing his
kingside pieces and it is a serious possi-
bility that it might be the h8-rook that
will see the first light of day. Indeed, as
we've already seen with 8 li:lbd2 hS,
transposing to an earlier mentioned
game, the h-file becomes all important.
Consequently, I'm not sure that the text
isn't just a little slow and the outwardly
flexible 8 'iii'd3 also came in for some
stick after 8 ... 0-0-0 9 ,txh3 'iii'xh3 10
li:lbd2 (10 li:lgW) 10... li:lge7 11 l:tdl
li:lg6 12 'iii'e4 ,te7 13 li:lb3 fSP 14 exf6
,txf6 15 ,tgs l:the8 16 'iii'c2 ,txgS 17
li:lxgS 'iii'g4 (here the pressure isn't sim-
ply on h2 but there is a lot of it none-
theless) 18 'iii'd2 h6 19 li:lf3 d3! 20 h3
'iii'f5 21 l:tel dxe2 22 'iii'c3 li:lgeS 23
li:lh4 'iii'xh3 24 li:lcS li:ld4 0-1 Yuferov-
Kupreichik, !vlinsk 1972.
Funnily enough, what could be the
acid test of 8 ,txh3 'iii'xh3 9 li:lgS 'iii'fS

10 f4 has very rarely occurred in prac-
tice. As the e5-pawn is supported and
the white king given a bit of breathing
space, NCO assesses this position as a
clear advantage to White. This is possi-
bly based on the line 10 ... ..ie7 11 'Llf3
0-0-0 12 'l!i'd3 'l!i'h3 13 a3 h5 14 'Llbd2
'Llh6 (14 ... h4!? 15 'Llxh4 ..ixh4 16 gxh4
'l!i'xh4 17 'l!i'f5+ @bS 18 'Llf3 'l!i'h6 also
seems to leave Black with some reason-
able play for the pawn or two if White
is greedy enough to take on f7) 15 'Lle4
h4 16 'Llf2 'l!i'd7 17 ..id2 hxg3 18 hxg3,
Sarno-Chen, Geneva 1992. If so, I'm
not sure this isn't a rash assessment, as
things look rather unclear to me.
Finally, it's worth noting the possibil-
ity of an important theme 8 e6. The
point is that the f7-pawn can't capture
as the h3-bishop would then be en
prise, whilst a queen capture would al-
low a piece winning knight fork on g5.
The idea, then, is that for the price of
his extra pawn, the forcing of 8... ..ixe6
buys White a move. In this position
Black would have no qualms about that
at all but in another situation (as you
will later see), it might be a different
story.
8 ... h5
The Albin: The Main Line - 5 g3
As said before, the rook is eager to
get in on the act along the h-file. Played
now (rather than trading bishops first),
it may look as though Black is trying to
prevent White from blocking the h-file
with h2-h4 but as this game highlights,
that may nor be an important concern.
An alternative plan is demonstrated by
8 ... ..ixg2 9 @xg2 0-0-0 10 'l!i'd3 'Llge7
11 ..ig5 'l!i'e6 12 'Llbd2 h6 13 ..ixe7
..ixe7 14 e3 dxe3 15 'l!i'xe3 ..ig5 16 'l!i'c3
..ixd2. Black regains the pawn on e5
and stands a little better, Muukkonen-
Tahkavuori, Finland 1993.
9 b4 .i.xg2 10 l!,xg2 0-0-0 11 b5
{ijce7
12 h4
The move that either 9 .. h4 or 10 ... h4
would have avoided. This game, how-
ever, is very instructive for demonstrat-
ing a way through an apparent blockage.
In retrospect, 12 'l!i'a4!? @b8 13 l:!:dl
might be a better way for White to han-
dle things. Certainly, if Black could park
his bishop on c5 before continuing with
his attack, then White's queen might
just look silly. However, the d4-pawn
would be attacked and it is worth ob-
serving 13 ... 'Llf5 14 e4!. Nevertheless,
with White's lack of queenside devel-
41
 I Queen , s Garn b it Declined

"'"d3 li:lh6 .
12... li:)96 13 ..hreatenmg
. an)thing JUSt
Though not t ertainly start-
vet the black knights
. are c
, , to Ioo k menacing.
ing
14
e3 'l/Ng4! down, things
u a .pawn fall I
After 21 'Llxf3
2 'Llh4 and 22... xg
~
'liV f3+ 22 "'g
,.,-, 1, both
3 force mate.
Although St! into P ace 2 players b eware!
are very, much starung to White
nicely for Black.
15 exd4 li:lf5 Game 17
Chatalbashev- J~7 Turner
, /, r h ?,! Pardubice 19

two pawns. but Black's

. .
Yes,' it's
. now attract1ve
. . There is ser1-
. . n is, very d4 and h4 .
pos1t10

16
oos P"""" " . . Whi<s, ofoios op
~g5
""hite h1s. gueens1de ld mam line.
\\ ou tstarts
:-iiecc~ ' but
h's bishop
WI thout t 1
to get th~::=~h:e-~T~h~eo_ _ _ _ _ _ _ __

the usual ... 'lii'd7 (and hence ... .il.h3), the
bishop stops off at a sguare where it
pressurises through to the e2-pawn. A
simple idea of ... .il.xf3 (to regain the eS-
pawn) does enter into the equation and
the pawn push ... d4-d3 in some circum-
stances may lead to White's knight be-
ing awkwardly pinned.
6 il.g2 'l!i'd7 7 a3 0-0-0
7 ... aS 8 0-0 hS is a cheeky way to play
that might be worth a punt in a blitz
game!
8 0-0
Though I suppose there is no com-
pulsion to castle, White must be espe-
cially wary of a central breakthrough if
he leaves his king in the middle. Indeed,
both 8 'lii'a4 and 8 li:lbd2 could be inter-
estingly met by 8 ... d3. The forthcoming
bishop for knight trade (now in the off-
ing as the b7-pawn doesn't hang) would
look better after, say, 8 b4.
8 ... il.xf3
It is obviously a bit of a blow to this
whole ... .il.g4 system for Black if (as our
main game seems to suggest) he isn't in
general threatening ... .il.xf3. However,
a2-a3 by White isn't that scary and so
here there are possible alternatives for
Black.
Just as in our last game, 8 ... .il.h3 is
obviously a consideration and it looks
as though Black also has time for
8... li:lge7 9 b4 lug6, e.g. 10 .il.b2 .il.xf3
(or 10. .. lugxeS) 11 .il.xf3 (11 exf3
11:lgxeS 12 'lii'b3 is probably a better rec-
ommendation but it looks like a slightly
inferior version of our main game)
1 L.lucxeS 12 .il.g2 luxc4 with essen-
tially a pawn advantage, Jovanovic-Fry,
Mingara 2000.
9 exf3!
The Albin: The Main Line - 5 g3
Deliberately doubling the pawns and
gifting Black a passed pawn in the cen-
tre. However, there is method in
White's madness. He is eager to pre-
serve his bishop and doesn't want to
expend another tempo moving it. In-
stead, 9 .il.xf3 11:lxeS 10 .il.g2 li:lxc4
doesn't give much for White's pawn as
there is no tactic on b 7 and, of course,
the black gueen covers the a4-sguare.
9 .. .li:lxe5 10 li:ld2 h5
A logical move although, without a
light-squared bishop to challenge
White's, it is unlikely that his offensive
will be successful. As an alternative,
10 ... li:ld3 11 f4 luxe] 12 l:l:xcl would
eliminate one of White's potentially
powerful bishop pair, but opposite col-
oured bishops favour the attacker and I
suspect White would be the one engag-
ing in most of the offensive manoeu-
vres.
11 f4 li:lc6
This time 11 ... iud3? walks into 12
'lii'f3! (this is even stronger than 12
.il.xb7+) 12... lucS 13 b4.
12 b4
Preparing to remove the flimsy cover
the knight offers. The unchallenged g2-
b 7 diagonal is a trump card for White.
43
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

12 ... h4 13 li:lb3 hxg3 14 hxg3

Correctly recapturing towards the Game 18

centre. As White doesn't intend parting Van der Wiel-Tiviakov
company with his light-squared hishop, Groningen 2001
he isn't fretting about any ... 'l!i'h3-h 1
possibilities. 1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 li:lf3
14 ... '*li'f5 15 b5 li:lce7 li:lc6 5 g3 .ltg4 6 .ltg2 '*li'd7 7 0-0
15 ... 'l!i'h7 16 J:1.el 'l!i'h2+ 17 Iii.fl isn't 0-0-0 8 li:lbd2 h5
even a nunor mconvemence.
16 l:l.e 1 li:lf6 17 li:lxd4
Another reason for budging the c6-
knight. This appears to walk into a self-
pin but White has everything under
control.
17 ... '*li'c5 18 .lte3 li:lf5
Black's position is desperate. With his
choice he now loses by force but you
can't blame him for not fancying
18 ... 'l!i'xc4 19 l:1.cl 'l!i'a2. Indeed, both 20
'l!i'a4 and 20 b6 look horrendous.
19 '*li'f3 A quick queensi<le expansion by
19 ~xb7+ 'iii'xb7 20 'l!i'f3+ Iii.cs 21 White is the theme of this game and so
li:le6! was also crushing but it is fitting the 8 ... li:lge7 9 b4 d3 10 bS dxe2 11
that White retains his light-squared 'l!i'xe2 li:ld4 12 'l!i'e4 ~fS 13 'l!i'xd4
bishop to the end. 'l!i'xd4 14 li:lxd4 l:1.xd4 JS li:lb3 l:1.xc4 16
19 .. .J:hd4 20 '*li'xb7+ l!.>d7 21 .ltxd4 ~xb7+ 'iii'xb7 17 li:laS+ Iii.cs 18 li:lxc4
li:lxd4 22 l:l.ad1 '*li'xc4 23 .ltc6+ 1-0 ~d3 19 li:le3 li:\g6 20 ~b2 ~xbS 21
The king must advance further up J:1.fcl 'ii.b 7 22 ~d4 ~d3 23 l:1.c3 ~e4 24
the board and then the pinned knight l:1.ac 1 cS 25 J:1.b3+ Iii.as 26 f4 ~e 7 27
drops. ~xcS 1-0 of Van der Marel-Scheffer,

44

Groningen 2001 is of interest. If White
is happy to bash out b2-b4 without a2-
a3 when the f8-bishop is not obscured,
it follows that it will be a more serious
consideration with a knight on e7.
9 b4!?
To me this sort of move is much
more to the point than the slower a2-a3
and b2-b4. It is, of course, a sacrifice
but Black knows that in accepting it he
is creating a half open b-file towards his
own king. Along similar lines is 9 h4
tfJge7 10 b4! tfJg6 11 bS tfJcxeS 12 'i'a4
@b8 13 tfJb3 tfJxf3+ 14 exf3 .i.h3 15
tfJxd4 .i.cS (mate is forced after
15 ... .i.xg2 16 tfJc6+ bxc6 17 bxc6 'i'c8
18 .i.e3) 16 tfJb3 .i.xg2 17 Wxg2 .i.e7
18 .i.e3 b6 19 tfJd4 tfJeS 20 f4 .i.cS 21
fxe5 .i.xd4 22 l:!adl 'i'fS 23 .i.xd4
'i'e4+ 24 f3 'i'e2+ 25 l:!f2 1-0 Van der
Marel-Clemens, Groningen 2001. I
guess Black should investigate the likes
of 9 ... 'i'fS or 9 ... f6 instead. It still feels
better for White, though.
9 ... 1Zlxb4 10 a3 1Zla6
It's only natural for Black to want to
relocate the knight on cS rather than
return it to c6, where he will be hit by
the dangerous moves l:!b 1 and 'i' a4.
11 1Zlb3
The Albin: The Main Line - 5 g3
Attacking Black's cl-pawn while si-
multaneously covering the cS-sguare
and freeing the cl -bishop.
11 ... d3 12 il.e3 1Zle7 13 1Zla5!?
Pinpointing b7 as a target.
13 ... b6 14 e6 'i!i'd6
14... 'i'xe6 might put up a sterner de-
fence but after 15 tfJgS the same ideas
as in the game are in evidence.
15 'Llg5!!
Showing tremendous vision.
15 ... dxe2 16 'i!i'a4 exf1'ili'+ 17 l:txf1
Black is a rook up with the white
knight hanging on aS too. Nevertheless,
he has some serious problems to deal
with and no solution in sight.
17 ... fxe6
17 ... bxaS 18 'i'bS fxe6 19 .i.b7+Wb8
20 .i.c6+ @c8 21 'i'b 7 mate is another
way that the game might have ended.
181Zlb7! 'i!i'd3 19 'i!i'xa6 1-0
No longer up on pieces, massive ma-
terial loss (or mate) is imminent. A very
1mpress1ve game.
Game 19
Del Rey-Filgueira Fernandez
Corunha 2000
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 1Zlf3
45
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
li.lc6 5 g3 ~g4 6 ~g2 'l!Hd7 7 0-0
0-0-0 8 'l!Hb3!
It may look like an attractive square
but after 8 'li'a4 'i!.b8, the white queen is
a little vulnerable to tricks involving
...12:lxe5. Indeed, 9 l::!.d 1 ..txf3 10 ..txf3
12:lxe5 11 'i!Vxd7 12:lxf3+ 12 exf3 (12 'i!.g2
it:lh4+ 13 'i!.h3 l::!.xd7 14 @xh4 keeps
White's pawn structure in order but
with all his pieces on the back rank, I'm
not sure how enthusiastic he would be
about having such an adventurous
king') l 2... l::!.xd7 leaves Black half a
pawn up. One possibility, though, that
has just occurred to me is after 8 'ii a4
'i!.b8 to retreat the queen to b3. Then it
is, of course, debatable as to who will
have gained in comparison to our main
game. Generally the king is better off
tucked 'away' on b8 but, on the other
hand, tactics revolving around the b 7-
sguare could be even more devastating.
8 ... li.lge7
Regarding 8 ... 'li'f5, read the com-
ments to Black's next move for an ex-
planation but also observe that 9 l:tdl
..txf3?! 10 ..txf3 h5 is not of theoretical
importance as White was even clearly
better after 11 h4 it:lh6 12 ..tg5 f6 13
cx:"6 ,:xf6 1~ ~xh6 l:i.xh6 15 'li'bS 'li'xb5
16 cxb5 12:le5 17 ..te4, Galianina Ryja-
nova-Chetverik, Zvolen 2000.
A major point behind 8 'li'b3! is high-
lighted after 8.....th3'! 9 e6!
9... ..txe6 (as previously explained, a
forced response) 10 12:le5. The knight is
immune to capture because of the mate
on b7 and 10 ... 'li'd6 11 12:lxc6 bxc6 12
'li'a4 @d7 (or 12 ... @b7 13 'li'b5+ @c8
14 ..txc6) 13 ..tf4 'li'c5 14 it:ld2 ..td6 15
..txd6 cxd6 16 b4 'li'b6 17 c5 dxcS 18
bxc5 'li'c7 19 it:lf3 1-0 Ovsejevitsch-
Afifi, Cairo 1998 is just one of many
victories that White has achieved after
Black has fallen into this trap.
Similarly, 8 ... h5 9 h4 ..th3?! comes a
cropper after 10 e6!, for example
10 ... ..txe6 11 12:leS 'li'd6 12 12:lxc6 bxc6
13 'li'a4 'li'c5 14 b3 Wb7 15 it:ld2 'l!Vb6
16 b4 'li'a6 17 'li'c2 'i!.c8 18 l::!.bl g5 19
hxg5 h4 20 g4 h3 21 ..tf3 d3 22 exd3
l:i.h4 23 12:le4 ..txg4 24 'Ii' e2 ..te6 25
..te3 ..td6 26 a4 fS 27 12:lxd6+ cxd6 28
bS 'Ii' aS 29 ..td2 1-0 Savchenko-
Kotsuba, Alushta 1994.
9 l:td1
It may seem a little annoying to block
the b2-pawn, but vacating the dl-square
paves the way for the text move, which
not only pressurises Black's d4-pawn

but indeed threatens to capture it (i.e.
because of'lii'xb7 mate!).
9 ... Sl.xf3
In the 5... ~g4 line this simplifying
move will always be on Black's mind.
The question he will always ask himself
is whether he can afford to offer White
domination of the g2-b 7 diagonal in
exchange for the return of material
equilibrium. If Black is not interested in
this then 9 ... 'lii'f5!? (played this turn or
last) avoids an immediate trick on d4,
although Black must be prepared for
further ganging up: 10 12:la3 12:lg6 11
12:lc2 and now:
a) l 1...~xf3 12 exf3 12:lgxeS 13 f4
12:laS 14 'lii'a4 12:lexc4 15 12:lxd4 left
Black's knights awkwardly placed and
15 ... bS 1612:lxfS bxa4 17 l:!.xd8+ led to a
superior endgame in Roder-Hubert,
Germany 2000.
b) Playing it cool with 11...~cS keeps
the game very much alive. Certainly the
tactic 12 it:lfxd4 ~xd4 13 12:lxd4 l:Ixd4
14 l:Ixd4 12:lxd4 15 'lii'xb 7+ @d8 is in-
conclusive and although 12 12:lce 1 has
scored well for White, for example
12 ... .lil.b6 13 it:ld3 .lil.xf3 14 ~xf312:lcxe5
15 .lil.g2 l:!.he8 16 l:Ifl c6 17 a4 12:lxd3 18
exd3 12:leS 19 a5 .lil.c5 20 a6 b6 21 .lil.e4
The Albin: The Main Line - 5 g3
it:lf3+?? 22 @g2 12:lh4+ 23 gxh4 'lii'g4+
24 @hl .lil.d6 25 f4' f5 26 .lil.f3 1-0
(Budnikov-Meszaros, Lenk 1993), I'm
not convinced things are that bad for
Black as there is more to the position
than White's light-squared bishop.
Finally, there is another point behind
l:!.dl. Now 9 ... .lil.h3 (with Black very
eager to relieve the pressure on the g2-
b 7 diagonal) can simply be met by 10
.lil.hl!. This maintains the 12:lxd4 threat
and after 10... 'lii'fS (creating an escape
square for his king), the awkwardness of
Black's own bishop was well exploited:
11 12:lg5! 12:lg6 12 .lil.e4 'lii'd7 13 12:lxh3
'lii'xh3 14 'lii'f3 12:lge7 15 .Iii.gs 12:lxe5 16
.lil.xb7+@d7 17 'lii'e4 f6 18 'lii'xd4+@e6
19 'lii'xd8 12:lg4 20 .lil.c8+ 1-0 lppolito-
Reprintsev, New York 1997.
10 'lii'xf3
Yet another benefit of 8 'lii'b3!. The
queen obviously protected the knight
and offered this preferred recapture.
With the queen and bishop aligned on
the critical diagonal, the c6-knight is
unable to move to anywhere of interest.
1O.. .li:lg6
Hitting the e5-pawn and allowing the
queen to protect the currently attacked
f7-pawn.
11 SI. f4 Sl.e 7 12 li:lc3!
Yes, you've guessed it; another plus
point of employing the 'lii'b3 and l:!.dl
pairing. The cl-pawn is pinned to the
queen and the white knight is headed
for the fine d5-square.
12 ... a6 13 li:ld5 li:lf8
13 ... li:lgxe5 14 .lil.xe5 fi:lxe5 1512:lxe7+
'lii'xe716 'lii'xb7+@d7 17 l:!.xd4+doesn't
bear thinking about, although Black is
visibly struggling anyway.
14 b4!
47
 Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

Though this game suggests that White

needn't worry about this just now, it
certainly could be a future issue and the
previously seen deployment of the
queen on b3 might not look so attrac-
tive now.

Putting the boot in. Not that Black

would want it, but this pawn is out of
bounds because of the veiled threat on
b 7. Meanwhile, the c6-knight is about to
be prised away from a vital defensive
role.
14 ... 1Zle6 15 b5 axb5 16 cxb5 tzla5
6 il.g2
17 1Zlxe7+ 'W/xe7 18 il.d2 I won't award this with an '!', simply
because the shortly considered alterna-
The simplest way to win. The offside
tives look equally good. If White can get
knight guards b 7 but it is lacking sup-
port itself. away with this, though, it can't be
18 ... 1Zlg5 wrong to play a move that he is most
The last try. There is no need for 19
likely to play at some point anyway.
il.xgS. 6 ... il.xc4
19'Wif5+ 1-0 Not exactly what was in mind when
,.....----------------,, the 'gambit' was invented. Still, in a
Game20 radical change of plan and an ideal
Yermolinsky-Reprintsev world, Black could stand better as
Philadelphia 1995 White has doubled pawns. The reality is,
.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ of course, that things aren't that simple.
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 1Zlf3 Practical results basically indicate that
1Zlc6 5 g3 il.e6 taking the pawn right now isn't a good
Failing to achieve much on g4 (partly idea (though it doesn't actually look that
because it soon became clear that dreadful, statistics hugely favour White) .
... il.xf3 was rarely promising), the trend Hence he should probably just continue
in Albin players switched to the text as usual for the time being (e.g.
move. Placed here, Black still has in 6... 'li'd7). Although one advantage of
mind a possible ... 'li'd7 and ... il.h3 ma- 5... il.e6 is that it might dissuade 'li'b3 (in
noeuYre but in the interim Black makes view say of a later .. .li:laS), this move
\\.!lin: think about his en prise c-pawn. can't be ruled out. Indeed, a nifty trick

worth noting occurs after 6 ... f6 7 0-0
fxe5 8 'lil'b3!. Often b-pawns are poi-
soned but here 8 ... 'lil' d7' fails to 9 'lil' xb 7
l:tb8 10 lt:lxeS! l:txb 7 11 ..ltxc6.
7 it:lbd2
Immediately developing a piece at the
expense of the attacked bishop. In fact,
though netting a pawn, Black's decision
to capture on c4 has receives scant long
term reward. Other successful continua-
tions include:
a) 7 0-0 d3 (or 7 ... lt:lge7 8 it:la3 ..ia6 9
b4!? lt:lxb4 10 it:lxd4 it:led5 11 e6 f6 12
'lil'b3 c6 13 l:tdl 'lil'b6 14 e4 ..icS lS it:lfS
..ixf2+ 16 ~hl 0-0-0 17 exd5 it:lxd5 18
..ixdS ..ie2 19 ..\tf4 'lil'xb3 20 lt:le7 mate,
Matthiesen-] ensen Copenhagen 1999) 8
exd3 'lil'xd3 9 lt:lc3 ..ltb4 10 'lil'a4 ..ltxc3
11 bxc3 ..ibS 12 'lil'g4 'lil'g6 13 'lil'xg6
hxg6 14 l:tel 0-0-0 15 ..if4 lt:lge7 16
it:lgS ..ltc4 17 e6 ..ltxe6 18 lt:lxe6 fxe6 19
l:i.xe6 and the two bishops ultimately
win the day, Norri-Laine, Helsinki 1997.
b) 7 'lil'a4 'lil'dS 8 0-0 ..ibS 9 'lil'dl
0-0-0? 10 it:lgS! d3 11 e4 'lil'xe5 12 i2lxf7
with large material gain, Baginskaite-
Sagalchik, Seattle 2000.
7 ... ,ld5 8 0-0 ,lc5 9 a3
9 ... a5
I'm sure Black would prefer to give
The Albin: The Main Line - 5 g3
preference to developing but without
the text, he would have to contend with
b2-b4 (and perhaps bS), as well as ..ib2,
further pressurising the d4-pawn.
10 'llkc2 'l/ke7
I'm not sure that 1O... ..ib6 11 lt:lc4 or
10 ... ..ia7 11 l:tdl exactly constitutes an
improvement, but I'm sure the g8-
knight would have been grateful to have
been left the use of e7-square.
11 11:ib3 ,lb6 12 11:ibxd4! 11:ixd4 13
11:ixd4
In case you were wondering, the d4-
knight is indirectly protected by a queen
check on a4 .
13 ... ,lxg2 14 l!txg2 'l/kxe5 15 11:if3
Black has a queenside pawn majority
but White's lead in development is of
more relevance.
15 ... 'l/ke7 16 'llka4+ c6 17 'ilkb3 ,la7
18 ,lg5!
18 ... 11:if6
This allows White a very simple con-
tinuation but a close inspection reveals a
lack of viable alternatives. Black had to
keep the b 7 -pawn guarded and, not
wanting to play ... f7-f6, after 18 ... 'lil'c7
19 'lil'c3! would have forced just that.
19 ,lxf6 gxf6 20 :!i:fd 1 0-0 21 e3
The black bishop is blunted and there
49
 Unusual Queen's Gamba Dec/;ned

are no prizes for guessing which square
the white knight intends taking up as
residence.
21 ... l:l:fdS 22 l:l.ac1 J:l:xd1 23 l:l.xd1
b5 24 'l/!'c2 l:l:c8 25 li:lh4!
might be deemed as unnecessary. How-
ever, although I would find, say, 6 b3 a
little less ambitious, a move such as the
text has its plus points (other than just
mere defensive duties).

25 ... 'l/!'e6 6 ... 'll!'d7

Inevitably forced although now there 6 ... .lfl.b4+ 7 .lfl.d2 .lfl.xd2+ 8 Ei:lbxd2
will be no challenging for the cl-file. Ei:lge 7 helps White develop faster: 9
26 li:lt5 .i.b8 .lfl.g2 Ei:lg6 10 0-0 'liVd7 11 Ei:lb3 0-0 12
The threat was 27 J:1.d6 although now J:1.fdl l:1.ad8 13 Ei:lcS 'liVc8 14 'liVb5'
White's rook welcomes a 'swrngrng' Ei:lgxeS 15 Ei:lxeS Ei:lxeS 16 Ei:lxb7 c6 17
possibility. 'liVxeS 'lii'xb7 18 b3 left White a clear
27 J:l:d4 c5 28 'l/!'xc5 pawn up and with a superior position in
The rook had several tempting fourth Bouwmeester-Trauth, Berlin 1980.
rank options and so Black's last move 7 .i.g2 0-0-0
was more of a diversion than a blunder. Automatic, but possibly not the best.
The queen, of course, can't be taken Of the alternatives, 7 ... d3 (hoping to
because of the back rank mate. trap the white king in the centre after 8
28 ... l!lhS 29 'll!'d5 h5? exd3 'lii'xd3) looks the most interesting.
Effectively ending his own suffering! Indeed, although 8 0-0 dxe2 9 J:1.e 1
30 'l/!'t3 1-0 0-0-0 10 Ei:lc3 .lfl.b4 has seen results that
, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -.. favour White, it doesn't look like the
Game 21 end of the world for Black, e.g. 11 .lfl.gS
Mittelman-Harari f6 12 exf6 gxf6 13 .lfl.e3 .lfl.xc4 14 .lfl.xa 7
Hampstead 1998 .lfl.xc3 (perhaps 14... .lfl.a6 immediately is
' - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - more accurate; however, Black appears
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 11:if3 to make a few inaccuracies in the fol-
li:lc6 5 g3 .i.e6 6 'l/!'a4 lowing game and still doesn't lose) 15
Bearing in mind the last game, any at- bxc3 .lfl.a6 16 .lfl.e3 Ei:leS?!. Inexplicably
tempt to protect the c4-pawn now eschewing 16 ... Ei:lge7, Black was worse

50

throughout but went on to draw in Mu-
hammad-Weaver, Chicago 1990.
Regarding an attempt to solve king-
side development, the bishop never
looks comfortably settled on the far side
of the b6-f2 diagonal and indeed
7 ... -ltcS 8 0-0 luge7 9 a3 lug6 10 b4 saw
it forced back: 10... .\te 7 11 .ltb2 0-0 12
lubd2 a6 13 l:!.fdl l:!.fd8 14 'ltc2 .lth3
15 .ltxh3 'ltxh3 16 'lte4 fS 17 exf6
.ltxf6 18 lub3 was even better for
White than his extra pawn suggested
(Yakovich-Grigorian, Yerevan 1996).
7 ... luge7 8 0-0 lug6 makes more
sense but after 9 l:!.dl, again the prob-
lem for Black is his d4-pawn. In view of
the tactical drawbacks of 9 ... 0-0-0, Black
has tried 9 ... l:Id8 (either the b- or d-
pawn drops after 9 ... lucxeS 10 'ltxd7+
.ltxd7 11 luxeS luxeS) but in practice
both 10 .ltgS and 10 luc3 have turned
out better for White.
8 0-0 lilb8
A typical continuation with both
queens on the a4-d7 diagonal. Black
protects the a7-pawn and offers the
chance to move his c6-knight. Life
without this move can be rough and a
familiar theme returns after 8 ... .\th3, i.e.
9 e6 .ltxe6 10 12le5 luxeS 11 'ltxa 7.
The Albin: The Main Line - 5 g3
However, although the queen and
bishop look menacing and the black
king is right to feel nervous, I certainly
wouldn't call it a winning combination.
The position is quite unclear, suggesting
that 9 e6 may not be best. The con-
tinuation 11...'ltd6 12 'ltxb7+ ~d7 13
f4 12lg4 14 b3 fS 15 'ltbS+ c6 16 'ltb7+
~e8 17 cS 'lte7 18 .ltxc6+ .ltd7 19 b4
lu8f6 20 .\tf3 12le3 21 .ltxe3 'ltxe3+ 22
~hl hS 23 a4 h4 24 l:!.a3 'lte6 25 l:Igl
hxg3 26 l:Ixg3 lug4 27 l:!.g2 lue3 28 l:IgS
.lte 7 29 J:!.hS l:!.xhS 30 .ltxhS+ g6 31
.ltf3 'ii'c4 0-1 Schlechter-Mieses, Paris
1900 is the only practical encounter
with it that I can find. Amazingly, as
this line looks very important, could it
really be that there hasn't been a more
vital game in this 6 'ii' a4 line in the 101
years since this game was played?
9 li:lbd2 li:lxe5 10 'iil'b3!
The most testing. Instead 10 'ii'xd7
luxf3+ 11 12lxf3 l:!.xd7 12 lueS J:!.dS is
very playable for Black.
10 ... li:lxf3+ 11 li:lxf3 1!\Vc8
The alarm bells were no doubt ring-
ing about b 7 and that was perfectly jus-
tified in view of the threatened bishop-
uncovering knight moves.
12 ll:d1 ~c5
5,
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
The bishop never gets comfortable
on this sguare but something had to be
done about the d4-pawn. Alas, 12 ... cS
13 il.f4+ @a8 (or 13 ... il.d6 14 li:lxd4'
cxd4 15 l:!:xd4 which wins as the black
gueen is overworked after 15 ... il.xf4 16
l:!:xd8) 14 li:lgS would involve losing the
key bishop for a knight.
13 'lll'b5! ~b6 14 c5 a6
Buying the bishop a retreat sguare
but all holes created in the pawn struc-
ture around the black king are undesir-
able.
15 'l!l'b4 a5 16 'lll'a3 ~a7 17 li:lxd4
Suddenly the position is a nightmare
for Black. He's already a pawn down,
the one on aS looks set to drop and, on
top of all that, White has the better
pieces too.
17 ... li:le7 18 ~g5 f6 19 ~f4 g5 20
~xc7+!
A neat tactic to effectively end things.
As the gueen must guard the light-
sguared bishop, Black's selected recap-
ture is forced.
20 ... ~xc7 21 li:lxe6+ 'l!l'xe6 22
'lll'xa5+ ~b8
It was either the bishop or the rook
and Black is about to resign in any case.
23 J:txd8 + 1-0
52
Game22
M .Uiffler-M .Schmid
Basie 2001
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 li:lf3
li:lc6 5 g3 ~e6 6 li:lbd2
Though I reiterate my conclusion
that White probably doesn't have to
protect his c-pawn at this juncture, the
text remains a very flexible move. Al-
though the cl -bishop has been tempo-
rarily obstructed, from now on White
can consider a b2-b4 lunge safe in the
knowledge that his al-rook isn't far off
some action. This game also shows why
it is possible for White to delay castling
in favour of piece deployment on the
queenside.
6 ... 'l!l'd7 7 ~g2 ~h3
It is very difficult to draw conclu-
sions about when this is or isn't the cor-
rect way forward for Black. It's simply
one way! The outcome here is different
from in most situations and although
the main game is instructive, for com-
pletion alternatives need to be studied:
a) Though it usefully controls the g5-
sguare, 7 ... il.e7 feels a little slow but it is
always worthwhile studying encounters

involving strong players: 8 'l!i'a4 hS 9
iub3 .!:I.dB 10 0-0 h4 11 .il.f4 hxg3 12
fxg3 .il.h3 13 .il.xh3 .l:l.xh3 14 .!:I.ad 1 iuh6
15 lubxd4 luxd4 16 'l!i'xd7+ .l:l.xd7 17
luxd4 12\g4 18 12\f3 gS 19 .l:l.xd7 Wxd7
20 .l:l.dl+ We8 21 .il.xgS .il.xgS 22 12\xgS
.l:l.h6 23 iuf3 .l:l.a6 24 a3 .l:l.a4 25 .!:I.cl
lue3 26 12\d2 lbg4 27 e6 fxe6 28 .l:l.c3
@e7 29 h3 12\es 30 Wf2 b6 31 iuf3
luxc4 32 b3 iud6 33 .l:l.xc7+ Wd8 34
.l:l.c6 1-0 Tiviakov-Brenninkmeijer,
Groningen 2001.
The comparatively quiet approach of
7 ... luge7 8 0-0 lug6 is possible but 9
'l!i'a4 .il.e7 10 .l:l.dl 0-0 11 lbe4 .l:l.ad8 (as
in Roselli Mailhe-C.Zimmerman, Mon-
tevideo 2000) left Black still to do a lot
of work in order to successfully regain
his pawn.
I can recall as a junior believing that
critical was the assessment of a position
reached after the likes of 7 ... 0-0-0 8 0-0
(not actually forced as White could in-
stead play as in our main game) 8 ... hS 9
b4!? .il.xb4 10 'l!i' a4 h4 11 .l:l.b 1 hxg3 12
fxg3 .il.h3 13 .l:l.xb4 luxb4 14 'lli'xb4
.il.xg2 15 Wxg2.
White has two pieces for the rook
and so you would have to favour him.
However, Black has a far more solid
The Albin: The Main Line - 5 g3
pawn structure and the following dem-
onstrates why his chances are not to be
under-estimated: 15 ... lue7 16 lue4 luc6
17 'l!i'cS d3 18 e3?! 'l!i'g419 lt:if2 'l!i'hS 20
.il.d2 gS 21 .il.c3 d2 22 .!:I.bl dliV 23
12\xdl "l!Vh3+ 24 Wgl iVfS 25 "l!VbS
"l!Vxf3 26 "l!Vxb 7+ Wd7 27 12\f2 .l:l.bS
(though you can't argue with that,
27 ... .l:l.xh2! would have been a more
emphatic finish, particularly if followed
by 28 Wxh2 "l!Vxf2+ 29 Wh3 .l:l.h8+ 30
@g4 "l!Ve2+ 31 WfS iVf3+ 32 WxgS .l:l.hS
mate) 28 .l:l.dl+ "l!Vxdl+ 29 12\xdl .l:l.xb7
30 e6+ Wxe6 31 .il.xh8 .l:l.b 1 0-1 Shep-
herd-Sedgwick, Port Erin 2000.
8 .il.xh3!?
White accepts that he won't be cas-
tling in the near future and intends get-
ting straight on with things on the
queenside.
8 ... '1Wxh3 9 '1Wa4
Not that it would be that great any-
way, but there isn't a lbgS and eS-
protecting f2-f4 sequence this time as
the black queen can slip into g2. How-
ever, in another situation the king's
rook could easily be offered as bait, e.g.
9 a3 luh6 10 "l!Vc2 lug4 11 "l!Ve4 Sl.e7 12
b4 0-0 13 b5 'l!i'g2 14 "l!Vxg4 "l!Vxhl+ 15
12\fl with excellent compensation for
53
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

the exchange.
9 ... 0-0-0 10 l:!:b1
The immediate 10 h4 il.xh4 11 l:!:bl
should also be a consideration although
no doubt White was more than satisfied
with how the game turned out.
10 ... d3

Game23
Postny-D.Schneider
World Junior Ch., Athens 2001

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 li:lf3
li:lc6 5 g3 ~e6 6 li:lbd2 ~b4
11 b4 dxe2 12 li.>xe2
So the white king has decided to re-
main in the centre, where it anticipates
being safer than its enemy number.
12 .. :lli'f5 13 l:!:b3!
Correctly employing the rook to
patch up the hole on d3.
13 ... '1Wg4 14 h3 l:!:xd2+
Black takes this opportunity to make
a go of things. Instead 14... '1We6 15 il.b2
would, with b4-b5 next on the agenda,
give White an easy ride.
15 ~xd2 '1Wxc4+ 16 ll:d3 Introducing a new idea. The text,
Alas, White is quite compact and has which in pinning the d2-knight coinci-
reasonable co-ordination, whereas Black dentally threatens 7 ... il.xc4, means that
still has most of his army at home. only one king's knight move is required
16 ... li:lh6 17 l:!:c1'lli'e618 '1Wc2 if (as in the game) Black desires castling
kingside.
see following diagram
If 6 ... li:lge7 7 il.g2 then 7 ... li:lg6 has
Homing in on c7. The knight is to be played to free the bishop. Okay,
pinned, making 19 bS a serious threat. the eS-pawn is hit but we've seen this
18 ... ~d6 19 l:!:xd6! cxd6 20 b5 li:lf5 sort of thing before. After 8 0-0 il.e 7 9
21 bxc6 l:!:eB 22 cxb7+ 1-0 '1Wa4 0-0 10 J:!:dl, Black's d-pawn was

54

equally a target and 10 ... 'l!VcS 11 li'lb3
.il.h3 12 li'lbxd4 should have offered
Black nothing m Blokland-Rellum,
Groningen 2001 (although he did even-
tually win').
A rather cheeky alternative is 6 ... gS.
We have seen before how this move
ultimately pressurises the eS-pawn more
but when White is not committed to
castling, much of the sting is removed.
It is handled well by 7 h3! h6 8 a3 'llV d7
9 b4 0-0-0 10 bS!, e.g. 10...12:laS 11 'l!Va4
b6 12 .il.g2 cS 13 bxc6 'l!Vxc6 14 'l!Vxc6+
li'lxc6 15 li'lxgS hxgS 16 .il.xc6 l:i:xh3 17
l:i:xh3 .il.xh3 18 li'lf3 12:le 7 19 .il.e4 .il.e6
20 .il.xgS .ltxc4 21 l:i:cl bS 22 li'ld2 @b8
23 li'lxc4 1-0 A.Hoffman-Da Silva, Bra-
silia 2001.
7 1ll'c2
The queen is reasonably placed here
but I do wonder whether, just as in
Game 20, a candidate (i.e. with a similar
concept) might be 7 .ltg2, allowing
Black to regain his pawn.
7 . ..fi:Jge7 8 a3
Compare the main game with the fol-
lowing encounter: 8 .ltg2 .il.fS 9 'l!Va4 d3
10 e3 .il.e4 11 0-0 .ltxd2 12 .il.xd2 0-0
13 .il.c3 li'lg6 14 l:i:ad 1 'llVe 7 15 12:le 1
.ltxg2 16 @xg2 12:lcxeS (note that the
d3-pawn is currently indirectly pro-
tected by a future queen check on e4)
17 'l!Vb3 l:i:fd8 18 h3 b6 19 @gJ) 'l!Ve6
20 @g2 li'lxc4 21 @gl 'l!Ve4 22 .ltd4 d2
23 li'lg2 12:lceS 24 .ltc3 12:lf3+ 25 @h 1 cS
26 'liVbS c4 27 'liVhS fS 28 l:i:a 1 l:i:dS 29
g4 f4 30 'l!VxdS+ 'l!VxdS 31 exf4 li'le1 32
l:i:axel dxel'l!V 33 l:i:xel li'lxf4 34 l:i:gl
'liVf3 0-1 Burtman-0.Sagalchik, Seattle
2000. Clearly there is a fine line between
the black pawn on d3 being a strength
or a weakness.
The Albin: The Main Line - 5 g3
8 ... Jl.f5 9 1ll'a4 Jl.xd2+ 10 Jl.xd2 0-0
11 Jl.g2 d3 12 e3
White must allow this pawn on d3 if
he wants to get castled. Regarding my
previous comments, now the debate
starts.
12 .. .12196 13 0-0 Jl.e4 14 Jl.c3
14 ... .1:teS
This move, hitting the eS-pawn, is
self-explanatory, but it might be possi-
ble to delete it in favour of 14... 'l!Vd7 or
14... 'l!VcS!). Then a rook can come to d8
whilst her majesty has some interesting
options on the c8-h3 diagonal.
15 J:tad 1 1ll'd7 16 .l:td2
White does the obvious thing in
ganging up on the d3-pawn but Black is
preparing some tricks.
16 ... .1:tadS 17 1il'd 1
As is a common occurrence with the
two queens on the a4-d7 diagonal, a
standard theme could be brought into
action with 17 l:i:fdl .ltxf3 18 .il.xf3
12:lcxeS 19 'l!Vxd7 li'lxf3+. Funnilr
enough, after 20 @g2 it might all back-
fire anyhow, e.g. 20 ... li'lfh4+ 21 gxh4
l:i:xd7 22 hS. Thus it couldn't be rec-
ommended to Black just now, Ho\\-
ever, it will remain a tactic for the furun:
and so White plays it safe.
55
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
17 ... .tf5 18 li:ld4 li:lgxe5 19 li:lxf5
"iii'xf5 20 b3
We've reached another interesting
position to discuss. Much of the tension
has been removed and it's a case of two
bishops versus two knights. As Black
has his pieces reasonably well placed
but White still covers his holes, you'd
have to say that the first player has
more potential. This statement is justi-
fied by the progression of this game.
20 ... a5 21 e4!
Black was angling for ... a5-a4, but this
becomes irrelevant as White correctly
judges that now is a good time for ex-
panding on the kingside.
21 ... "iii'd7 22 f4 li:lg4 23 "iii'f3
Of course White must still be careful.
23 l:l.e 1, similarly covering the e3-
square, was also acceptable.
23 ... f5 24 e5 "iii'e7 25 h3 "iii'c5+ 26
ll;>h1 li:le3 27 "iii'f2!
An important defence that White
needed to spot when employing 25 h3.
27 ... "iii'b6 28 J:l:e1 li:lxg2 29 "iii'xb6
cxb6 30 @xg2 li:ld4 31 .txd4 J:l:xd4
32 J:l:e3
As the d3-pawn remains an obvious
target, White clearly has the upper hand
in the double rook ending that has re-
56
suited. In all fairness, though, he doesn't
appear to win it convincingly, which is
perhaps characteristic of the sturdiness
of Black's position throughout.
32 ... J:l:ed8 33 a4 @f7 34 @f2 h5 35
ll;>f3 ll;>e6 36 J:l:e1 96 37 J:l:c1 J:l:8d7
38 J:l:c3 J:l:d8 39 ll;>e3 J:l:e4+ 40 @f2
J:l:ed4 41 @f3 J:l:8d7 42 c5 J:l:c 7 43
J:l:cxd3 bxc5 44 ll;>e3 h4 45 gxh4
J:l:e4+ 46 @f3 J:l:d4 47 J:l:xd4 cxd4
48 J:l:xd4 J:l:c3+ 49 @e2 J:l:xb3 50
J:l:d6+ @f7 51 J:l:f6+ @e8 52 J:l:xg6
l:l:b4 53 h5 J:l:xf4 54 h6 @f7 55
J:l:f6+ ll;>e7 56 h7 J:l:h4 57 l:l:b6 J:l:xh3
58 @f2 @f7 59 J:l:xb7+ @e6 60 @g2
J:l:h5 61 J:l:a7 f4 62 @f3 @f5 63 J:l:g7
J:l:h3+ 64 ll;>g2 J:l:h4 65 J:l:e7 J:l:h5 66
@f3 J:l:h3+ 67 @g2 J:l:h5 68 J:l:a7 J:l:h4
69 J:l:e7 J:l:h5 70 e6 @f6 71 J:l:a7
@xe6 72 @f3 @f6 73 ll;>xf4 ll;>g6 74
J:l:xa5 J:l:h4+ 75 ll;>e5 @xh7 76 J:l:a7+
@g8 77 a5 J:l:h5+ 78 @d6 l:l:f5 79
@e6 J:l:g5 80 J:l:a8+ li.>h7 81 @f6
l:l:b5 82 J:l:a7+ @g8 83 J:l:a8+ @h7
84 J:l:a7+ ll;>g8 85 J:l:g7+ ll;>f8 86
J:l:g5 l:l:b1 87 @e6 J:l:d1 88 J:l:d5 J:l:e1 +
89 @d7 J:l:e7+ 90 ll;>c8 J:l:e6 91 ll;>b7
J:l:e7+ 92 @c6 J:l:e6+ 93 @b5 J:l:e1
94 a6 ll;>e7 95 a7 l:l:b1 + 96 @a6 1-0
Game24
Dinser-Mione
Bratto 1996
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 li:lf3
li:lc6 5 g3 .tf5
The third bishop posting alternative
which, as results would indicate, offers
Black the most chances. The text
doesn't pressurise the f3-knight (as it
does on g4), nor does it threaten
White's c-pawn (as it does on e6). How-

ever, the option remains for ... 'lll'd7 and
... il.h3, whilst controlling the f5-bl her-
alds some bonuses of its own. Witb the
bishop arguably less vulnerable on f5,
White must always beware the possibil-
ity of ...'Llb4 (e.g. after 6 'Llbd2? 'Llb4!).
Black's light-squared bishop has an op-
tion of dropping into e4 and the pawn
push ... d4-d3 is always in the offing too.
6 ~g2 'lll'd7 7 0-0 0-0-0
You may recall the 7 ... il.h3 of Game
16. If in real gambit mode, the immedi-
ate 7... f6 also deserves attention.
8 a3
As with both 5... .l.g4 and 5... .l.e6,
there are a variety of different ap-
proaches that White can take. Relatively
speaking, though, this variation is in its
early stages. Some alternatives seen in
practical play are:
a) 8 'lll'a4 'i!?b8 9 e3 d3 10 'Llc3 ti:ige7
11 e4 il.g4 12 il.e3 ti:ic8 with a tussle
not dissimilar to our last game. Black
can regain the e5-pawn but the debate
in Cabero Valero-Alvarino Cazon, Gi-
jon 2000 was whether the d3-pawn is a
strength or a weakness.
b) 8 'lll'b3 (with familiar ideas, e.g. the
tricks with e5-e6 and Ci:Je5) 8 ... .l.e7 (or
8 ... ti:Ja5 9 'lll'b5 'lll'xb5 10 cxb5 d3 11
The Albin: The Main Line - 5 g3
exd3 il.xd3 12 il.h3+ 'i!?bS 13 l:td 1 with
basically a clear pawn's advantage for
White in C.Bernard-Guilbert, Le T ou-
quet 1996) 9 l:tdl .l.h3 10 'Llc3 (as
we've seen before, this is one of the
benefits associated with l:td 1; another is
10 .l.hl!?) 10... .l.xg2 11 'i!?xg2 h5 12 h4
'lll'g4 13 ti:id5 ti:ih6 14 ti:ixe7+ ti:ixe7 15
'lll'a3 ti:ic6 16 b4 'lll'e4 17 b5 ti:ixe5 18
'lll'xa7 b6 19 il.f4 ti:ihg4 20 c5 bxc5 21
b6 cxb6 22 'lll'xb6 'lll'c6 23 'lll'xc6+ ti:ixc6
24 l:tacl l:td5 25 e4 l:td6 1-0 Yrjola-
Tahkavuori, Jyvaskyla 1993.
c) 8 ti:ibd2 h5 9 h4 ti:Jh6 10 a3 ti:ig4
11 b4 'Llcxe5 12 .l.b2 ti:ixf3+ 13 'Llxf3
c5 14 'lll'b3 '12-'/2 Brenninkmeijer-Van
der Wiel, Groningen 2001.
8 ... f6
Certainly not the first time we've seen
the pawn sacrifice confirmed in this
manner, although this game introduces
some new features. Again 8... .l.h3 is
possible (with White having the option
of returning the pawn for a tempo with
9 e6), whilst 8 ... d3 is another idea avail-
able in the ... il.f5 lines. That said, I pre-
fer White's position after 9 exd3 .l.xd3
10 l:tel il.xc4 11 'lll'a4.
9 exf6 li:lxf6
10 li:lbd2
57
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

I think that I can make the same although h2 is an obvious target.

criticism of this move as I did of it in 17 ... d3 18 e3
the similarly instructive Visser-Van der Black wanted to utilise the d-file to
Laar encounter (Game 9). If you revisit aid in an attack and doesn't intend trad-
that now, you may wonder whether say ing queens. 18 exd3 'i'fS, for example,
10 ..ltgS could have been employed first. looks very powerful but having a pawn
Still, Black certainly appears to have lodged on d3 is also very restrictive for
some play for the pawn. White here.
10 ... ~h3 11 b4 ~xg2 12 lilxg2 18 ... 'l!Vf5 19 ~b2 li:le4!
g5!?
You may wonder what's going on
here; I know I am! Of course the likes
of Fritz want to grab this pawn too but
obviously humans have a tendency to
be a little more cautious.
13b5g4!
Black's point. Now 14 bxc6 'i'xc6
leaves White a little tied up although the
game continuation is no improvement
and turns very sour very quickly!
14 li:lh4 li:le5
The rook on h8 can't be taken be-
cause of the mate on f2.
20 li:lxe4 'l!Vxe4+ 21 lilg1 l:th3 22
~d4 .l:td7
The other rook sets about making its
way to the h-file and you'll soon see the
devastation its arrival brings.
23 J:!:d1 J:l:dh7 24 'l!Vxd3

A far more attractive square for the

knight than a5 (which is where it might
have found itself without g-pawn inter-
ference).
15 'l!Vb3 li:lg6!
Black wants to prise open the h-file
and you'll soon see why.
16 li:lxg6 hxg6 17 l:th 1
To my mind this is slightly premature Apparently falling in with Black's

58
 The Albin: The Main Line - 5 g3

plans, although the fact is that therenow 26 ... l:te3! is very strong) 14 ... 'l!Vg4
isn't even anything resembling an ade-15 .il.xh3 'l!Vxh3 16 'l!Ve4 .il.d6 17 e3 l:td7
guate defence available. 18 'l!Vg2 'l!VhS 19 .il.c3 cS 20 bxc6 12lxc6
24 ... "l!l'xh1 +!! 0-1 21 12l2f3 l:tc8 22 l:tabl '/2-'/2 Jelling-
The two black rooks combine to de- Rewitz Copenhagen 1995.
liver mate on the h-file. b) 8 'l!Vb3 is again a major alternative.
, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . Although it leads to a black win in a
Game25 fairly high level encounter, very uncon-
J. Richardson-Mortensen vincing is 8 ... 0-0-0 9 l:tdl .il.h3 10 .il.hl
Copenhagen 1997 f6 11 exf6 gxf6 12 12lc3 12la5 13 'l!Va4
,__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 'l!Vxa4 1412lxa412lf5 15 b312lc6 1612lb2
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 li:l!3 .il.b4 17 12ld3 .il.c3 18 l:tb 1 .il.g4 19 .il.g2
li:Jc6 5 g3 ~15 6 ~g2 "l!l'd7 7 0-0 12ld6 20 h3 .il.fS 21 i2lh4 .il.e4 22 f3
li:Jge 7 .il.xd3 23 exd3 12lb4 24 a3 12lc2 25 .il.b2
.il.xb2 26 l:txb2 12le3 27 l:tel l:tde8 28
b4 l:te 7 29 l:tbe2 l:the8 30 .il.h 1 c6 31 f4
hS 32 .il.f3 l:tg8 33 li?h2 l:teg7 34 l:tgl?
l:txg3 35 l:teel l:!3g7 36 l:txg7 l:txg7 37
l:tgl l:te7 38 .il.xhS>? (38 l:tg6 leaves
White better) 38 ... l:th 7 39 .il.g4+ fS and
Black won in Ostergaard-S.Hansen,
Copenhagen 1996.
8 .. .li:lcB
White's previous logical gueen de-
ployment offers Black a tempting alter-
native to the usual development for his
This, of course, is neither 7 ... .il.h3 nor knight.
7 ... 0-0-0 - Black tenders one final ap- 9 li:Jbd2 li:Jb6 10 "l!l'd 1 l:dB
proach.
8 "l!l'a4
Read what you will into the results of
the following examples:
a) 8 a3 12lg6 9 b4 l:tdS which, justified
or not (and I suspect the latter), defi-
nitely favours Black: 10 .il.b2 .il.e 7 11
12lbd2 0-0 12 bS 12lcxe5 13 12lxd4 .il.h3
14 'liVc2 (or 14 'l!Vb3 .ii.cs 15 12l2f3
12lxf3+ 1612lxf3 .il.xg2 17 ll?xg2 'l!Vg4 18
li?hl 'l!Ve4 19 l:tael l:tfe8 20 li?gl h6 21
'l!Vc3 f6 22 12ld2 'l!Vg4 23 12lb3 .il.d6 24
f3 'l!Vh3 25 f4 12lxf4! 26 'l!Vf3 {Bekker Essentially this is the new system.
Jensen-Rewitz, Copenhagen 1995} and Black isn't interested in castling lo:;.-.:::

59
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
and has no particular aspirations for a
kingside attack. Instead he bolsters his
d4-pawn and continues his develop-
ment. Whilst trying to restrict the activ-
ity of his opponent's pieces, he hopes to
pick off the eS-pawn later.
11 li:lb3
Upon 11 b3, the immediate 11....i1.b4
suggests itself in order to exploit the
hole created on c3, but 11...d3 12 exd3
.ii.b4!> also looks kind of awkward for
White.
11 ... ~e 7 12 ~g5 0-0
Black plays it safe and correctly
avoids the continuation 12 ... .lil.xgS 13
luxgS luxeS 14 lucS 'fie7 15 luxb7
'fixg5 16 f4!.
13 'l!i'c1 h6 14 ~xe7 'l!i'xe7 15 'l!i't4
~h7 16 l;tac1
After 16 lubxd4 luxd4 17 luxd4,
both 17 ...gS and the immediate
17 ... luxc4 look playable. Hence White
simply defends his c-pawn.
16 ... d3!? 17 exd3
Though often a serious candidate,
here 17 e3 f6! poses the white gueen
some difficult questions.
17 .. .l:l:xd3
White's extra e-pawn is no longer
doubled but there is a space behind his
advanced pawns and Black's pieces are
looking to infiltrate.
18 J:ife1 li:la4 19 J:ie2 li.lc5 20 li:lxc5
'l!i'xc5 21 h4 li:ld8!
In this position, White's minor pieces
have difficulty moving and this excellent
temporary retreat, preparing to relocate
to the fine e6-sguare, is also very annoy-
ing for the white gueen. As he has diffi-
culty doing anything constructive as
things stand, White now offloads his
extra pawn.
60
22 e6 li:lxe6 23 'l!i'e5 J;i.td8 24 'l!i'xc5
li:lxc5
At least White now has the e-file. It's
fair to say that Black has a very slight
edge here. It shouldn't be enough for a
win but there is plenty of play left.
25 J:ie7 J:i3d7 26 J:ixd7 J:ixd7 27
li.le5 Z.e7 28 J:l:d1 ~c2 29 Z.d8+
@h 7 30 li:lf3 a5 31 li.ld4 ~b 1 32 a3
a4 33 li.lb5 ~d3 34 J:id4 c6 35 li.lc3
l;i.e1 + 36 @h2 .1f5 37 ~f3 J:ic1 38
g4 ~e6 39 liilg2 g6 40 h5 liilg7 41
~d1 4.lb3 42 J:id8 li:lc5 43 l:td4 gxh5
44 gxh5 @f6 45 @f3 li:lb3 46 J:if4+
liile5 4 7 J:ie4+ @d6 48 @e3 f5 49
J:ih4 liile5 50 f4+ @f6 51 J:ih1 li.lc5
52 @d2 J:ia1 53 J:ig1 ~f7 54 J:ig2
li.le4+ 55 li:lxe4+ fxe4 56 ~xa4
~xc4 57 J:ig6+ @f5 58 l:txh6 @xf4
59 l:tf6+ @e5 60 ll:f8 J:l:h1 61 @c3
~e6 62 J:l:e8 J:txh5 63 ~c2 ll:h6 64
a4 c5 65 b3 b6 66 .!i.d1 li;/d6 67
@d2 l:th1 68 ~c2 J:ih2+ 69 liilc3
J:ih3+ 70 @d2 e3+ 71 liilc3 l:th2 72
~d3 e2 73 @d2 ~xb3 7 4 J:ib8 liilc 7
75 J:ta8 ~e6 76 a5 bxa5 77 J:txa5
@d6 78 J:ia8 c4 79 ~xe2 ~g4 80
J:ie8 liilc5 81 ll:e7 ll:xe2+ 82 l;txe2
~xe2 83 liilxe2 @b4 84 @d2 @b3
85 @c1 @c3 86 @b1 @d2 0-1
 The Albin: The Main Line - 5 g3

Summary
Though comprising the vast majority of Albin games on the database, it looks to
me as though both 5... .lig4 and 5... .lie6 are in serious danger of being pushed off
the map. Game 16 offers some salvation, although even this came via the compara-
tively new 5... .lif5. The question then is just how sound are Games 24 and 25? Add
these to the possibility of a timely ... 6 pawn sacrifice and the opening could well
have some quite reasonable surprise value.
Not too bad (and certainly exciting) for practical play, but it might be worth black
players adding another queen's pawn defence to the repertoire too!

1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5 3 dxe5 d4 4 li:lf3 li:lc6 5 g3 (D) ~g4

5... .lie6
6 it:lbd2
6... 'lifd7. Game 22
6... .lk.b4 Game 23
6 .lk.g2 Game 20
6 'lifa4 Game 21
s ... .lifs
with ... 6 Game 24
with ... lt:lge7 Game 25
6 ~g2 'l!l'd7 7 0-0 0-00
7... .lk.h3 (D) . Game 16
8 a3
8 it:lbd2 Game 18
8 'lifb3 (D) . Game 19
8 ... ~xf3 9 gxf3 . Game 17

5 g3 8 'l!l'b3

61
 CHAPTER FOUR
I
The Baltic Defence:
The Main Line - 3 cxd5
1 d4 d5 2 c4 j.f5 3 cxd5
Presumably this opening is so called
because many strong Latvian grandmas-
ters have employed it at one stage or
other. I know first hand of one who has
clearly burned the midnight oil regard-
ing home preparation on it. That, how-
ever, will come later as I focus in this
chapter on what I believe to be the
most principled response to the move
2 ... i.fS.
If Black could get by without a sig-
nificant pawn centre, then this tricky
defence would get my vote. The prob-
lem is that I'm not entirely convinced
that it does. It seems as though White
has just as many tricks at his disposal as
his opponent and invariably he can side-
step Black's tactics to enter favourable
endgames.
On the other hand, perhaps I am do-
ing it a disservice as both Alexei Shirov
and Igor Rausis have not only defended
such endgames but also played them
aggressively for the win. Play over the
games in this chapter and then judge for
yourself.
62
Game26
Legky-Brochet
St Quentin 1999
1 d4 d5 2 c4 j.f5
And here we have the 'Baltic De-
fence'. It is probably fair to say that in
the standard Queen's Gambit Declined
(QGD), White generally obtains a slight
edge due to the space advantage af-
forded to him. Specifically, the piece
that causes Black the most difficulty is
his light-sguared bishop. Normally it
gets locked inside a pawn chain but with
this system, it tries to sneak out. Black
will, if allowed, follow up with the likes
of ... e7 -e6 and possibly ... c 7 -c6.
3 cxd5
As you will later discover, there are
lines in which White allows his oppo-
nent to erect a Slav or Semi-Slav style
position with the bishop out on fS, but
in my view more critical are the varia-
tions such as 3 cxdS, in which White
eliminates Black's centre. However, al-
though they may be positionally best,
 The Baltic Defence: The Main Line - 3 cxd5
Black does have certain tactical re-
sources at his disposal.
3 ... .1xb1
Giving up a developed bishop for a
knight like this may seem a bit odd but
it is justified. White winds up a little
light on queenside pieces and Black's
army tends to flood into the game quite
quickly. Anyway, the fact is that this is
the only option now as 3... 'lifxdS? 4
li:lc3 would be ridiculous. 5 e4 would
probably follow next with White having
a dream pawn centre.
4 l:txb1
My original theoretical understanding
of this line was that 4 'lifa4+ was the
only way to test Black. However, whilst
that is covered later, results would indi-
cate that Black does have cause to be
concerned about this simple recapture.
4 ... 'i'xd5 5 a3 li:lc6
6 li:lf3
Or 6 e3 and now:
a) 6... 0-0-0 7 li:le2 offers a reason for
not deploying tbe king's knight so early,
although it is time consuming and Black
cleverly generated some excitement via
7... eS (the early days of a super GM saw
7... li:lf6 8 li:lc3 'lifgS 9 'liff3 'lifg6 10 ~bS
li:ldS 11 l:!:a 1 li:lxc3 12 bxc3 li:laS 13 0-0
eS 14 'lifg3 ~d6 15 'lifxg6 hxg6 16 h3 c5
17 ~b2 gS 18 ~e2 fS 19 l:!:adl c4 20 e4
l:!:he8 21 ~hS l:!:h8 22 ~f7 f4 23 f3
We 7 24 @f2 bS 25 @e2 li:lb3 26 dxeS
~xeS 27 l:!:xd8 l:!:xd8 28 ~dS li:lcS 29
@d2 li:la4 30 @c2 @b6 31 l:!:h 1 ~f6 32
l:!:el WcS 33 ~al ~es 34 l:!:hl li:lb6 35
~e6 l:i:d3 36 l:i:dl l:!:xdl 37 Wxdl Wd6
38 ~f7 li:la4 39 @d2 @c7 40 ~es @b6
41 Wc2 li:lcs 42 @b 1 WaS 43 ~b2 li:ld3
44 Wa2 Wa4 0-1 Crouch-Shirov, Lon-
don 1991) 8 li:lc3 i'aS 9 dS li:lf6 10
~d2 li:lxdS 11 li:la4 li:lxe3! 12 fxe3
l:!:xd2 13 'l!Vxd2 'lifxa4 in Foisor-Rausis,
Cannes 1990, although sadly after 14
l:!:cl the players agreed a draw!
b) Another active alternative 1s
6... eS!?. Then 7 dxeS 'l!Vxdl+ 8 Wxdl
li:lxeS 9 li:lf3 l:!:d8+ 10 ~d2 ~d6 11
Sl.e2 li:lf6 12 li:lxeS Sl.xeS is nothing too
special for White. Indeed, amazingly
Black went on to win from here in
Poulton-Rausis, Cappelle la Grande
1991, although I can tell you that it
wasn't that instructive!
6 ... 0-0-0
One of the opening's leading expo-
nents, Igor Rausis, has dabbled in
6... 'l!Ve4!? 7 l:!:al eS and on that evidence
alone one wonders whether it could be
63
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
the most accurate continuation: 8 dxeS
(short but sweet was the 'perfect' 8 e3
li:lxd4 9 li:lxd4 exd4 10 'lllfxd4 '/2-'/2 So-
lozhenkin-Rausis, Cappelle la Grande
1995) 8... ..ltb4+!?
9 axb4 (I would say that Black can
probably hold after 9 ..ltd2 ..ltxd2+ 10
'liVxd2 li:lxe5 11 'l!lfc3 f6 12 l:f.d 1 l:f.d8 13
l:f.xdS+ ~xd8 14 li:lxe5 fxe5 15 f3 'l!ifd4
16 'l!Wb3 li:lf6 17 e3 'l!Vb6 18 'l!Vxb6 axb6
19 ..ltc4 c6 but amazingly Black again
went on to win in Dittmar-Rausis, Ger-
many 1993) 9 ... li:lxb4. Having been on
the painful end of some Rausis home
preparation, I smell a rat and perhaps
White was wise to bail out with 10 li:ld4
'lllfxd4 11 'l!Vxd4 li:lc2+ 12 ~dl li:lxd4 13
e3 li:lb3 14 l:f.a3 li:lxc1 15 ~xcl a6 16 f4
li:le7 17 ..ltd3 0-0-0 18 l:f.dl f6 19 exf6
gxf6 1/2- 1/2 in Beaton-Rause, Hastings
1996/7.
7 'i!!'c2
Tendering a pawn sacrifice that cer-
tainly poses some questions but to
which you feel there should be some
answers. Black was fine after 7 ..lte3 g6
8 'liV c2 li:lh6 9 ..ltxh6 ..ltxh6 10 e3 e5 11
dxe5 li:lxe5 12 li:lxe5 'l!lfxe5 13 ..lte2
l:f.he8 14 0-0, before falling for
14 ... ..ltxe3> 15 fxe3 'l!lfxe3+ 16 l:f.2 l:f.d2?
64
17 'lllfxd2 (Mahmoud-Roghani, Tehran
2001). No doubt the check on g4 was
overlooked.
7 ... li:lxd4 8 li:lxd4 'i!!'xd4 9 g3
White does have the bishop pair but
with no real development at present,
you'd hardly think that Black should
worry. As you'll see though, it is easy to
get complacent.
9 ... e6 10 i.g2 'ill'c5 11 'i!!'a4!
Maintaining the tension. Instead 11
'l!Ve4 allowed Black to trade queens via
1 L'lllfd5 and 12 0-0 'l!lfxe4 13 ..ltxe4
li:lf6 14 ..ltf3 ..lte7 15 ..lte3 li:ld5 16
..ltxa7 b6 17 l:f.bcl ~b7 18 e4 li:lf6 19
l:f.c4 l:f.d7 20 l:f.fcl l:f.aS 0-1 evidently saw
White failing miserably to regain his
pawn in Sendon-Rausis, Cadiz 1991.
11 ... 'i!!'d4 12 b4 'i!!'c3+ ?!
Tempting, but in retrospect perhaps
12 ... 'l!lfd7 might have been more appro-
priate. White can't take on a7 without
cover on d 1 and so 13 'l!lfc2 li:lf6 is
likely, with Black's pieces better placed
to defend inevitable pressure on the c-
file.
13 @f1
Freezing the position here, one might
think that with White unable to castle as
well now, he's surely not going to be
 The Baltic Defence: The Main line - 3 cxd5
able to coordinate a serious attack. The
truth is that his bishops are about to
come into their own.
13 ... 'ilkc4 14 Jl.f3 a6 15 lilg2 Jl.e7
16 Jl.f4
Now either rook to cl is a very seri-
ous threat.
16 ... 1Wb5 17 'ilkc2 Jl.d6 18 a4!
Admittedly not that hard to see but
the concept is very important. The b-
file is going to figure prominently as
Black regrets moving a pawn around his
king.
18 ... 'ilkeB
More resistance would have been of-
fered by 18 .. .'i'fS, but White would re-
tain a dangerous initiative.
19 b5! axb5
For what it's worth, Black has no
time to interject 19 ....ixf4, e.g. 20 bxa6
.id6 21 .ixb 7+ '.t'd7 22 .ic6+.
20 S:xb5 c6
Black must put up the shutters on the
3-b 7 diagonal but now the white rooks
take over.
21 S:hb1
21 ... Jl.xf4 22 S:xb7! Jl.c7 23 Jl.xc6
'ilkf8 24 Jl.d7 + 1-0
It is mate after 24 ... '.t'xd7 (24 ... l:1xd7
25 l:1b8) 25 'i'xc7+ '.t'e8 26 'l!Vc6+.
Game27
S .Pedersen-A. Grigorian
Copenhagen 1999
1 d4 d5 2 c4 Jl.f5 3 cxd5 Jl.xb1 4
J:!xb1 'ilkxd5 5 e3
Refraining from defending the a-
pawn with 5 a3 (also useful for dissuad-
ing but, as you probably noticed, not
necessarily preventing ... .ib4+).
Instead 5 'i'a4+ now is an inaccuracy
compared to its employment on move
four as Black is not forced into 5... c6
(which would transpose into the games
that come later). Although 5 ... li:ic6 6
li:if3 'l!V e4 7 l:l.a 1 e5 has previously been
played and is a common theme for
Black in these lines, certainly 6 ... 0-0-0
and the immediate 6... e5 are possible
too.
Quite instructive is the blatant bishop
versus knight supremacy of 5 li:if3 li:ic6
6 e3 e5 7 li:ixe5 li:ixe5 8 dxe5 .ib4+ 9
.id2 .ixd2+ 10 'i'xd2 'i!Vxe5 11 .ie2
li:ie7 12 .if3 c6 13 0-0 'l!Vc7 14 J:l.fdl
J:l.d815 'i'c3 0-0 16 J:l.d4 J:l.xd417 'i!Vxd4
c5 18 'i!Va4 b6 19 J:l.dl li:ig6 20 J:l.d7 'i'eS
21 'i!Vc2 a6 22 .ids 'i'e8 23 J:l.b7 'l!Vcs
24 J:1d7 'l!Ve8 25 l:l.a7 'i'dS 26 'i'e4,
65
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
which White went on to win in Mishra-
Roy Chowdhury, Calcutta 1996. Black
should investigate snatching that a~
pawn.
5 ... e6
Critical must be 5... 'lli'xa2, when one
fascinating encounter between two
strong players ran 6 ~d3 c6 7 1Zie2
'lli'a5+ 8 b4 'lli'c7 9 0-0 e6 10 e4 1Zif6 11
'iii'c2 li:ibd7 12 f4 ~e7 13 ~d2 g6 14
Whl 0-0 15 l:tb3 l:tac8 16 e5 li:ie8 17 f5
exf5 18 ~xf5 li:ig7 19 ~h3 .!lcd8 20 b5
li:ib6 21 l:tcl 1Zie6 22 ~xe6 fxe6 23 li:if4
.!lxf4 24 ~xf4 l:txd4 25 l:tfl c5 26 ~h6
'lli'xe5 27 'lli'f2 ~6 28 l:te3 'iii'f5 29 l:tf3
11:idS 30 l:txf5 gxf5 31 'lli'e2 Wf7 32
'lli'hs+ We7 33 ~gs ~xgs 34 'lli'xgs+
Wd7 35 l:tel li:ie7 1-0 L.Hansen-
Chuchelov, Bad Worishofen 1992. This
is a really tough one to assess. Black's
later exchange sacrifice didn't seem to
come off but for the earlier part of the
game it wasn't clear just how much
compensation White really had for the
pawn. Certainly enough for some fun,
but a pawn is a pawn!
6 a3 li:lt6 7 'ilkc2 c6 8 li:lt3 li:lbd7 9
i.c4
Black's set up just looks a bit passive.
He might kid himself that he is playing
66
a French Fort Knox (i.e. 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5
3 li:ic3 dxe4 4 1Zixe4 ~d7 5 1Zif3 ~c6
where Black soon concedes the light-
squared bishop for a knight and then
hunkers down with the solid ... c7-c6)
but the pawn structure is not the same.
9 ... 'ilka5+
Now reminiscent of a 'Centre
Counter' (1 e4 d5), but again a key dif-
ference is that White has an e-pawn
instead of a c-pawn. The way it is here,
there is the option of pushing back
Black with e3-e4 and perhaps e4-e5,
whilst it is also easily breach the enemy
queenside pawn structure with b4-b5.
10 i.d2 'ilkc7 110-096
Placing pawns on the opposite colour
from his bishop but also creating holes.
12 e4 li:lb6 13 i.a2 i.g7 14 l:!.fe1
0-0
15 e5
Making the decision to get on with
things on the kingside. The downside
for White is that it gives away an out-
post on d5, but only one black knight
will be able to occupy it.
15 ... li:ltd5 16 'ilke4
The queen makes her way in the gen-
eral direction of enemy monarch. One
plan now would be 'iii'h4, ~h6 and 11:igS
 The Baltic Defence: The Main Line ~ 3 cxd5

with mate on h 7 in mind. That would He could have taken on g6 imme<liatd:.-

be defendable, though, and so a more but instead he lets his knight in on the
controlled build up is the order of the act.
day. 27 ...l:!f6 28 h7 + lilts 29 {jjxe6+
16 ... 'iil'd7 17 h4! lllf7 30 i.a2
White obviously intends 18 h5 to
weaken Black's defensive pawn shield
and possibly utilise the h-file.
17 ... hS 18 J:!bd1 {jje7

Yes, he'd still not forgotten about

this bishop. Painful!
30 ...llleB 31 d5 'iil'd6 32 dxc6 'iil'xc6
33 'iil'b4 l:!fS 34 {jjg7 + 1-0
19 g4 It's mate on e7 next turn. A powerful
Really going for it. The pawn on e5 attacking game from White.
remains a thorn throughout with Black
naturally reluctant to want to advance Game 28
his f-pawn. Miladinovic-Auth
19 ... hxg4 20 'iil'xg4 {jjbd5 21 h5 Kava/a 2001
White's long-range bishops may rest
on the other side of the board but they 1 d4 d5 2 c4 i.fS 3 cxd5 i.xb1 4
have a big influence on the kingside. 'iil'a4+
21 ... fS
No doubt not fancying 21...gxhS 22
'iil'xh5, Black reacts how most humans
would. Unfortunately, g6 and e6 be-
come severe weaknesses.
22 exf6 J:!xf6 23 h6 i.hB 24 i.gS
li:tS 25 i.b1
White certainly hadn't forgotten this
bishop. The advantage of the bishop
pair really shows in this game.
25 ... J:!f7 26 i.xe7 {jjxe7 27 {jjgS
White torments his opponent further.
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

The theoretically recommended in-

termezzo. With the pawn on d5, White
pretty much gains this as a free move
and it's fair to say that the queen is use-
ful on a4. For example, it defends the
a2-pawn.
4 ... 'l!l'd7?!
Not very ambitious. At no cost,
White is given the bishop pair and a
better centre.
5 'l!l'xd7+ li:lxd7 6 l:i:xb1 li:lgf6 7
~d2
White was also better after the con- 11.. J1d8 12 a5 li:lbd7 13 J:tc 1 c6 14
tinuation 7 li:lf3 1Zlb6 8 e3 1Zlbxd5 9 a3 a6
e6 10 .id3 .ie 7 11 e4 1Zlb6 12 0-0 0-0 White is very determined and, it
13 il.e3 .!:tfd8 14 .!:tfc 1 c5 15 dxc5 .!lxd3 seems, only worried about his kingside
16 cxb6 axb6 17 l:f.c7, Inkiov-Trzaska, pieces after he has positionally won on
Recklinghausen 2000, but 7 3 1Zlxd5 8 the queenside.
a3 e5! 9 e4 1Zl5f6 10 d5 .ic5 11 .ib5 a6 14 ... 12:lbS 15 axb7 J:txd4 16 b5
12 .ixd7+ @xd7 13 @e2 l:f.ac8 14 .ie3 Now White's aim is that his b7-pawn
.ixe3 15 @xe3 c6 16 dxc6+ l:f.xc6 17 will win him the day.
1Zle2 '!z. '!, Rocabert Andreu-Gonzalez 16 ... cs 17 l:ta1
Manchon, Barcelona 2000 wasn't much The c-file has just been sealed off but
to write home about. the a-file provides an alternative entry
7 ... li:lxd5 8 e4 1Zl5f6 9 f3 e6 point for the white rook.
Now 9 ... e5 10 dxe5! 1Zlxe5 11 .ic3 17 ... ~e 7 18 e5 li:lfd7
would be better for White.
10 b4
I find this game quite amusmg as
White, who significantly outrates his
opponent, appears to neglect his king-
side development for long periods of
the game. Still, it's clear that he has a
plan on the kingside and creating a bind
on the cS-square is just the start of his
ambitions.
10 .. .li:lb6 11 a4
Like I said, there is no hanging
around from White, who immediately 19 1Zle2
continues his queenside assault. The a- Just when you might have expected
pawn can't be taken because of 12 19 .ic3 or even 19 f4, out comes a
.ib5+. kingside piece!

68
 The Baltic Defence: The Main Line - 3 cxd5

19 ... J:l:d5 20 f4 f6 21 exf6 .ixf6 22 compensation for his missing bishop

J:l:xa7 0-0 23 li'lc1 li'lb6 24 J:l:a6 J:l:fd8 pair.
25 .ie3 J:l:d1 + 26 l!lf2 li'ld5 27 J:l:xe6
li'lxe3 28 .ic4!

One does wonder whether White
really needed to get involved in all these
complications but the tactics do seem to
hold up.
28 ... li'lxc4
And not 28 ... J:lxh P? 29 l:1e8 mate.
29 J:l:xd 1 .id4+
After 29 ... J:lxdl 30 l:te8+ @fl 31
l:txb8 White is set to promote his pawn
soon and 31....id4+ 32 @g3 only pro-
vide spite checks.
30 l!lf3 l!lt7 31 J:l:c6 J:l:d7
31...4Jxc6 32 bxc6 leaves two awe-
some pawns.
32 Il.xd4 :S.xd4 33 .tea li'ld7 34 :S.c 7
1-0
A new white gueen is inevitable.
5 dxc6
As it turns out, encouraging Black to
develop isn't that provocative. Never-
theless, 5 l:1xbl (see Game 31) is argua-
bly a more measured response.
5 ... li'lxc6 6 J:!.xb1 '!!l'xd4
An obvious recapture, although it's
fair to say that more excitement is gen-
erated by 6... e5 (see the next game).
7 '!!l'xd4 li'lxd4 8 e3
8 4Jf3 4Jc2+! 9 @d 1 4Jb4 10 .id2 e6
11 e3 a6 has previously been assessed as
equal by Dautov and Shirov.
8 ... li'lc6

Game29
Ricardi-Rausis
Yerevan Olympiad 1996

1 d4 d5 2 c4 .if5 3 cxd5 .ixb1 4

'!!l'a4+ c6
More in the spirit of things. Black 9 li'lf3
should go searching for some tactical Of the alternatives, 9 b4!> looks as

69
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
though it might be the most testing.
After 9 ... e6 10 a3 .id6 11 li:lf3 li:lf6 12
.ib2 We7 13 g3 l:Iac8 14 .ig2 l:Ihd8 15
We2 Black was quite compact but
White had that lasting bishop pair ad-
vantage in Ehlvest-Rausis, Riga 1995.
Instead 9 .ib5 l:IcS! (avoiding the
slightly inferior 9 ... e6 10 .ixc6+ bxc6 11
li:lf3) 10 li:lf3 (or 10 .id2 a6 11 .ia4 b5
12 .idl e6 13 J:Ic1.id614 .if3 @d7 15
We2 li:lf6 '!,-'!, Kishnev-Svidler, Co-
penhagen 1991) 10... e6 transposes to
our main game, while 9 .id2 l:IcS 10
l:Icl a6 11 li:lf3 e6 12 .ie2 .id6 '/,-'/2
Akesson-Rausis, Copenhagen 1995 was
pretty tame stuff.
9 ... e6
Apparently dabbling with different
ideas. The line 9 ... l:IcS 10 .id2 e6 11
.ib5 a6 12 .ixc6+ l:Ixc6 13 We2 .id6
14 l:Ihcl li:le7 15 l:Ixc6 li:lxc6 16 l:Icl
Wd7 17 .ic3 ('/,. '/2 Oil-Rausis, Riga
1995) was evidently nothing for White,
although presumably he doesn't have to
go in for all that .ib5 stuff if it isn't
going to result in isolating Black's
queenside pawns.
10 Jl.b5 J:!c8 11 li:le5 li:lge 7
11....ib4+ 12 .id2 ..ltxd2+ 13 Wxd2
li:lge7 may seem tempting but 14 libel
would also offer White a niggling ad-
vantage.
12 il.d2
No more pressure can be brought on
c6 until the cl-square is cleared for the
rooks.
12 ... a6 13 Jl.xc6+ li:lxc6 14 J:!c1
Jl.d6
14 ... li:la7 keeps Black's pawn struc-
ture intact but leaves his knight worse
off and Black is slightly behind on de-
Yelopment after 15 We2.
70
15 li:lxc6 J:!xc6 16 J:l:xc6 bxc6 17
@e2 @d7 18 Jl.c3
I don't feel the need to study the en-
suing endgame in too much detail. Suf-
fice to say that although it's clear that
White's structural advantage provides
him with a slight edge, Rausis, for one,
obviously believes that such endings are
manageable for Black. Frankly, it's not
much fun to defend and I know some
players that would enjoy handling the
white pieces.
18 ... eS 19 14 exl4 20 exl4 Jl.xl4 21
@13 Jl.h6 22 J:!d 1 + @e6 23 J:!e 1 +
@d7 24 !l:d 1 + @e6 25 il.b4! !l:b8 26
Jl.a3 !l:c8 27 J:l:d6+ @e5 28 !l:d7 15
29 .!l:e7+ @d5 30 .!l:17 @e5 31 .!l:e7+
@d5 32 li:t7 @e5 33 Jl.b4! @e6 34
!l:a7 Jl.c1 35 Jl.c3 g5 36 J:xh7 g4+
37 @e2 Jl.14 38 h3 gxh3 39 J:l:xh3
!l:g8 40 @13 J:l:g4 41 J:l:h8 Jl.d6 42
J:l:a8 J:a4 43 a3 @d5 44 J:d8 J:l:f4+
45 @e2 !l:e4+ 46 @13 l:t/4+ 4 7 @e2
J:l:e4+ 48 @f3 Y, -Y,
Game30
Y .Zimmerman-B. Kovacevic
Oberwart 2000
1 d4 d5 2 c4 JI.IS 3 cxd5 Jl.xb1 4
 The Baltic Defence: The Main Line - 3 cxd5
'i'a4+ c6 5 dxc6 li:lxc6 6 l:l'.xb1 e5!?
7 i.d2
As 7 dxe5'' .ltb4+ would confirm,
Black wasn't exactly offering a pawn
sacrifice. White is wise to want to cover
the b4-square!
7 ... 'i'xd4
The main difference between this and
the last game is that Black has the op-
tion of recapturing on d4 with a pawn.
Played immediately though, White ap-
pears to get some edge via 7 ... exd4 8 g3
'l!l'd5 9 12if3 12if6 10 .ltg2 .lte7 11 0-0
0-0 12 l:l:fcl. Indeed, the 12...12ie4 13
~el 12ic5 14 'l!i'dl .l:tab8 15 e3 'l!l'xa2 16
b4 12ie4 17 12ixd4 12ixd4 18 'l!l'xd4 lt:id6
19 .ltd5 'l!l'a6 20 'l!l'g4 .ltf6 21 b5 'l!l'b6
22 'l!l'a4 l:l:fc8 23 .l:tdl 'l!l'c5 24 ~b4
'l!l'xb5 25 'l!l'a2 12ic4 26 .ltd6 12ixd6 27
.l:txb5 12ixb5 28 ~xf7+ @h8 29 .l:td7
.l:td8 30 'l!l'd5 l:l:xd7 31 'l!l'xd7 a6 32 .ltd5
12ic3 33 .ltxb7 aS 34 'l!l'c7 .l:td8 35 'l!l'xa5
h6 36 'lil'f5 l:l:dl+ 37 @g2 .l:td2 38 .ltf3
12\dl 39 .ltxdl .l:txdl 40 e4 .!:tel 1-0 of
Zakurdjaeva-Karlovich, Patras 2001 was
quite convincing. The dominance of
White's light-squared bishop seems
even more accentuated with the queens
on.
8 'i'xd4 exd4
8...12ixd4 9 e3 12ic6 10 .ltb5 .ltd6 wa,
not the point behind 6 ... e5!? and, whilst
we've seen the likes of 11 .ltxc6+ bxc6
12 12if3 before, White was successful in
converting his edge in another way: 11
lt:if3 12\ge7 12 @e2 a6 13 .lta4 0-0 14
l2ig5 b5 15 .ltb3 as 16 a3 .l:tad8 17
.l:thdl a4 18 .lta2 b4 19 .ltxb4 l2ixb4 20
axb4 h6 21 12if3 e4 22 lt:id2 .ltxb4 23
12ixe4 and the pawn advantage told in
Moiseenko-Reprintsev, Alushta 1999.
9 g3
9 ... .ltc5
If the significant white advantage ob-
tained after 9 ... .ltb4 10 .ltg2 .ltxd2+ 11
@xd2 12if6 12 lt:ih3 .l:td8 13 .!:the I .l:td6
14 b4 a6 15 b5 12id8 16 12if4 0-0 17
bxa6 bxa6 18 .l:tc8 g5 19 lt:id3 lt:ie6 20
.l:tbb8 @g7 21 l:l:xf8 12ixf8 22 l:l:b7
lt:i8d7 23 .l:tc 7 12id5 24 .ltxd5 .l:txdS 25
lt:ib4 in K.ruppa-Eliet, Cappelle La
Grande 2000 is anything to go by, then
it looks as though preserving the dark-
squared bishops, as in the text, is a bet-
ter route to take. It is an interesting
clash of general principles. On one
hand it is logical to break up the white
bishop pairing but, on the other, the
more pieces traded, the weaker the iso-
lated pawn becomes.
71
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
10 ig2 i.b6 11 J:!c1 li:lge7 12 li:lf3
0-0 13 0-0 l:Ife8
The position resembles a QGD Tar-
rasch, where pressurising the e2-pawn is
also a sensible plan.
14 l:Ifd1 J:Iad8
Implementing a standard policy of
overprotecting. White now embarks on
a typical manoeuvre that is well re-
buffed by a neat tactic. There might be
some mileage in 15 b4 instead but this
creates weak squares too and Black's
position remains solid.
15 li:le1 li:ld5 16 @f1 li:le5!
Black's knights could hardly be better
placed and there is still no entry into
Black's position along the c-file.
17 li:ld3 li:lxd3 18 exd3 li:le3+ !
72
19 fxe3 dxe3 20 ixe3
The pawn had to be removed in view
of ... e2+.
20 ... ixe3 21 l:l:c 7 l:Id6
21...bS was possible but Black goes
for active defence. The rook looks to
swing over to the f-file.
22 if3 g6 23 d4
If 23 l:txb7, then 23 ... ilb6 paves the
way for ... l:te3. Black's 22 ... g6 means
that, with ... f7-f5 available, White can't
simply block with 1..e4.
23 ... ixd4 24 J:Ixb 7 l:ted8
And in this opposite coloured bishop
endgame, a draw is always likely.
25 l:Ib3 ib6 26 l:Ixd6 l:Ixd6 27 @e2
h5 28 l:Id3 l:Ixd3 29 @xd3 ig1 30
h3 f5 31 @e2 @f7 32 id5+ @f6 33
@f3 id4 34 b3 ic3 35 h4 ib4 36
a4 a5 37 ic4 id6 38 ib5 @f7 39
ic6 @e7 40 @f2 f4 41 gxf4 ixf4
42 li,f3 id6 43 ib5 @16 Y, - Y,
Game31
Lagunow-Hohelj
Munster 1993
1 d4 d5 2 c4 if5 3 cxd5 ixb1 4
'1Wa4+ c6 5 l:Ixb1 'i'xd5 6 li:lf3
Having studied the various lines and
transpositions, I'm still confused in this
system. Hence rather than distinguish-
ing between, say, li:lf3 and e2-e3, I've
opted to separate the next few games
on whether White ultimately opts for
the cautious a2-a3 or the aggressive b2-
b4. This game generally deals with the
former but I'd like to take this opportu-
nity to mention another idea: 6 e3 li:ld7
7 i..d2 (For the time being we have nei-
ther of the queenside pawn lunges just
mentioned. As our main game generally
 The Baltic Defence: The Main Line - 3 cxd5
deals with the a3 variety, another fasci-
nating encounter between two strong
players saw 7 a3 'li' e4 8 J:l.a 1 e5 9 i'i:lf3
i'i:lc5 10 'li'c4 exd4 11 b4 i'i:le6 12 .lll.d3
'li'g4 13 0-0 .lll.d6 14 exd4 i'i:le7 15 J:l.el
i'i:lf4 16 .lll.xf4 'li'xf4 17 J:l.e4 'li'f6 18
i'i:le5 l:td8 19 g3 0-0 20 J:l.ae 1 i'i:ld5 21 b5
.lll.xe5 22 dxe5 'li'f3 'li-\11 Ruzele-
Miladinovic, Istanbul Olympiad 2000)
7... i'i:lgf6 8 f3 i'i:lb6 9 'li'b3 'li'xb3 10
axb3. As usual, Whire has the bishop
pair but rhe doubled isolated b-pawns
don't look that clever. I think that after
10... e6 11 i'i:le2 .lll.e7 12 i'i:lc3 0-0 13
.lll.d3 c5 14 dxc5 .lll.xc5 15 We2 i'i:lbd5
the position was close to equal in Nar-
ciso Dublan-Ferron Garcia, Martinenc
2001.
6 .. .tbd1
Ill-advised is the 6... i'i:lf6 7 a3 'li'a2 8
'li'c2 e6 9 i'i:ld2 .lll.xa3 10 'li'a4 1-0 of
Gheorghiu-Elstner, Crans Montana
2000.
7 a3
7 .. .1Zlgf6
We have seen the theme 7... 'li'e4 8
J:l.al e5 before. It doesn't look that great
but after 9 'li'b3 exd4, White should
rake on b7 rather than indulge in 10
'li'xf7+>! Wxf7 11 i'i:lg5+ Wg6 12 i'i:lxe4
as 12... J:l.e8 then leaves Black with the
better pieces.
8 e3 'l!Vf5!
Side-stepping .lll.c4, Black ploughs
ahead with the idea of a central break.
One of my own games saw Black settle
for a space disadvantage and my oppo-
nent suffered for his decision: 8 ... g6?! 9
'li'c2 i'i:lb6 10 .lll.e2 .lll.g7 11 0-0 0-0 12
i'i:le5 J:l.ac8 13 b4 l:tfd8 14 a4 e6 15 a5
i'i:lbd7 16 i'i:lc4 i'i:le8> 17 e4 1-0 Ward-
Horta, Las Palmas 1993. Yes, the black
queen is in dire trouble.
9 J:ia1 e5 10 .ll.e2
10 dxe5 i'i:lxe5 11 i'i:lxe5 'li'xe5 would
leave the black queen in a dominant
posmon.
10 ... e4 111Zld21Zlb6 12 'l!Vc2
It should be observed that this natu-
ral retreat sets up a pin on the e4-pawn
and hence threatens 13 .lll.f3.
12 ... 'li!'g6
So we reach a critical point in the
game. As Black is missing his light-
squared bishop, White may be able to
get away with 13 0-0. However, it's clear
that Black could drum up some sort of
attack. Presumably 13 ... .lll.d6 would fol-
low and then Black himself would have
to choose between ... 0-0 or a similar
73
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
pawn lunge (... h7-h5 with ...lllg4 ideas).
13 g4
White doesn't like the idea of castling
into an attack and so he defends the
pawn by advancing it. Note that
13 .. .''llxg4> falls foul of 14 l:l:gl hS 15
h3.
13 ... 0-0-0!? 14 h4 lt:ixg4 15 h5 'iii'f5
16 lt:ixe4
The position is a bit of a mess. White
threatens 17 li:ld6+ and, in preventing
that, Black lines up 17 ... li:lxf2.
16 ... @b8 17 l:th4 lt:ih6 18 .lld2 :1e7
19 l:th1 lt:ig4 20 $..d3?
Conceding a rather large square that
Black is now happy to exploit. Again
White was facing 20 ... li:lxf2 but prefer-
able was 20 J:l:cl. White would then
have the nice centre and the two bish-
ops but the black monarch would be
the more comfortable of the two.
20 ... 'iii'f3 21 .l:tg1
21 l:l:fl would have been dealt the
same treatment, i.e. 21...~h4 when cas-
tling long is illegal and 22 1..e2 walks
into 22 ... /Zlxe3!.
21 .. .:1h4 22 l:txg4
The f-pawn was pinned, meaning that
the e3-pawn was equally targeted.
Hence White 'sacrifices' the exchange
74
but his opponent retains the initiative
anyhow.
22 ... 'i!i'xg4 23 'iii'd1 'iii'g1 + 24 @e2
'i!i'g4+ 25 @f1 '1Wh3+ 26 @g1 l:td5
Threatening ... l:l:xhS as the rook
would be indirectly defended there by
... 1..xf2+.
27 .lle2 f5
27 ... 1..xf2+ would have been more
visual, e.g. 28 ,l;,xf2 (or 28 li:lxf2 'i'g3+
29 ,i;,f] l:tf5 30 'i'el 'i'h3+ 31 @gl
l:l:g5+) 28 ... 'i'h2+ 29 ,l;,el 'i'hl+ 30 ,i;,[2
'i'xe4.
28 lt:ic3 f4!
Harbouring a very nice idea.
29 lt:ixd5
29 ... $..g3!
And that's it. Now mate is forced.
30 fxg3 fxg3 31 'iii'e1 1Wh2+ 32 @f1
'l!t'h1 mate.
Game32
Ward-Shaw
Oakham 1994
1 d4 d5 2 c4 $..f5 3 cxd5 :1xb1 4
'i!i'a4+ c6 5 l:txb 1 'i!i'xd5 6 e3
After 6 li:lf3 li:ld7 7 b4 e6, an alterna-
tive way to develop the king's bishop is
via 8 g3. Although nice in theory, in
 The Baltic Defence: The Main Line - 3 cxd5
practice Black can take up the initiative
if he acts quickly. Candidates include
8... 'll!'e4 and 8 ... e5 (yes, even though ir
has only just moved!), whilst 8 ... a51? 9
a3 'Llb6 10 'll!'c2 axb4 11 axb4 .l:ta2 12
'll!'d3 'Llf6 13 .Ylg2 'll!'e4 14 0-0 'll!'xd3 15
exd3 'Llfd5 also recently left Black on
top in Efimov-Organdziev, European
Ch., Ohrid 2001.
6 .. .li:ld7 7 b4 li:lgf6 8 li:lf3
Effectively, in this system White has
chosen the immediate b2-b4 over the
slower a2-a3. This could be a weakness
if Black, say, manages a timely ... a7-a5,
bur arguably the positive attributes out-
weigh this deficit. The option is there ro
strike at Black's queenside pawn struc-
ture with b4-b5 and the white rook no
longer feels so exposed to the likes of
... 'll!'e4 or ... 'll!'fS.
8 ... e6
My view of this system is that Black
can't really afford to remain passive. An
excellent demonstration of how his
solid-looking position can easily be bro-
ken down is: 8 ... 'Llb6 9 'll!'c2 e6 10 .Yld3
!li..e7 11 0-0 h6 12 a4 0-0 13 aS 'Llc8 14
e4 'll!'d8 15 a6! bxa6 16 'll!'xc6 .l:tb8 17
'll!'a4 ii'b6 18 !ii..f4 .l:tb 7 19 !li..xa6 :i::t:d7 20
.YlxcS .l:txc8 21 eS 'LldS 22 'll!'xd7 :i::t:dS
23 'll!'a4 'Llxf4 24 'll!'aS 'll!'b 7 25 :i::t:a 1
!li..xb4 26 ii'xd8+ 1-0 lgney-Nachrkamp,
Seefeld 1997. Similarly 8... a6 9 'll!'c2 e6
10 .Yle2 !ii..e7 11 0-0 0-0 12 'Lld2 .l:tfc8
13 !ii..f3 'll!'d6 14 'Llc4 'll!'b8 should nor
really be what Black is looking for al-
though at least here there is no immi-
nent material loss (Noonan-McDonnell,
Irish Ch., 1991).
9 'lll'c2 a5
Along the same lines is 9 ... !ii..e7 10
!ii..d3. Then we have:
a) 10... 0-0 leads to a simple advantage
for White after 11 e4 (or 11 0-0 .l:tfd8 12
e4 'll!'hS 13 h3 eS 14 dxeS 'LlxeS 15
'LlxeS ii'xeS 16 !ii..e3 ii'e6 17 f4 g6 18
.l:tf3 bS 19 !ii..d2 'Lld7 20 e5 aS 21 fS
'll!'xeS 22 fxg6 hxg6 23 .Ylxg6! and
White's attack crashed through in
Shulman-Mezentsev, San Francisco
2000) 11...ii'hS 12 h3 eS 13 bS (the 13
.l:tgl!? .li:ad8 14 g4! 'll!'xh3 15 :i::t:g3 ii'hl+
16 <;i;,e2 'Llxg4 17 !li..gS 1-0 of Bere-
zovsky-Bex, Geneva 1995 should also
clearly be a consideration) 13 ... cS 14
dxeS 'Llxe5 15 'Llxe5 'll!'xe5 16 !ii..b2, as
the bishops rule the day and a kingside
pawn expansion is on the agenda
(Prudnikova-Ruchieva, Tivat 1995).
b) 10 ... aS 11 e4 'll!'hS 12 a3 axb4 13
axb4 0-0 14 0-0 h6 when Black is still
on the map, Shneider-Karlovich,
Alushta 2000.
Black's bishop looks vulnerable trav-
elling too far afield and after 9 ... .Yld6 10
!ii..e2 (10 !ii..d3 'll!'hS 11 e4 e5 12 bS cS 13
dxeS 'LlxeS 14 'LlxeS 'll!'xeS 15 f4 'll!'e7
16 0-0 .Ylc7 17 eS 'LldS 18 .Yle4 was
good for White in S.Webb-Bonner, Ayr
1978) 10... 0-0 11 0-0 eS 12 !li..c4 'll!'e4 13
!ii..d3 'll!'dS 14 e4 'll!'e6 15 'LlgS 'll!'e7 16
f4! White had a very powerful position
75
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

that was neatly converted: 16 ... .ltxb4 17 panng a powerful doubling of the
fxeS lt:lg4 18 'li'b3 12:idxeS 19 dxeS rooks .
.ltcS+ 20 @hl 'llfxeS 21 .ltf4 'li'd4 22
.ltg3 l:l:ad8 23 l:l:xfl 'lifxd3 24 l:l:xf8+ 1-0
Saidy-Cripe, Philadelphia 1995.
10 .ic4 'lii'e4 11 .id3
The 11 'li'xe4 lt:lxe4 12 bxaS 12:idG 13
.ltb3 l:l:xaS 1/z- 1/ , of Flear-Rausis, Hyeres
1992 is somewhat of a wimp-our.
11 ... 'lii'g4 12 0-0 axb4
12 ... .ltxb4' 13 a3 would see rhe b7-
pawn drop and the last thing Black
wants to see is a white rook on his sec-
ond rank.
13 .id2 li:ld5 18 ... g5
Black doesn't want to give up his ex- Black attempts to make a go of things
tra b-pawn without a fight as then rhe as 18... .lte7 19 J:ifbl bG 20 'llfxc3 is just
half-open b-file would become too im- unpleasant.
portant. 19 l:l:fb1 g4 20 hxg4 '1Wxg4 21 .ie4
14 h3 'iif'h5 15 e4 li:lc3 16 .ixc3 l:l:98 22 li:lh2 'i!f'g5 23 'iif'xc3
bxc3 Finally the wayward pawn is taken.
Black's only threat (the mate on g2) has
been prevented and soon it will be the
black king that enters fatally into the
firing line.
23 ... 15 24 exf6 .id6 25 'i!f'h3 'lii'xf6
26 l:l:xb7 l:l:xb7 27 .!hb7 .ixh2+ 28
'lii'xh2 'lii'xd4

17 e5
17 l:txb7 also doesn't look bad but
the text cuts off the black queen from
the queenside.
1 7 ... l:l:b8 18 l:l:b3
The c3-pawn isn't going anywhere
and so White keeps his queen (i.e. my
queen in this particular instance!) where 29 'i!f'h5+ Wd8 30 .ixc6 l:l:g7 31
it is for the moment, in favour of pre- 'iii'a5+ 1-0

76
 The Ba/t;c Defence: The Ma;n L;ne - 3 cxd5

. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . . (remember the b-pawn is pinned and :-o

Game 33 White must avoid 10 l:!.bV> li:lc5
Sadler-Condie 10 ... 'i!VxeS 11 .ie2 li::lb6 12 'i!Vb3 .il.d6
British Ch., Swansea 1995 13 .il.b2 'i!Ve7, where White held a small
' - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - advantage in Molander-Laato, Finnish
1 d4 dS 2 c4 ii.ts 3 cxdS il.xb1 4 Team Ch., 1997.
'i!Va4+ c6 S l:txb1 'ilVxdS 6 li:lf3 li:lf6 10 li:lxeS 'ilVxeS 11 bS!
7 e3 li:lbd7 8 b4 es

Opening up the position for the
white bishop pair is always going to be a
risky decision) but this is the only seri-
ous alternative to the comparative pas-
sivity of the lines given in the previous
game.
9 dxeS
Matthew Sadler has always been a
tremendous theoretician and I implicitly
trust his view that this is more precise
than 9 'l!Vc2 exd4 (9 ... e4 10 li:ld2 li::lb6
might also be possible although I sus-
pect that eventually Black will find him-
self missing his light-squared bishop) 10
.ic4 'i!Vh5 11 exd4 .il.d6 12 'iiVe2+ Wf8
13 0-0 l:!.e8 14 'iiV c2 li:lb6, which didn't
look too bad for Black in Coret
Frasquet-Trobat, Spain 1993.
9 ... li:lxeS
In view of the strength of 11 b5 in a
couple of moves time, there is some-
thing to be said for 9 ... 'i!Ve4!' 10 li::ld2
11 ... J;!d8
Sadler plays moves in this game that
most players would be frightened to
even contemplate. No doubt after
1 L.li::le4 he intended 12 bxc6!, as
12 ... 'i!Vc3+ 13 We2 leaves Black with
nothing other than an inferior ending
via 13 ... 'i!Vxc6 14 'i!Vxc6+ bxc6.
12 il.e2
A calm move from a player who can
calculate so well. That said, things also
turned out nicely after 12 .i<.c4 'iiV c3+ 13
We2 li::le4 (13 ... a6 14 bxa6 b5 15 l:!.xb5
cxb5 16 .il.xb5+, with 17 a7 to follow,
also looks good) 14 .il.xf7+ Wxf7 15
'i!Vxe4, for example 15 ... .i<.e7 16 bxc6
bxc6 17 J:!.b 7 l:!.he8 18 l:!.xa 7 Wg8 19
'i!Ve6+ Wf8 20 'i!Vb3 and Black has no
compensation for the two-pawn deficit,
S.Liiffler-Liebau, Germany 1993.
12 ... il.d6
12... 'i!Vc3+ 13 Wfl still leaves Black
with a problem to solve on c6.

77
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
13 bxc6 0-0 14 cxb7 il.b8 15 il.b2
'lii'fS 16 0-0 12ie4 17 Ii:bd1 li:ld2 18
Ii:fe1
The English grandmaster is such a
cool customer. He isn't remotely phased
by the troublesome knight or any other
attacking possibilities for Black.
18 ... hS 19 .lfl.a3 li:le4 20 .lfl.f3 li:lgS
21 .lfl.xf8 li:lxf3+ 22 gxf3 'lii'h3
23 il.d6!
I'm sure Black was hoping for 23 4,
when he could kick off a perpetual
check sequence with 23 ... 'l!ll'g4+. The
text, though, is a nice move with which
to wrap things up. Black is running out
of steam as White continues to accumu-
late pieces.
23 ... Ii:xd6 24 'lii'e8+ @h7 25 'lii'xb8
1-0
Cute. After 25 ... l;Ig6+ the white
queen covers on g3 and prepares to be
reincarnated on b8.
Game 34
Lamprecht-Polyakova
Pardubice 1998
1 d4 dS 2 c4 .lfl.fS 3 cxdS .lfl.xb1 4
'lii'a4+ c6 5 Ii:xb1 'lii'xdS 6 f3
This is certainly a logical way to play
78
as it makes perfect sense for White to
want to make something of his extra
central pawn. The question is whether
or not Black can make him suffer for
preferring pawn to piece moves.
6 ... eS
Taking a look at some other sugges-
tions:
a) 6 ...li::lf6 7 e4 when 7 ...li::lxe4' is
foiled by 8 .ltc4! 'l!li'fS 9 fxe4 'l!ll'xe4+ 10
li::le2 'l!ll'xbl (or 10 ... bS 11 'l!ll'b3 bxc4 12
'l!ll'b7) 11 'l!ll'b3 li::ld7 (or 11...bS 12 .ltd3
'l!ll'al 13 0-0 when not only is f7 at-
tacked, but the black queen is doomed)
12 .ltd3 'l!ll'al 13 0-0. In exchange for
the trapped queen and a substantial lead
in development, White is down just by
the exchange. The more sober 7 ... 'l!li'd8
8 .lte3 e6 9 li::le2 li::lbd7 10 li::lc3 is just a
comfortable edge to White.
b) With some reason it has been
claimed that 6 ... fS is a little suspicious in
view of 7 e4 fxe4 8 .ltc4 bS 9 .ltxdS
bxa4 10 .ltxe4. True, but clearly 8 ... 'l!li'fS
puts up better resistance.
c) The anti-positional 6 ... bS doesn't
win a real pawn because of 7 e4! 'l!li'd8
(7 ... bxa4 8 exdS cxdS 9 .ltbS+ li::ld7 10
li::le2 will probably see the bishops
weaving their magic again) 8 'l!li'dl, when
 The Baltic Defence: The Main Line - 3 cxd5
8... e6 9 a3 is another safe edge.
d) Finally 6 .. .'Lld7 7 e4 isn't a million
miles from our main game.
7 dxe5
1 . ..tud1
Though this is accompanied by the
sneaky threat of 8 ... ~b4+ 9 'llixb4
"i!l'xa2, it might not be best. The imme-
diate 7... "iil'xeS would transpose after 8
e4 'Dd7 (does Black have anything bet-
ter?), but 8 'Dh3 (or 8 ~f4 'llifS 9 .li:dl
'Da6 10 e3 'DcS 11 "iil'c4 'De6 12 ~d3
'I/Vas+ 13 l/;;>f2 'Dxf4 14 'llixf4 '/2-'/2
Czerwonski-lvannikov Frydek Mistek
1996) 8 ... 'Da6 9 Jtf4 'llie6 10 a3 'Dc5 11
'Iii c2 .li:d8 12 e3 ~d6 13 Jtc4 'Iii e7 looks
okay for Black, while 7... 'Da6!? 8 a3
'DcS 9 'llic2 0-0-0 (or just 9... 'llixeS) is
also interesting.
8 e4 'l!i'xe5 9 1Zlh3
9 Jtd2 Jtc5 (or 9... li:lb6 10 'llib3 .li:d8
11 ~c3 'lligS with similar confusion) 10
~c3 'lligS 11 'Dh3 'llie3+ 12 Jte2 'Dgf6
13 .li:dl is an alternative way to play.
Still, the c5-gl diagonal remams an
annoyance for White.
9 ... li:lb6
9 ... ~cS 10 Jtf4 "iil'e7 11 b4 Jtd4 12
.li:d 1 Jtc3+ 13 ~d2 Jtd4 14 'i'b3 'Dgf6
15 ~e2 0-0 16 'Df2 Jtb6 17 0-0 .li:fe8
18 1/;;>h 1 'DhS 19 li:lh3 'Dhf6 finally left
White with a good position in Lam-
precht-Ehrke, Germany 2000, but it was
all a bit unclear earlier on.
10 'l!i'b3 .ic5 11 li:lf2 'l!i'e7 12 .lli.e2
.tb4+ 13 l/;>f1li:lf614 g3
If White can get his king into safety
and complete his development, then his
bishop pair and extra centre pawn will
put him in good stead. Achieving that,
though, reguires a bit of ducking and
diving.
14 ... 0-0-0 15 l/;>g2 li:lfd7 16 a3 .lli.d6
17 'l!i'c2 h5
A natural enough move that sets
Black on an attacking road himself.
Black soon gets carried away. though,
seemingly losing his sense of danger.
18 a4 a5 19 il.d2 .lli.b4 20 .lli.f4 g5??
A complete disaster. Both 20 ... 'DcS
and 20 .. .'LleS would kept Black well in
the game.
21 'l!i'xc6+!! 1-0
Oops! 22 ~a6 mate follows. You're
probably sick of me going on about the
two bishops throughout this chapter.
Well, this just about sums up what they
are capable of.
79
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

Summary
I originally believed that the acid test for Black in this system were Games 33 and
34, and my view has only been altered in that Games 26 and 27 appear to pose
problems too. Hence 4 'i'a4+ is far from forced although if employed and correctly
met by 4 ... cG, the simple 5 l:l:xb I looks like a better attempt at an advantage for
White than 5 dxcG. With the latter move, Black is definitely able to generate play.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 ..ttS 3 cxdS ..txb1 (DJ 4 'ili'a4+

4 l:l:xb 1 'i'xd5
5 a3 - Game 26
5 e3 - Game 27
4 ... c6
5... i'd7 - Game 28
5 l:i:xb1
5 dxcG lt:ixcG 6 l:l:xb I (DJ
6 ... 'i'xd4 - Game 29
6 ... e5 - Game 30
5 ... 'IWxdS 6 e3
6 f3 - Game 34
6 lt:if3 lt:id7 7 a3 - Game 31
6 ... 12id7 7 12113 <'219!6 8 b4 /DJ es
8 ... eG - Game 32
9 dxeS - Game 33

3 ... ..txb 1 6 '!1.xb1 8 b4

80
I CHAPTER FIVE I
The Baltic Defence:
3 'iVb3 and 3 lt:lc3 e6 4 'iVb3
1 d4 d5 2 c4 if5 3 'l!i'b3 or 1 d4 d5
2 c4 if5 3 li:ic3 e6 4 1!i'b3
The first three games of this chapter,
kicking off with possibly my most hu-
miliating ever encounter, are easily dis-
tinguishable. The rest deal with the
move order 3 li:lc3 e6 4 'lil'b3. Played
this way, White pretty much forces
4 ... li:lc6 although Black may have fa-
voured this move even if he had time to
play ... c7-c6 instead. My point is that
there are several transpositions available
from and to the next chapter. Yes, in
Chapter Six you'll be likely to see 'lil'b3
inserted if Black adopts an ... e 7 -e6 and
... c7-c6 policy and even though those
games have li:lf3 included on either
move two or three, both li:lc3 and 'lil'b3
could conceivably come at a later stage.
Getting to the nitty-gritty, although you
won't miss anything if you play over the
material in these two chapters, the posi-
tion after 1 d4 dS 2 c4 .l.f5 3 li:lc3 e6 4
'lil'b3 li:lc6 5 cxdS exdS 6 li:lf3 (which
can be reached via a number of differ-
ent move orders), for example, is cov-
ered here.
Game35
Ward-Rausis
LJ Touquet 1992
1 d4 d5 2 c4 if5 3 'l!i'b3
Just like 3 cxdS, this is a very princi-
pled move. In the QGD, for example,
we are told that 1 d4 dS 2 c4 e6 3 li:lc3
li:lf6 4 cxdS exdS 5 il.gS .l.e7 6 e3 .l.f5?
is best punished by 7 'lil'b3. The b 7-
pawn is the problem whenever Black's
light-squared bishop vacates its home
and the text move looks just the ticket
as it also pressurises dS. However, you
will see that this is far from the end of
the story.
3 ... e5!
Black is not interested in defending
his pawns and plays actively in order to
try and punish White for bringing his
queen out so early. 3 ... dxc4?! 4 'lil'xb 7!
shouldn't even be contemplated; instead
we reach an Albin Counter Gambit with
two other pieces 'developed'. Theoreti-
cally this should favour Black and, over-
all, perhaps it does. In practice, how-
87
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
e\er, there are pawns up for grabs!
4 cxd5
The safest looking of the three possi-
bilities covered in this chapter but, in
truth, it's really difficult to tell whether
it's the best.
4 ... exd4 5 lbt3
As a way to avoid complications, 5 e3
has been successfully tried, although
5... lt'ld7 (there is also some compensa-
tion for the pawn after 5 .. ,lt'lf6 6 't!!Vxb7
't!!Vxd5 7 .ib5+ .id7 8 .ixd7+ lt'lbxd7 9
't!!Vxd5 lt'lxd5 10 exd4 lt'lb4 11 lt'la3
l:ibS) 6 exd4 't!!Ve7+!? 7 lt'le2 (upon either
7 .ie2 or .ie3, 7 ... 1..xbl 8 l:ixbl 't!!Vb4+
also looks like a reasonable way to sim-
plify and ultimately round up the d5-
pawn) 7 ... 1..xbl 8 l:ixbl 't!!Vb4+ 9 't!!Vxb4
.ixb4+ 10 lt'lc3 lt'lgf6 11 a3 .id6P
should be okay for Black, whilst 11 .ic4
0-0-0 leaves Black well set to regain his
pawn via ... lt'lb6, Note that if 12 d6
.ixd6 13 .ixf7, then Black gets excel-
lent play from 13 .. ,l:ihfS 14 .ib3 lt'lg4
15 f3 l:ideS+ 16 lt>fl (or 16 lt'le2, when
each of 16 ... .ib4+, 16 .. ,lt'le3 and even
16 .. ,lt'lxh2 cause White some problems)
16 ... lt'lxh2+ 17 lt>f2 (and not 17 lt>gP'
l:iel+) 17 ... lt'lg4.
5 ... il.c5
Around the time that I played this
game, the only theoretical line I knew of
was S....ie4 (?!) 6 lt'lxd4 .ixd5 7 't!!Ve3+L
Indeed, even recently this has cropped
up, justifying the assessment of better
for White: 7 ... 't!!Ve7 8 lt'lc3 't!!Vxe3 (no
improvement is S.. ,lt'lf6 9 't!!Vxe7+ .ixe7
as all of 10 .igS, 10 .if4 and 10 lt'lf5
look attractive) 9 .ixe3 .ib4 10 0-0-0
.ixc3 11 lt'lb5 .ia5 12 l:ixd5 lt'lc6 13
lt'ld4 .ib6 14 lt'lxc6 .ixe3+ 15 fxe3
bxc6 16 l:ia5 0-0-0 17 l:ixa7 @b8 18
82
l:ia3 lt'le7 19 g3 l:id6 20 .ig2 l:ihd8 21
l:ib3+ Wa7 22 l:ifl g5 23 l:ixf7 l:idl+ 24
Wc2 l:iSd2+ 25 lt>c3 l:id7 26 @c4 h5 27
@c5 1-0 Barsov-Badjarani, Abu Dhabi
2001.
6 lbxd4
Another queen move here doesn't in-
spire: 6 't!!Vc4 lt'ld7 (it's also worth paying
attention to Igor's 6... 't!!Ve7 7 lt'lxd4
.ixb 1 8 l:ixb 1 't!!V e4, for example 9
'ii'xc5 'ii'xbl 10 e3 lt'ld7 11 .ib5 0-0-0
12 .ixd7+ l:ixd7 13 0-0 't!!Vxa2 14 't!!VfS+
l:idS 15 't!!Vxg7 lt'le7 16 e4 't!!Va4 17 .ie3
't!!VeS 18 l:icl, although this looked good
for White in Genovese-Rausis, Cattolica
1994) 7 lt'lxd4 'li'h4 8 .ie3 (or 8 e3
.ixd4 9 't!!Vxd4 't!!Vxd4 10 exd4 lt'lgf6 11
lt'lc3 lt'lb6 12 d6 cxd6 V2-'/, Hracek-
Bagirov, Brno 1991) 8 ... 1..xbl 9 l:ixbl
lt'lgf6 10 l:icl 0-0, when White was
struggling to complete his development
on the kingside (Dyachkov-Rowson,
Halle 1995).
Again the innocuous 6 e3 has been
tried but unless after 6 ... dxe3 7 .ixe3
lt'ld7 8 .ixcS lt'lxc5 9 't!!Vb5+ lt'ld7 or
7 ... .ixe3 8 fxe3 lt'ld7 he is prepared to
risk taking on b 7 with his queen, he
can't really claim to have anything.
6 ... il.xd4 7 'l!Va4+
 The Baltic Defence: 3 'iilb3 and 3 li:lc3 e6 4 'iilb3
This was what was indirectly protect-
ing the knight. With the first player's
potential for a big centre, if Black just
plays casually now, you could easily
imagine White soon having a dream
position. However, that's irrelevant as
that is certainly not the style in which he
continues.
7 .. .li:ic6! 8 dxc6 b5
In for a penny, in for a pound!
9 'li'xb5?!
After this somewhat embarrassing
game, I virtually wrote 3 'ii'b3 off. I was
annoyed because it wasn't the sort of
move that I would have made if I
hadn't 'known' that it was theoretically
recommended. However, although I
would surprise myself if I ever dabbled
in this variation again, in fact it could
well be playable, provided White isn't so
greedy as to take this pawn. Indeed, far
shrewder is 9 'ii'b3! fi:ie7 10 e3 .lil.f6 11
.lil.d2 0-0 12 .lil.c3. However, although
White was better after both 12 ... fi:ixc6
13 .lil.xb5 l:l.bS 14 'li'a4 .lil.d3 15 .lil.xf6
.lil.xb5 16 .lil.xdS .lil.xa4 17 .lil.xc7 l:l.xb2
18 fi:ic3 .lil.c2 19 0-0 (Novikov-
Westerinen, Benasque 1996) and
12... 'iii'd6 13 .lil.e2 fi:ixc6 14 0-0 b4 15
.lil.xf6 'iii'xf6 16 fi:id2 fi:ieS 17 l:l.fcl J:!.fdS
JS fi:if3 .lil.e4 19 fi:ixe5 'iii'xe5 20 'ii'xb4
l:l.ab8 21 l:l.d1 l:l.e8 22 'ii'c3 'ii'xc3 23
bxc3 l:l.e5 24 l:l.d4 (Novikov-Lalic. Ma-
nila Olympiad 1992), I would certainly
issue a warning. White is behind on de-
velopment and I also wouldn't rule out
any surplus home preparation involving
a sacrifice somewhere here.
9 ... li:ie7 10 e3
I was shocked to discover that 10
fi:ic3 0-0 11 e3 l:l.bS had been played
before, with White going on to win af-
ter 12 'iii' c4 .lil.e5 13 .lil.e2 l:l.b6 14 0-0
l:l.xc6 15 'iii' a4 l:l.g6 16 f4 .lil.xc3 17 bxc3
fi:id5 18 '!i'd4 (Lukacs-Vadasz, Budapest
1977). Okay, he probably does have an
edge now, but the remainder of the
game wasn't that convincing and there
are plenty of interesting deviations
available (e.g. 10 ... 'ii'd6).
10 .. Jl.bS 11 'li'e2 0-0!
I can't even remember whether the
likes of ChessBase were even around in
those days, but I certainly didn't have
access to any databases. These days I
might have known that only slightly
earlier my opponent had reached exactly
the same position and continued with
11....lil.fo 12 'iii'd2 0-0 13 .lil.c4 fi:ixc6 14
0-0 .lil.xb2 15 .lil.xb2 'ii'xd2 16 fi:ixd2
l:l.xb2 17 fi:ib3 fi:ieS JS l:l.fcl .lil.c2 19
fi:id4 .lil.d3 20 .lil.b3 fi:ig4 21 .lil.c2 c5 22
.lil.xd3 cxd4 23 exd4 fi:ixf2 24 .li/.f5 l:l.eS
25 d5 g6 26 l:l.c2 'lz-'/2 A.Sokolov-
Rausis, Viernheim 1992. Of course,
even if I had been aware of the exis-
tence of this encounter, it's very doubt-
ful that I would have predicted his
home-brewed improvement. Already at
this stage of the game I was chastising
myself. Even in those days I coached
youngsters and I was always telling
83
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
them about not moving one piece twice
in the opening before moving others
once. Then, of course, there's the 'don't
bring your queen out too early' princi-
ple. Well, all I had to show by way of
development was moving my queen to
where it obstructed the bishop in front
of my king. Not exactly setting a good
example!
12 11:lc3
To be honest, to this very day (and it
would be easier to reach a conclusion
with computer assistance) I haven't
been able to bring myself to study 12
exd4 liJxc6. White is a piece and (tem-
porarily) a pawn up but the position is a
joke. I can recall the post-mortem un-
covenng that White's undeveloped
position is really difficult to hold.
12 .. .'ilxc6 13 g4
At this point I had used well over an
hour on my clock with my opponent
using barely two minutes! It was fairly
clear that he had analysed it all before
(it's very disconcerting when a reply is
instantaneous) and now out of home
preparation, it didn't take him long to
refute my attempt at getting a piece out.
13 ... 11.xc3+ 14 bxc3 11.e4 15 J:l:g1
lt:le5
84
It's simply horrendous!
16 11.g2 lt:ld3 + 17 l!lf 1 11:lxc 1 0-1
The knight can't be recaptured be-
cause of 18 ... i.d3. Clearly my moves
weren't the greatest but I would defi-
nitely urge caution for players of the
white pieces.
Came36
Rei-Vasconcelos
Portuguese Ch., Lisbon 1999
1 d4 d5 2 c4 11.f5 3 'llib3 e5 4 dxe5
Making the same decision that White
does in the gambit coverage of Chapters
1-3.
4 ... 11:lc6
4 ... d4, continuing as in the Albin,
looks like an alternative. One might
think that 5 'lll'xb 7 liJd7 would be criti-
cal, but White must be careful not to get
his queen trapped. Funnily enough,
that's exactly what happened after 6
liJf3 l:!b8 7 'lll'xa7 liJcS! 8 'li!'aS (with
7 ... l:!a8 threatened, things were already
difficult and the text is no solution)
8... liJd3+! 9 exd3 i.b4+ 10 'lil'xb4 l:!xb4
(White has a fair few pieces for it but...)
11 b3 f6 12 i.a3 l:!.b6 13 exf6 l:!e6+ 14
\i;>d2 liJxf6 15 h3 h6 16 i.cS Sl.h 7 17
 The Baltic Defence: 3 'fib3 and 3 li'ic3 e6 4 'fib3
.ixd4 0-0 18 lt:lc3 l:He8 19 a4 c6 20 a5
l:id6 21 .ib6 l:lxd3+ 22 'i!;>c2 l:ld2+ 23
'il;>cl l:lc2+ 24 'i!;>bl 'li'd2 with an un-
stoppable mare in B.Schmidt-De Wa-
cl1ter, Bischwiller 1993. You can only
offer to sacrifice your queen if you have
one!
5 'Llf3
A fascinating and very complicated
encounter was 5 cxd5 .ib4+ 6 it:ld2
lud4 7 'lic4 luc2+ 8 'i!;>dl li:lxal 9 e4
.ixd2 10 .ixd2 .id7 11 f4 c6 12 e6
fxe6 13 dxe6 it:lf6 14 li:lf3 b5
(14 ... i..c8!>) 15 exd7+ 'li'xd7 16 'li'c5
lt:lxe4 17 'li'e3 0-0-0 (Knights really are
duff in corners. Even a little bit of
trickery after 17 ... 'li'd5 18 i..d3 'lixd3 19
'li'xd3 li:lf2+ 20 'il;>e2 it:lxd3 21 'i!;>xd3
0-0-0+ doesn't help Black, as 22 'i!;>c3
b4+ 23 'i!;>xb4 still leaves him having
return the exchange in order to save his
otherwise doomed knight.) 18 'li'xe4
l:lhe8 19 'li'bl 'li'e6 20 i..d3 'li'd5 21
l:lel l:lfS 22 i..e4 'li'd6 23 'li'xal l:txf4
24 'li'cl c5 25 'li'c3 b4 26 'li'xg7 l:l.d7 27
'li'e5 'li'f8 28 'i!;>cl l:tf6 29 i..d5 'li'd6 30
i..e6 1-0 Xu Yuanyuan-Mohota Yere-
van 2000. I like the way White played as
a very attractive centre was built up.
However, although Black was a whole
rook up for a while, one can't shake the
feeling that too much material was re-
turned too soon.
5 ... 'Llb4!?
We've already seen in this book why
a black knight on b4 and a black bishop
on f5 can cause White a headache. The
text is best as the alternative 5... dxc4 6
'li'xc4 .ixbl 7 :xbl .ib4+ 8 i..d2
i..xd2+ 9 luxd2 results in a simple
advantage to White.
6 11:la3
6 ... a5
I'm not sure that this is the best
move although it evidently turns out
quite well. Black's position seems quire
reasonable and tv.ro other alternatives
also stand out:
a) 6... dxc4 7 'li'xc4 .ie6 8 'li'd4 c5 9
'li'xd8+ l:txd8 10 e3 a6 11 b3 h6 12 ..lte2
li:le 7 13 0-0 b5 14 12\e 1 lt:lec6 with supe-
rior piece positioning for the pawn, Ge-
bigke-Guenrhner, Pforzheim 1997.
b) 6 ... d4 and now:
b 1) 7 .id2 a5 8 g3 when Black now
engaged in a dubious tactic: 8 ... ..\tc2? 9
luxc2 a4 10 'li'xb4 Jl.xb4 11 .ixb4.
Black had done his sums wrong as
White emerged with three minor pieces
for the queen. Somehow the draw was
eventually held, though, in Azamatov-
Wirthensohn, Liechtenstein 1994.
b2) 7 ... 'li'd7 8 l:[dl c5 9 it:lh4 Jl.e4 10
f3 i..c6 11 it:lbS (the white queen was in
trouble and he soon loses material be-
cause of the ... Jl.a4 threat) l 1...a6 12
li:ld6+ Jl.xd6 13 exd6 Jl.a4, and Black
wins, Blaser-Peter, Bern 1996.
7 g3
7 JI.gs 'lW d7 8 e3 is an alternative way
to develop bur the white queen still
feels awkwardly placed and ... a5-a4 is
85
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
always in the air.
7 ... d4 8 'iil'a4+ c6 9 .lt92 d3!? 10
e3 .lte4
This whole game has an Albin feel
about it. You will recall the debates we
had earlier about the relative merits of a
passed pawn such as the one on d3.
11 .ltd2 'ii!'d7 12 e6
Amongst other things, Black may
have had 12... ii'fS in mind to notch up
the eS-pawn. Hence White attempts to
return it on his terms, but this familiar
(hopefully to all readers by now!) theme
doesn't come off well here.
12 ... 'iil'xe6 13 ti:lg5 'iil'g4!
An important move. Mate is threat-
ened on e2.
14 13 'iil'xg5 15 lxe4 .ltc5
86
Now Black has well and truly taken
over White's operation.
16 0-0-0 Jl.xe3 17 l:lhl 1 ti:le 7 18
'iil'b3 0-0 19 l:113 .ltxd2 + 20 l:lxd2
'i!Vc5 21 l!lb1 15 22 'i!Vd1 l:lae8 23
exf5 ti:lxf5 24 .lth3 ti:ld4 25 l:lxf8+
'iifxl8 26 .ltf1 ti:ldc2
Black still has a big advantage but
26 ... li::if3 or 26 ... ii'f3 might have sealed
things more easily.
27 .ltxd3 l:le 1 28 .ltxc2 l:lxd 1 + 29
.ltxd1 'iifl1 30 b3 1!117 31 ti:lc2
31 ... ti:ld3??
Admittedly, Black still had a bit of
work to do in order to secure victory
but this blunder turns things around
completely.
32 ti:le3
Oops' Now the knight is lost. Really
White should have been playing on but
having suffered for most of the game,
he was clearly happy to draw.
32 ... 'iifg1 33 l:lxd3 'iifxh2 34 ti:lg4
%~%
Game37
Gutop-Rausis
Moscow 1992
1 d4 d5 2 c4 .ltf5 3 'i!Vb3 e5 4 'i!Vxb7
 The Baltic Defence: 3 'dlib3 and 3 iuc3 e6 4 'dlib3
Taking the greedy route and calling
Black's bluff. Still, if White had any faith
in 'li'b3, it had to be that he was serious
about snatching this pawn.
4 .. .li:ld7 5 luc3
There were a few options at this
juncture, but in making sure that his
queen doesn't get trapped, White must
also be careful that he doesn't fall too
far behind on development:
a) 5 dxe5!? d4 6 ti:lf3 l:!:b8 7 'lWc6 i.c5
8 'li'a4 ti:le7 9 a3 a5 10 ti:lbd2 0-0 11 g3
i.b6 12 b4 l:!:a8 13 b5 ti:lc5 14 'li'dl a4
15 i.g2 left Black having completed a
relatively successful smash and grab raid
in Lugovoi-Korolev, St Petersburg 1996
but 5... l:!:b8!? 6 'li'xd5 (or 6 'li'xa7 i.xbl
7 l:!:xbl i.b4+) 6... i.b4+, with 7 ... ti:le7
next, may keep White on his toes.
b) 5 cxd5 looked a little risky after
5... exd4 6 'li'c6 i.c5 7 ti:lf3 ti:le7 8 'li'a4.
Although White appeared to consoli-
date his extra pawn after 8 .. .li:lxd5 9
ti:lxd4 'li'h4 10 e3 0-0 11 ti:lc3 ti:lxc3 12
bxc3 ti:lf6 13 'lWc4 i.xd4 14 cxd4 i.e4
15 'li'xc7 l:!:ac8 16 'li'g3 in Mirovshchi-
kov-Skatchkov, Ekaterinburg 1996, in-
stead 8 ... l:!:b8!? keeps the pressure well
on.
c) 5 'li'xd5?! i.xb 1 6 l:!:xb 1 i.b4+ 7
lt'dl ti:lgf6 8 i.g5 0-0 9 ti:lf3 'li'c8 10
i.xf6 ti:lxf6 11 'li'xe5 l:!:e8 12 'lW f4 l:!:e4
13 'li'cl? ti:lg4 14 'li'c2 ti:lxf2+ 15 lt'cl
and although Black went on to win with
15 ... l:!:e3 in Mokriak-Jotov, Teteven
1991, in fact both 15 ... 'li'e8 and
15 ... 'li'g4 were stronger.
5 ... exd4 6 li:lxd5 .idG 7 e4
Black has also scored well against the
alternatives:
a) 7 i.4 i.xf4 8 ti:lxf4 ti:lgf6 9 0-0-0
c5 10 f3 l:!:b8 11 'li'a6 'li'c7 12 g3 'li'e5
13 e4 dxe3 14 'li'a3 0-0 15 i.d3 l:!:b4 16
'lWc3 i.xd3 17 l:!:xd3 ti:le4! and Black
was better in Goldin-Klaric, Palma de
Mallorca 1989.
b) 7 ti:lf3 c5 8 e3 ti:le7 9 exd4 0-0 10
'li'b3 ti:lxd5 11 cxd5 cxd4 12 ti:lxd4 ti:lc5
13 'li'dl l:!:e8+ 14 i.e2 ti:ld3+ 15 lt'fl
'li'h4 16 i.xd3 'li'xd4 17 i.e2 'li'xdl+ 18
i.xd 1 i.d3+ 19 i.e2 l:!:xe2 0-1 Kuhne-
Ehrke, Germany 1998.
c) 7 b4 l:!:b8 8 'li'xa7 ti:le7 9 a3 0-0 10
ti:lf3 ti:lxd5 11 cxd5 ti:lb6 12 i.d2 'li'c8
13 'li'a5 i.d7 14 l:!:cl 'li'b7 15 ti:lxd4
l:!:a8 16 l:!:bl l:!:xa5 17 bxa5 'li'xd5 0-1
A.Stahlberg-L.Svensson, Karls krona
1998.
These games merely confirm that
White is playing a dangerous game. If
the b 7-pawn isn't poisoned, it's at the
very least rather sour!
7 ... luc5 8 ~cG+
It seems rather illogical to give up the
only (and a well) developed piece to net
another pawn and accordingly 8 luxe 7+
has also suffered, e.g. 8... i.xc7 9 'li'c6+
(or 9 'li'b5+ ti:ld7 10 'li'xf5 i.a5+ 11
It'd 1 ti:le 7 12 'lWg5 0-0 13 ti:lf3 l:!:c8 14
i.d2 f5 15 b4 i.b6 16 c5 fxe4 17 cxb6
ti:lxb6 18 i.a6 l:!:c7 19 i.f4 l:!:xf4 20
'li'xf4 ti:lbd5 21 'li'e5 exf3 22 gxf3 ti:lg6
87
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
23 'lii' e6+ @h8 24 l:!'.e 1 li:le3+ 0-1
J.Bellin-Gobet, Biel 1987) 9 ... li:ld7 10
exf5 ii.as+ 11 @dl li:le7 12 'lii'f3 o. o 13
il.f4 'lii'b6 14 l:!'.bl li:lc6 15 a3 i1.c3 16
i1.d3 il.xb2 17 Wc2 l:!'.ab8 18 il.xb8
l:!'.xb8 19 li:le2 li:lce5 20 'lii'g3 li:lxd3 21
li:lcl li:lxcl 22 l:!'.hxcl d3+ 0-1
H.Sorensen-Rausis, Gausdal 1989.
I must admit that it would be inter-
esting to know how the advocates of
these tactical black lines would fare
against the likes of Fritz. These days it's
possible that much of the Latvian home
preparation may have been 'ruined' by
the 'spoilsport' computer engines that
could probably accept the material and
then keep it! For human beings, though,
it's a different story and the practical
value of this system looks excellent.
8 ... i1.d7 9 li:lxc7+ 'li'xc7!
The more materialistic 9... i1.xc7 10
'lii'xcS il.a5+ isn't as effective here be-
cause of 11 b4. Instead Igor's selection
keeps the compensation nicely on the
boil.
10 'li'xa8 + <J;;e 7
11 'li'd5
The queen couldn't hang around m
,iew of 11 ... i1.c6.
11 ... li:lf6 12 'li'xd4 li:lcxe4
88
There are definitely shades of Game
35 as twelve moves into the game, the
only white piece out is his queen. The
centralised black king is only a minor
inconvenience that is shortly sorted out.
13 li:lf3 'li'a5+ 14 i1.d2 li:lxd2 15
li:lxd2 i1.e5
Black has a handy pair of bishops and
this one in particular is a giant in the
centre of the board.
16 'li'e3 li:e8 17 0-0-0
I'm sure a few moves later White re-
grets his decision to 'go long' with his
king. However, after 17 il.e2 @f8 18
0-0' is still not possible because of
18 ... i1.xh2+ 19 Wxh2 l:!'.xe3 20 fxe3
'lii'xd2.
17 ... li:lg4
18 li:lb3
After 18 'lii'gS+ @f8 White has to deal
with 19 ... 'lii'xa2, 19 ... li:lxf2 and of course
19 ... i1.xb2+. A mere short-term solution
is 19 f4 in view of 19 ... hG 20 'lii'h4 i1.f6
21 'lii'g3 l:!'.e3 22 li:lf3 'lii'xa2, which will
certainly lead to mate.
18 ... 'li'xa219'li'g5+
19 'lii'c5+ with the move 20 'lii'a3 to
follow was the only way for White to
stay alive.
19 ... WfS 0-1
 The Baltic Defence: 3 'lll'b3 and 3 /jjc3 e6 4 'liib3
Game38
Bates-Summerscale
Richmond 1994
1 d4 d5 2 c4 ~15 3 li:lc3
The text move order pretty much
forces Black's hand as he never has time
to fit in ... c7-c6 as well.
3 ... e6
Ali Slav players know that the posi-
tion after 3 ... c6'! 4 cxd5 cxdS (i.e. if they
have mistakenly just played ... .\i.fS) is
bad because of 5 'ilfb3!. The difference
between this and our main variation is
that the 8-bishop isn't yet controlling
b4, thus making 'ilfxb 7 less risky.
4 'l!i'b3
By playing the knight out first, White
has bypassed the tactical variations with
... e7-e5. Instead Black is looking to keep
his centre although because of 4 'l1Vb3,
there is no time for the ultra solid 4 ... c6
that appears in the next chapter.
4 .. .lt:lc6 5 cxd5
The drawback of placing the queen
on b3 and the tactical use of 4...1i:k6 is
well highlighted after 5 li::)3,! li:lb4! 6 e4
dxe4 7 cS a5 8 a3 exf3 9 axb4 'ilfxd4
(I.Ivanov-Mezentsev, San Francisco
2000). Actually, I guess White is still on
the board, an assessment that is very
doubtful about 5 'ilfxb7? li:lxd4.
5 ... exd5 6 li::113
It should be observed that 6 'ilfxdS,
is virtually losing to 6... li:lxd4 and 6
li:lxds, (aiming to meet 6... li:lxd4 with 7
'l1Va4+) falls into the trap of 6 ... .\i.e4!, e.g.
7 'ilfe3 (or 7 lt:lc3 li:lxd4 8 'ilfa4+ bS 0-1
Aoiz Linares-Moyano Morales, St Cugat
1994) 7 ... 'ilfxdS 8 f3 12lxd4 9 fxe4 lt:lc2+
10 ~f2 'ilfcS 11 'ilfxc5 .\i.xcS+ 12 e3
lt:lxa 1 13 .\i.d3 0-0-0 14 ~e2 li:lf6 15
12lf3 l:the8 16 eS 12ld7 17 b4 .s11..xb4 18
..\tb2 f6 19 .\i.xh7 li:lxeS 20 .\i.xeS fxeS
21 l:txal e4 22 lt:lgS l:td2+ 23 ~fl l':l.f8+
24 ~g 1 ..\tcS 25 li:lxe4 .s11..xe3+ 26 ~h 1
l:1xa2 0-1 Zhaurov-Korobov, Kstovo
1998.
6 ... ~b4
I feel that here is a very good point in
the game to have a discussion. 6 ... 12lf6 is
covered in the next game but an obvi-
ous alternative is 6 ... li:lb4
After all, wasn't I essentially just im-
plying how, with both ... .\i.c2 and ... li:lc2
threatened, this move often exploits the
queen on b3? The theoretical answer is
that, thanks to a earlier trade of pawns
on dS, White now has 7 e4!, intending
89
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
7 ... dxe4 8 12:leS il.e6 (no improvement
here was the 8... 't!!Ve7 9 il.c4 li:ld3+ 10
il.xd3 exd3 11 't!!Vxb7 l:l.cS 12 0-0 't!!Vd6
13 l:l.e 1 12:le 7 14 li:lc6 il.e6 15 12:lxa 7 l:l.dS
16 li:lcb5 't!!Vb6 17 12:lxc 7+ 1-0 of Schem-
mann-Poulain St lngbert 1994) 9 il.c4
li:ld3+ 10 li:lxd3 il.xc4 11 't!!Vxc4 exd3 12
't!!VbS+ c6 13 't!!Vxb7 and White stands
better, B.Beliavsky-Korolev, St Peters-
burg 1996.
However, I'm not totally convinced
that 6 ... li:lb4 deserves the question mark
that many commentators have affixed
to it, as 7... 't!!VeW 8 li:le5 (after 8 il.b5+
c6 9 0-0 dxe4 10 il.g5 li:lf6 11 li:lh4 il.e6
12 il.c4 0-0-0 Black even went on to
win in Gokhale-Parker, British Ch.,
Dundee 1993) 8 ... f6 9 li:lxd5 li:lxd5 10
't!!Vxd5 fxe5 11 exf5 exd4+ 12 il.e2 l:l.d8,
as seen in Menyhart-Papp, Hungarian
League 1999, doesn't look that clear to
me at all.
7 a3
Getting straight to the point. In
symmetrical queen's pawn openings we
are generally taught not to obstruct our
c-pawns. Most critical after 1 d4 dS is
for White to want to make that c2-c4
pawn break at an early stage. Similarly,
Black's c-pawn is required to either bol-
ster his centre with ... c7-c6 or attack his
opponent's with a timely ... c7-c5. An
obvious anti-positional element of
Black's position in these lines is the
'misplaced knight' on c6. Black man-
aged to solve this after 7 il.f4 li:lf6 8 e3
0-0 9 il.e2 li:le4 10 l:l.c 1 l:l.e8 11 0-0
il.xc3 12 bxc3 li:la5 13 't!!Va4 c6 bur, al-
though Black's grip on c4 left him okay
in McMahon-Vang Frank, Kilkenny
1999, the other drawback of 6 ... il.b4
must be the requirement of Black to
90
concede his 'good' bishop.
Though played before with some
success, I don't believe that either 7 e3
or 7 il.d2 should test a reasonable de-
fender.
7 ... il.xc3+ 8 'i!Vxc3 li:\16 9 .ig5
9 ... 'i!Vd6
The problem with the game con-
tinuation (from Black's point of view) is
that he doesn't generate enough activity.
White has an obvious plan on the
queenside and, rather than just trying to
hold things there, it would be more in
the spirit for Black to generate some
play on the kingside. Something like
9 ... 0-0 10 e3 h6 11 il.xf6 't!!Vxf6 12 il.e2
J:l.fcS 13 0-0 li:le7 14 l:l.fcl c6 15 b4 li:lg6
1612:lel l:l.eS 17 a4 l:l.e6 18 b5 l:l.aeS 19
't!!Va5 't!!Ve7 20 il.d3 b6 21 't!!Vc3 il.xd3 22
li:lxd3 cxbS 23 axb5 't!!Vd7 24 't!!Vb3 looks
good for White, as he has successfully
managed to isolate and target the black
d5-pawn. However, after 24 ... J:!.f6 25
l:l.c2 li:lh4 26 12:leS 't!!Vf5 27 l:l.xa 7 li:lxg2!!
Black achieved a similar aim on the
kingside: 28 l:l.ac7 li:lh4 29 4 't!!Ve4 30
l:l.cS l:l.fe6 31 l:l.xeS+ l:l.xe8 32 l:l.e2 l:l.a8
33 't!!Vdl li:lf5 34 't!!Vd3 l:l.al+ 35 Wf2
't!!Vhl 36 l:l.c2 't!!Vgl+ 37 We2 't!!Vg2 mate
(Ree-Sahovic, Amsterdam 1979).
 The Baltic Defence: 3 'iib3 and 3 iilc3 e6 4 'ikb3

10 .ltxf6 There was a serious threat in 24 .1:txc6.

I suppose this is the simplest as the 24 '!li'b4 c6 25 li:le5!
unpinned knight was ready to run away.
1O... 'ili'xf6 11 e3 0-0 12 .lte2 .ltg4
Although I've already mentioned
how, with a black knight on c6, the d5-
pawn is significantly weaker, Black's
light-squared bishop does remain quite
active. On fS it covered what could be a
useful square (bl) and dissuaded .lid3.
Now on g4, there will most likely be the
option of trading itself for either of
White's minor pieces.
13 0-0 l:i:ac8 14 '!li'c5 l:i:fd8 15 l:i:fc1
l:i:d6 16 b4 h6 17 l:i:a2 \!,h8 The knight is superb here (for one
thing it threatens 12ixc6) and, after a
trade of bishops, it will take a while be-
fore Black can budge it with ... f7-f6.
25 ... .ltg6 26 l:!:b2 'ili'c7
27 l'i:lxc6 was once again on White's
mind as the d6-rook was pinned.
27 'ili'b6 'ili'xb6 28 l:i:xb6
Black's queenside pawn structure 1s
fine, but the passive positioning of his
pieces means that pins are the name of
the game. With 29 .lia6 a possibility
now, Black is destined to drop a pawn.
This may look odd but upon closer 28 ... li:lc8 29 l:i:cxc6 l:i:xc6 30 li:lxc6
inspection, it seems that there is little li:lxb6 31 li:lxb8 \!,98 32 .ltb5 .ltf5
constructive for Black to do. 17 ... a6 may 33 a4
prepare to move the knight but then 18
a4, with b4-b5 to follow, could easily
see White making something of the a-
file.
18 h3 .lth5 19 '!li'b5 l:i:b8 20 '!li'a4
A clever manoeuvre to eke out a
concession.
20 ... a6 21 l:i:ac2 '!li'e7 22 b5
This turns out well but 22 'l!Vb3, in-
tending a3-a4 and b4-b5, looks like a
sensible plan too.
22 ... axb5 23 '!li'xb5 li:la7

9 -
 Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
The prospect of 34 aS means that the
\\bite knight will escape and his extra
pawn will bring him victory.
33 ... li:lc4 34 li:ld7 .ixd7 35 .ixd7
@t8 36 @t1 @e7 37 .ib5 li:ld6 38
@e2 @d8 39 .id3 @c7 40 @d2 @b6
41 lilc3 @a5 42 @b3 h5 43 .te2
li:le4 44 .ixh5 96 45 .if3 li:ld2+ 46
lila3 li:lc4+ 4 7 lila2 @xa4 48 .ixd5
li:ld6 49 e4 f5 50 e5 li:lb5 51 .ixb 7
li:lxd4 52 .id5 f4 53 h4 li:lf5 54 .lte4
li:le7 55 94 fx93 56 fx93 lilb4 57 94
lilc5 58 h5 9xh5 59 9xh5 /1)98 60
@b3 li:lh6 61 .if3 @b6 62 lilc4 @c7
63 lild5 @d7 64 e6+ lile 7 65 lile5
lilts 66 lilt6 li:l98+ 67 @96 li:le7+
68 @f6 li:l98+ 69 @95 @e7 70 .id5
li:lf6 71 h6 li:lxd5 72 h7 @xe6 73
h8'il' 1-0
---------------
Game39
Gagarin-Konotop
,._-----------...a
Moscow 1998
1 d4 d5 2 c4 .tf5 3 li:lc3 e6 4 li:lf3
li:lf6 5 cxd5 exd5 6 il'b3 li:lc6
6 ...12\fo is effectively a the third alter-
native (to 6 ... 12\b4 and 6... .11.b4) that I
wanted to discuss, although here you
can sec that we've reached the position
92
via a different move order.
7 .lt95
The most natural move. It should
now go without saying that White
should stay away from 7 'liVxb7' lob4.
After 8 \Id 1, not only could Black at
least force a draw with ... l::tb8-a8-b8 etc.,
but 8 ...12\g4, amongst other things, is
very difficult to deal with.
7 .. .li:la5
I've previously stated why the knight
looks awkward on c6 and hence Black
sets about replacing it with a pawn.
Only 7 ... 'liVd6 8 e3 0-0-0 offers anything
different but the nice game, that I be-
lieve White has, was superbly demon-
strated with 9 a3 12\aS 10 'liVa4 'liVb6 11
b412\c6 12 11.bS h6 13 .11.h4 gS 14 .11.g3
g4 1512le512lxe51611.xeS .11.g7 17 llcl
1/b8 18 12\xdS l::txdS 19 .11.xc7+ 'liVxc7
20 l::txc7 1/xc7 21 .11.c4 1/b8 22 11.xdS
12\xdS 23 'liVb3 .11.e6 24 e4 12\fo 25 'liVd3
.11.d7 26 0-0 a6 27 'liVg3+ 1/a8 28 'liVf4
11.bS 29 l::tcl i2ld7 30 eS hS 31 'liVxf7
11.xeS 32 dxeS 12\xeS 33 'liVfS and White
won, Klebel-Rausis, Germany 1993.
8 'il'a4+ c6 9 .ixf6
This move has previously been criti-
cised but I don't feel that this is justi-
fied. Admittedly, 9 e3 looks sensible too
 The Baltic Defence: 3 'lll'b3 and 3 lbc3 e6 4 'lll'b3
but, although that appears to keep
White's options open, in fact it seems to
me that Black has a couple of interest-
ing ways to mix things up nicely. Previ-
ously analysed has been 9 ... b5 10 ~xb5
cxb5 11 'lli'xb5+ ~d7 12 ~xf6 gxf6 13
'lli'xd5 (unclear!) although 9 ... 'l!!i'b@ is
quite appealing.
9 ... gxf6 10 e3 a6
10 ... 'l!Vb6 11 0-0-0 'l!Vb4 12 'l!Vxb4
~xb4 13 12:le2 (13 12::ih4!? also has its
points) 13 ... 12:lc4 1412:lg3 12::id6 15 12:lxf5
12:lxf5 was obviously better for White in
Zeller-Kralj, Germany 1989, but
10 ... b5!? might just (in view of the game
continuation) be worth a go. Above we
saw that 11 ~xb5 is inconclusive, while
11 12:lxb5 cxb5 12 ~xb5+ ~e 7 13 12:lh4
~e4 14 f3 ~g6 15 f4 ~e4 turned out
better for Black in Engman-Rausis,
Gausdal 1989. That just leaves 11 'l!Vdl
12:lc4, which is difficult to assess.
11 'ili'd1 !
I really like this anticipatory retreat,
which acknowledges that the queen's
job has been done on the queenside.
Now both ~d3 and 'llV d2 (if hit by
... 'l!Vb6) are available. In addition, the
queen eyes a swift call up into kingside
action in order to exploit Black's weak-
nesses there.
Instead, 11 12:lh4 b5 12 'llfdl ~g6 13
~e2 12:lc4 14 ~xc4 bxc4 15 'l!Va4 'l!Vd7
16 12:lxg6 hxg6 looked fine for Black in
Gaertner-W.Posch Austria 1999, and 11
b4?! 12:lc4 12 ~xc4 dxc4 13 e4 b5 14
'llV c2 ~g4 15 a3 a5 left Black clearly on
top in H.Muller-P.Juergens, Dortmund
1993.
11 ... ~g7
This may be a slight error, but Black
is after more cover on the g-file as he
wants to castle short.
12 b3 0-0 13 ~d3 ~xd3
Usually 13 ... ~g6, hoping that a trade
will iron out some pawns, would be
more logical. However, as well as 14
12::ih4, angling for that key f5-square,
White has the attractive 14 h4!?, looking
to force the issue with 15 h5.
14 'i'xd3 b5 15 l!:le2
Va ca ting the c- file to make way for
l:!.acl and eyeing up a juicy square or
rwo on the kingside.
15 ...l!:lb7 16 0-0 li:ld6 17 l:l:ac1 'ili'd7
18 l!:lg3 l:l:tc8 19 l!:lh4
It's all pretty basic stuff as White's
moves play themselves.
19 ... ~fB 20 f3 a5 21 e4
If Black swaps pawns on e4 then the
93
 Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
f-file will spell his doom. That said, he is
positionally lost anyhow.
21 .. .a4 22 li:c2 axb3 23 axb3 li:a3
24 li:lhf5 li:lxf5 25 li:lxf5 li:ca8 26
li:fc1 li:8a6 27 h4 'lll'e6 28 li:b1 li:a8
29 li:e2
To be honest, it looks as though
White makes a bit of a meal out of this
position although he gets there in the
end.
29 ... 'lil'd7 30 h5 li:d8 31 'lil'c3 c5 32
dxc5 d4 33 'lil'd3 .ixc5 34 li:c2 .ltb4
35 li:d1
35 ... li:c8? 36 li:xc8+ 'lll'xc8 37
'lil'xb5 li:xb3
The passive 37 ... ~fS merely prolongs 6 ... .ixe4
the agony.
38 'lil'xb4! 1-0
There is a decisive fork on e 7.
, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , , available, 7 'lii'xb7'! lt:lxd4 8 ~b5+
Game40
Szollosi-L. Deak
Hungarian League 1995
..__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __. 17 l:!.xd4 l:!.fe8 18 J:!.d2 e3! 19 l:!.e2 exf2+
1 d4 d5 2 c4 .if5 3 li:lc3 e6 4 'lll'b3
li:lc6 5 cxd5 exd5 6 e4?!
We've seen instances where this
break is recommended (e.g. after 6 it:lf3
lt:lb4) but this isn't one of them'
Regarding lesser seen 6th move alterna-
94
uves:
a) 6 .ltf4'! it:lxd4 7 'l!Va4+ lt:lc6 8
0-0-0 it:lf6 doesn't offer White much,
e.g. 9 f3 .ltd6 10 g4 ~e6 11 e3 0-0 12
h4 a6 13 .ltxd6 'lii'xd6 14 it:lh3 'lii'c5 15
'lii'f4 b5 16 a3 b4 17 axb4 lt:lxb4 18 it:lf2
l:!.ab8 19 it:ld3 it:lxd3+ 20 ~xd3 l:!.b4 21
'lii'g5 J:!.fb8 22 l:!.h2 h6 23 'l!VeS it:ld7 24
'lii'g3 'lii'xe3+ 25 J:!.dd2 it:lc5 0-1 Nimsch-
D.Fischer, Germany 1997.
b) 6 ~g5?! is not great after 6 ... it:lxd4'
7 'lii'a4+ ~d7 8 'lii'xd4 'lii'xg5 9 it:lf3 'lii'f6
10 'lii'xd5 0-0-0 when Black's bishop
pair are looking good, Wallach-
Berchenko, Chicago 1984.
Surprisingly, 6 ... dxe4 is a far more
popular way of capturing:
a) Whilst there are improvements
lt:lxb5 9 'lii'xb5+ 'l!Vd7 10 'lii'b 7 l:!.dS 11
~gs f6 12 J:!.dl .ltd6 13 .lte3 lt:le7 14
lt:lge2 0-0 15 .ltxa7 lt:lc6 16 it:ld4 lt:lx<l4
20 ~xf2 l:!.xe2+ 21 ~xe2 .ltg4+ 22 ~d2
~a3+ 23 ~e3 'lii'd2+ 0-1 Angerer-
Posch, Vienna 1998 is a very entertain-
ing game.
b) 7 d5 it:lb4 8 a3 it:ld3+ 9 .ltxd3 exd3
is quite murky.
7 'UX
"'
7 e4 "' 4 l:!.bS!
" ' d4 8 "-JXe . left
""'xb
m 7 "-lX . . . rive m the
m1t1a
Black wit h a . strong
ne Tel Aviv, way
game Zwaig-Fallo '
back in 1964. . :r mate via 12 ... ~d3+ and
Threatening

7 ... dxe4 8 .l1.c4 behind 6 e4 (although 13 ... ~fl+. 7 13 lbf3 exf3 14

12 1!Vxa8+ lild
The big poim his chances). White
White is overrat1n~ b7 still hanging, his .l1.e3 lbge7 salt into the wound.
targets f7 and ' wit least hope.I) is. that This merely rubs . ore than adequate
4Jxd4 was also m
expectation (or at the light sguares. 14... 17
Black may crumble on
for victory. + lilc1 lbxd4
7 15 1!Vxh8 1!Vd 3 16
8... 1!Ve ! 9 .l1.xf7+ .. xb 4 Jtxb4+
"'"b4+ 10 ,rn,
9 ~xb 7 l" . he d4-pawn. 1!Vxh 7
White tries to pu .
ll a fast one but
ld see B ac k netting t t comb.ma-
:mores him.
Black simply tg
~::ever, although the t~~:gs backfire
.
uon loo ks attracuve, 17 ... lbe2 mate

9:'
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

Summary
A.s I clearly suffered a life-scarring experience in that variation, I have probably
been a bit hard on White's chances in Game 35. What should, however, become
clear to the reader is that, although a black knight on c6 is poorly placed from a po
sitional angle (see Game 38), it is often involved tactically to exploit the early white
queen sortie to b3.
Although on b3 her majesty can attack the b 7 -pawn, the dS-pawn and pressurise
through to f7 (useful for when a surprise e2-e4 break appears), White should be
wary of forgetting his development. The queen can pick off several pawns without
noticing the black pieces swarming into action.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 i.fS 3 li:lc3
3 'llVb3 (D) eS
4 cxd5 Game 35
4 dxe5 Game 36
4 'llVxb7 Game 37
3 ... e6 4 'i'b3 li:lc6 5 cxd5 exd5 (D) 6 li:lf3
6 e4 Game40
6 ... li:lf6
6 ....tb4 Game 38
7 i.g5 (D) Game 39

3 'i'b3 5 ... exd5 7 i.g5

96
 CHAPTER SIX I
The Baltic Defence:
3 iZ'lf3

1 d4 d5 2 c4 .llf5 3 ii:lf3 stop to both of those, whilst attempting

The first two games of this chapter
show White still provoking .. .luc6 by
whipping out 4 'i!Vb3. However, after
that White shies away from the tactics
seen in the last chapter by trying to cut
out .. .'L)b4 altogether. Although the
move c4-c5 does, in general, have a
clamping effect, it looks as though
Black has enough play elsewhere not to
suffer too badly.
Possibly more worrying to the pure
Baltic Defence player are Games 43 and
44, where Black doesn't generate his
usual amount of play after rejecting
White's offer of transposing into a
variation of the Slav Defence.
to place a clamp on Black's position.
Usually in a standard Queen's Gambit,
White isn't advised to play such a move
as it takes the tension off of the centre
and gives Black an obvious plan of aim-
ing for ... eS. That's not so applicable
here as Black's light-squared bishop
isn't locked inside the pawn chain.
However, the fact that it's not on c8
means that the b 7 -pawn really is en
prise now.

Game41
Gretarsson-M .Ehrke
Gausda! 1998

1 d4 d5 2 c4 .ll. f5 3 ii:lf3 e6 4 'i'b3

ii:lc6 5 c5
5 li:lc3 would have transposed to last 5 ... l::tb8
chapter, in which both 5 ... .tb4 and Although this might look like a pas-
5... li:lb4 were covered. The text puts a sive way to defend the pawn, at such a

97
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
future time, when the .lil.bS pin and IZleS
aren't available to White, it is possible
that this rook could see some action via
... b7-b6.
A rare alternative 5 ... a5, which rein-
troduces the ...1Zlb4 possibility, was kind
of refuted in the unique style of a popu-
lar English Grandmaster: 6 .lil.f4 li:lb4 7
1Zla3 IZle 7 8 g4 .lil.e4 9 h4 1Zlec6 10 l:th3
.lil.xf3 11 'i'xf3 'lW f6 12 e3 eS 13 gS 'lW fS
14 .lil.h2 'i'xf3 15 l:txf3 exd4 16 li:lbS fS
17 1Zlxc7+ <;j;,d7 18 l:txfS l:tc8 19 .lil.h3
<;j;,dS 20 1Zle6+ <;j;,es 21 <;j;,d2 dxe3+ 22
fxe3 and White went on to win in Con-
quest-Bjornsson, Hafnarfirdi 1992.
Don't ask me what was going on in the
early part of that game. Only Stuart is
capable of playing such crazy moves!
6 .l1.f4
6 e3 has been played here but it's not
particularly inspirational. The text grips
the eS-square and thus side-steps the
debate over 6 1Zlc3 eS 7 e4 1Zlxd4
(7 ... exd4 8 exfS dxc3 9 .lil.bS .lil.xcS 10
0-0 li:lf6 11 'i'xc3 has been said to give
White a clear advantage but there's
nothing especially clear about the posi-
tion except that White has a develop-
ment lead for a pawn) 8 1Zlxd4 exd4 9
'lWa4+ c6 10 'i'xd4 .lil.xe4 11 'lWeS+ .lil.e7
12 1Zlxe4 dxe4. In Taha-Rahman, Kuala
Lumpur 1993, Black went on to win
after 13 'i'xg7 .lil.f6 but it was all rather
unconvmcmg.
Perhaps the central complications do
favour White, but there is no compul-
sion for Black to enter them. Instead
6... .lil.e7 7 .lil.f4 g5!' 8 .lil.eS?! (better is 8
.lil.g3, as 8... hS!? 9 h4 g4 doesn't really
win a pawn because of 10 li:leS 1Zlxd4
11 'lWa4+) 8 ... li:lxeS 9 IZlxeS f6 10 g4
fxeS 11 gxfS exd4 12 li:lbS c6 13 1Zlxd4
98
eS 14 li:le6 'lWaS+ 15 <;j;,dJ 1Zlf6 turned
out quite well for Black in H.Kohl-
Rausis, Untergrombach 1995.
6 . ..ti:lf6
As just seen, an alternative idea of
6 ... .lil.e7 7 e3 gS 8 .lil.g3 hS might take
Black's fancy, with 9 h4 g4 10 li:leS
IZlxeS 11 .lil.xeS f6 12 'lWa4+ ',j;,f7 being
far from your typical game (Haag-
Rausis, Bad Mergentheim 1989).
Either way, both moves are better
than the premature 6... b6 7 e3 f6 8 .lil.bS
1Zlge7 9 'lWa4 'lWd7 10 b4 g5', which was
crushed by 11 .lil.xgS! fxgS 12 IZleS m
Krallmann-Funke, Germany 1994.
7 h3
Offering the dark-squared bishop a
retreat square as a way of dealing with a
future ... li:lhS. That option wasn't taken
up after 7 1Zlc3 a6 8 e3 .lil.e 7 9 .lil.e2,
when instead 9 ... 1Zle4 10 li:lxe4 .lil.xe4 11
'lWa4 0-0 12 0-0 .lil.f6 13 l:tfdl l:ta8 14 b4
'lWe 7 15 lilac! l:tfd8 16 'i'b3 l:ta 7 17 a4
left White looking to push home his
space advantage but Black still on the
board in Krallmann-Drill, Kassel 1994.
7 ... .11.e 7 8 e3 a6 9 li:lc3 li:le4 1 O
'l!Va4 0-0
Black doesn't want to trade on c3 be-
cause, although the bl-square is cov-

ered, the inevitable c3-c4 will lead to
White obtaining an extra centre pawn.
11 lk 1 95 12 .lth2 h5
A novel approach. Black is attacking
on the kingside even though his king
resides there but his opponent's doesn't!
Nevertheless, Black needed something
to do and the text certainly gains some
space.
13 b4 94 14 liJxe4 .ltxe4 15 liJd2
.lt96 16 hx94 hx94
I do believe that White holds a rea-
sonable advantage here although I'm
not sure that he continues in the correct
way. The rest of the game is certainly
interesting although one can't help get
the feeling that it was White's superior
rating that saw him through, rather than
a sufficient middlegame/ endgame edge.
17 b5 axb5 18 .ltxb5 J:l:a8 19 'ili'b3
liJa5 20 'ili'd1 15 21 .lt14 .lt95
Now if White trades bishops, Black
can seek some action for his remaining
bad one via ... f5-f4.
22 93 .ltx14 23 9xl4 @17
Black looks to challenge the h-file. As
there is now no realistic available route
for the knight to make it to the eS-
outpost, the rest of the game is really
hard work.
The Baltic Defence: 3 '8f3
24 13 .!:i:h8 25 @12 .lth5 26 .lte2
9xl3 27 .ltxl3 .ltxl3 28 liJxl3 liJc4
29 J:l:c2 J:l:xh1 30 'ili'xh1 'ili'h8 31
'ili'xh8 J:l:xh8 32 a4 J:l:h 1 33 J:l:a2 @e 7
34 a5 @d7 35 a6 bxa6 36 J:l:xa6
J:l:c1 37 /1)95 J:l:c2+ 38 @93 J:l:c3 39
J:l:xe6 J:l:xe3 + 40 J:l:xe3 liJxe3 41 liJl3
@e6 42 @h4 @16 43 liJe5 liJc2 44
liJc6 liJe3 45 liJb4 @e6 46 @95 @e7
47 @96 @e6 48 @95 @e7 49 liJc6+
@d7 50 liJe5+ @e6 51 /1)13 liJc2 52
@96 liJe3 53 liJh4 liJc2 54 liJl3 liJe3
55 liJh4 liJc2 56 liJxl5 c6 57 liJ97+
@d7 58 15 liJxd4 59 16 liJl3 60 /1)15
@e6 61 @97 @e5 62 liJh4 liJ95 63
@96 liJe6 64 liJl3 + @14 65 @17 @15
66 @e7 d4 67 17 d3 68 liJd4+
liJxd4 69 18'ili' + @e4 70 'ili'l2 @d5
71 @16 @c4 72 @e5 liJb3 73 'ili'b2
liJxc5 74 'ili'd4+ 1-0
Game42
0. Todorov-Brochet
Cannes 1996
1 d4 d5 2 c4 .lt15 3 liJl3 e6 4 'ili'b3
liJc6 5 .ltd2
A simple move to cover the b4-
square. White prefers to retain the ten+
sion around the centre pawns which,
99
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
ironically, is a situation that Black now
seeks to take advantage of.
5 ... dxc4!?
In a rare outing with the opening my-
self (I was desperate to play for a win
and it seemed like a good idea at the
time!), I played 5.. .'i!i'd7 here as I had no
idea what the theory was. I think it's fair
to say that, overall, White had the better
of an eventual draw and, despite my
initial aspirations, I felt relieved to shake
hands at the end: 6 e3 0-0-0 7 cxd5
exdS 8 ~bS f6 9 0-0 a6 10 ~e2 ~d6 11
l:tcl ~xbl 12 l:taxbl {jjge7 13 'i!i'dl
{jja7 14 b4 bS 15 a4 Wb7 16 {jjel {jjec8
17 {jjd3 c6 18 {jjcS+ ~xc5 19 bxc5 f5
20 axb5 axb5 21 l:tal l:thf8 22 l:ta2 @b8
23 l:tca 1 'iii' e6 24 'i!i'b 1 l:td7 25 ~d3 g5
26 f3 h5 27 e4 '/2-'/2 Lalic-Ward, Jersey
1997.
The solid move is 5... l:tb8 6 e3 a6 7
cS {fjf6 (7 ... e51?) 8 'i!i'a4 {jjd7 9 b4 l:ta8
10 ~e2 ~e7 11 'i!i'b3 0-0, which didn't
look too bad for Black in Dao Thien
Hai-Rowson, Bratislava 1993. White still
retains a space advantage, as in our last
main game, but here White's dark-
sguared bishop is inside the pawn chain.
6 'l!Vxb7
The most critical reply. After 6 'i!i'xc4,
both 6 ... ji,e4 and 6 .. ,{fjf6 are fine for
Black.
6 ... .i.e4!
This looks more accurate than
6 ... {jjge 7 which, although encouraging
mayhem, has favoured White in practice
after both:
a) 7 'i!i'a6 l:tb8 8 ~c3 {jjb4 9 'i!i'a4+
{jjec6 10 {jja3 'iii'd5 11 {jjes l:tb6 12
{jjxc6 'i!i'xc6 13 'i!i'xc6+ l:txc6 14 g3 l:ta6
15 ~g2 l:!.xa3 16 bxa3 {jjc2+ 17 Wd2
{jjxa 1 18 ~c6+ Wd8 19 e4 ~g6 20 l:!.b 1
100
{jjb3+ 21 axb3 (Schlosser-Konieczka,
Germany 1988) and
b) 7 'i!i'b5 l:!.b8 8 'i!i'a4 l:!.xb2 9 {jja3
l:!.xd2 10 @xd2 eS 11 e3 exd4 12 ~xc4
dxe3+ 13 We2 ~d7 14 'i!i'b3 {fjf5 15
~xf7+ We7 16 fxe3 g6 17 l:!.adl ~h6
18 {jjc4 {jjd6 19 ~dS 'i!i'c8 20 'i!i'a3 {jjd8
21 e4 @e8 22 'i!i'xd6 cxd6 23 {jjxd6+
We7 24 {jjxc8+ (Mahn-Schuettig, Ger-
many 1997).
7 li:lc3 l:l.b8 8 'l!Va6 li:lb4
Yes, it's that old move again!
9 'i!Va4+ .i.c6 10 'i!Vd1 .i.xf3 11 exf3
'i!Vxd4 12 'l!Va4+
Black conceded his light-sguared
bishop in order to net that d-pawn.
Consequently, White now turns his at-
tention to the light squares again.
12 ... 'l!Vd7
Were there a suitable square for the
king, then nudging the monarch to the
side might have been a consideration.
There wasn't and so an endgame ap-
proaches.
13 'l!Vxd7+ @xd7 14 0-0-0
The best way to stop 14...{jjc2+. The
c4-pawn will drop next.
14 ... .i.d6 15 .i.xc4
I suppose White has the slightly bet-
ter pawn structure and the bishop pair.

However, Black has a half open b-file,
the more centralised king and the d5-
square also looks like a potentially good
home for a knight. A draw looks like
the fairest result and the players don't
disappoint!
15 ...li:lf6 16 ~e3 a5 17 a3 li:lc6 18
l:the1 @e7 19 ~g5 li:le5 20 ~a2 h6
21 ~h4 l:thd8 22 li:ld5+
A nice-looking tactic that, alas,
merely leads to a liquidation to an op-
posite-coloured bishops scenario.
22 ... exd5 23 f4 g5 24 ~xg5 hxg5
25 fxe5 c6 26 l:td3 ~c7 27 exf6+
@xf6 28 l:tf3+ @g7 29 @c2 l:te8 30
l:tte3 @f8 '/z -'/z
Game43
Van Wely-1.Sokolov
Internet 2000
'-------------
1 li:lf3 d5 2 d4 ~f5 3 c4 e6 4 li:lc3
li:lc6
For the first time, then, we are seeing
'il'b3 omitted from White's early en-
quires, yet Black is still opting for
... li:lc6. With all of the available material
at my disposal, including this fairly re-
cent encounter between two world-class
players, I'm afraid that I may have to
The Baltic Defence: 3 lbf3
break a few hearts by concluding that
4... c6 is the superior move. Although
there is no necessity for me to talk
about this transposition to the Slav de-
fence, I do discuss the whole concept in
a little more derail in Game 45.
5 ~f4
As I have mentioned before, the
knight is poorly placed on c6 in a
QG D-style position and, without White
having to worry about the ...iub4 tactics
that often worked with the queen on
b3, it seems that White can just play
simple moves in order to obtain a com-
fortable edge.
5 ... li:lf6 6 e3 ~e7
After 6... a6 7 l:.cl :l,..e7 8 :l,..e2 .i:1c8 9
0-0 0-0 10 cxd5 exdS 11 IZ:la4 li:le4 12
a3, Black made a go of things with
12 ... gS 13 :l,..g3 h5 but, alas, even 14 h3
li:lxg3 15 fxg3 :l,..d6 16 li:ld2 :l,..g6 17
:l,..xhS turned out well for White:
17 ... 'il'e7 18 .i:1c3 :l,..xg3 19 'l!Vf3 :l,..xhS
20 'lii'xhS :l,..d6 21 li:lf3 f6 22 'lii'g6+ 'il'g7
23 'i1Vf5 li:le7 24 'l!Ve6+ ~h8 25 li:lcS
.i:1ce8 26 12lxb7 IZ:lg6 27 'l!Vxd5 and
White soon won in Chuchelov-Hille, R
Munster 1995.
Relocating the awkward knight on dS
is an idea, but the 6 ... h6?! 7 l:!.cJ dxc4 8
101
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
.ltxc4 li'lb4> 9 a3 li'lbdS 10 li'lxdS exdS
11 .ltxc7! 1-0 of B.Schneider-Stauch,
Porz 1992, is not to be recommended!
7 a3
A nice utility move that prevents a
black piece coming to b4 and prepares
the b2-b4 expansion itself. lo addition,
the text potentially offers a retreat
square to the light-squared bishop (if it
ends up being attacked after recapturing
on c4). Indeed, upon 7 .lte2 perhaps
Black should try something like 7... dxc4
8 .ltxc4 li'ldS, as 7... 0-0 8 0-0 li:le4 9
l:l.cl l:!.c8 10 li:ld2 li:lxc3 11 l:txc3 .ltb4
12 .!:tel f6 13 cxdS exdS 14 a3 .ltd6 15
.ltxd6 'llfxd6 16 'llfb3 .ltd7> 17 li:le4
'!We7 18 'llfxdS+ had gone just according
to plan in Jose Abril-J.Costa, Badalona
1999.
While I'm here, 7 cxdS exdS 8 .ltbS is
good for White and 7... li:lxd51> 8 .ltg3
.ltb4 9 'llfcl 0-0 10 .lte2 is also consid-
ered by theory to offer a slight edge.
7 ... 0-0 8 J:tc1
Again White finds another useful
waiting move so that he won't have to
move his fl-bishop twice in the event
of ... dxc4.
8 ... a6 9 cxd5
The text represents an alternative way
102
to play to the also sensible 9 .lte2.
9 ... exd5
10 ~d3
lo offering to swap good bishop for
bad bishop, White is banking on his
superior pawn structure prolonging his
edge. An excellent example of how this
position could transform into your
standard minority attack scenario was
10 .lte2 l:!.e8 11 0-0 h6 12 li:leS li:lxeS 13
.ltxeS .lte6 14 li:la4 c6 15 b4 .ltd6 16
.ltxd6 'llfxd6 17 li:lcS 'lW c7 18 a4 li:ld7 19
bS li:lxcS 20 l:!.xcS axbS 21 axbS l:!.aS 22
'llfb3. The pressure against Black's
queenside pawns (to possibly include
isolating the dS-pawn) is what it's all
about and Black now crumbled under
the strain with 22 ... .ltd7'>, allowing 23
b6 in Boonman-Veteschildt, Nijmegen
1992.
1o... ~xd3 11 'ili'xd3 li:lh5
Because of the pressure on c7, Black
is eager to remove White's bishop.
However, his own knight is also impor-
tant and hence challenging the bishop
with ... .ltd6 might be shrewder. As 12
.ltgS would then be annoying, 11...h6!'
has been suggested as an alternative.
12 ~g3 li:lxg3 13 hxg3
The trade of knight for bishop has

improved White's kingside and, as he
has not yet castled, the half open h-file
is also a bonus.
13 ... g6 14 li7e2!?
White wants to retain the use of the
h-file and correctly judges that his king
will be safe in the centre.
14 ... ii.f6 15 g4 ii.g7
Upon 15 ... l:[eS, White would simply
double the rooks on the h-file.
16 g5!
Putting a clamp on Black's kingside.
Any attempt to break out now will in-
volve creating weaknesses.
16 ... f5?!
I suspect Black was expecting White
to capture this pawn en passant as it
would, after all, leave the first player
The Baltic Defence: 3 !i:...t3
with a superior kingside pawn structure.
However, White achieves an even
stronger position through non-
compliance, indicating that perhaps
16 ... f6 is a better defence.
17 J:ih4 J:if7 18 J:tch1ii.h819 li7f1
Paving the way for an attractive
knight manoeuvre. Black's bishop on h8
is extremely vulnerable and a 'sacrifice'
on g6 is just what White is looking for.
19 ... 'l!fd6 20 li:le2 li:le7 21 li:lf4 c5
The only active plan available to
Black.
22 g3 1Wb6 23 li7g2
The b2-pawn is out of bounds as
White would then get a rook to the 7th
rank via 24 l'l:b I.
23 .. .ll:c8 24 J:ih6 J:tc6?!
Black was eager to add extra protec-
tion to g6 but the text allows White a
quick breakthrough.
25 li:le5! .li.xe5 26 dxe5
The cl-pawn is impossible to defend.
26 ... 1Wxb2
One beautiful variation runs 26 ... d1
27 'lll'c4! 'lli'bS 28 l'l:xh71l 'l!l'xc4 29 l:[h8~
@g7 30 l:[Jh7 mate.
27 e6 J:ig7 28 li:lxd5 ll:xe6
28 ... 'LixdS 29 'ii'xdS lea;-es no c:c-
fence to 30 'ii'dS+ or 30 e7+.
 Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

291i:lc7! 1-0 l:l'.b3 3ld7 28 f4 l:l'.h5 29 li:lf3 l:l'.bh8 30

Next comes 30 'ii'dS+. 3ld2 li:lb6 31 c4 a4 32 l:l'.bbl f5 33 exf5
. . . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . . exf5 34 d5 li:ld8 35 3lb4+ Wf7 36 li:le5+
Game44 Wg7 37 3lc3 Wg8 38 l:l'.xb6 1-0 Miladi-
Fridman-Seu! novic-Papastavropoulos, Korinthos
Essen 2001 1997 shows why it certainly doesn't al-
.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _,. ways pay to mix things up!
1 li:lf3 d5 2 d4 .fi.15 3 c4 e6 4 li:lc3 6 .fi.xe7
li:lc6 A sneaky way to eliminate any future
I'd like to reiterate my view that 4... c6 ... li:lxd5 possibilities is with 6 cxd5P and
(see next game) is probably a better now:
move. The only other candidate that a) Obviously 6... 3<.xgs> 7 dxc6 is
springs to mind is 4... li:lf6. Then 5 cxd5 clearly good for White.
exd5 6 'ii'b3 li:lc6 would transpose to b) 6... exd5 7 3<.xe7 li:lgxe7 8 e3 a6 9
Game 39, whilst 5 3lg5 c6 6 3lxf6 3le2 0-0 10 0-0 'ii'd6 11 l:l'.cl l:l'.adS 12
'ii'xf6 7 'ii'b3 has also been seen before. li:la4 3lc8 13 a3 left White with his
5 .fi.g5 usual small advantage in Vaganian-
Short, Novgorod 1995.
6 .. .ltlgxe7 7 e3 0-0

Assuming that White is in no hurry

for 'ii'h3, then this is the other natural
alternative to 5 .>tf4.
5 ... .fi.e7
5... f6 6 .>th4 .>tb4 7 e3 g5 8 .>tg3 h5
is a chance to throw a spanner in
White's works. However, 9 h3 li:lge7 10
'ii'b3 a5 11 'ii'a4 h4 12 .>th2 g4 13 hxg4
3lxg4 14 li:ld2 .>txc3 15 bxc3 Wf7 16 f3
3lf5 17 @f2 .>tg6 18 cxd5 li:lxd5 19
'ii'a3 li:lce7 20 e4 li:lb6 21 3lf4 li:lc6 22
.>te3 'ii'e7 23 'ii'xe7+ Wxe7 24 l:l'.bl
l:tab8 25 .>tb5 3<.eS 26 3ld3 li:la4 27
8 li:lh4
After 8 3ld3 dxc4 9 .>txc4 li:la5 10
.>td3 (instead 10 .>teW halts the forth-
coming break) 1O... .>txd3 11 'ii'xd3 c5,
Black had equalised in ]<is-Deak, Hun-
garian League 1998, but 8 l:l'.cl !? looks
like a way to maintain that edge.
8 ... .fi.e4 9 .fi.e2
I must confess that I find this whole
8 li:lh4 business a little bemusing as tak-
ing on e4 now would leave the offside

704

knight a little stranded. In general,
though, Black is evidently keen to pre-
serve his bishop and that explains his
next move.
9 ... h6 10 0-0 .i.h 7 11 li:lf3
And we're back to square one, with
\X/hite's main advantage being his con-
trol of the tension on the c- and d- files.
11 ... 1!1'd6
One standard push for equality is for
Black to take on c4 and then achieve
... e6-e5. The text makes this plan a real-
ity although it never really comes to
fruition.
12 a3 dxc4 13 .i.xc4 li:ld5
13 ... eS 14 dxeS 11:lxeS 1511:lxeS 'i!VxeS
is certainly possible, although then 16
'i!Vf3 hits both b7 and f7, making it a bit
awkward for Black to challenge the cl-
file when a white rook inevitably arrives
at dl.
14 lk1 .!:iad8
14 ... li:ixc3 15 .t'!:xc3 e5> is well met by
16 dxeS li:ixeS 17 'i!Vxd6 li:ixf3+ 18 gxf3
cxd6 19 3ld5 but holding back with,
say, 15 ... .tlad8 looks eminently playable.
15 11:la4!?
Eyeing up the tasty cS square.
15 ... b6
It looks as though Black has missed
The Baltic Defence: 3 li:Jf3
the boat regarding the central challenge.
Indeed, 15 ... eS> just loses a pawn to 16
dxe5 li:ixe5 17 3<.xd5 'iWxdS 18 'i!VxdS
.t'!:xdS 19 li:ixeS .t'!:xeS 20 .t'!:xc7.
16 .i.b5 11:lce 7 17 .!:ie 1 li:lf6 18 b4 c6
19 .i.11
A typical grandmasterly retreat. White
now has the key breaks ... c6-c5 and
... e6-e5 well covered.
19 ... li:ld7 20 li:lb2
The knight has fulfilled its duty on a4
and now seeks sunnier climes.
20 ... 1!1'b8 21 li:ld3 .i.xd3
Black concedes the bishop because
he can't face the prospect of having to
deal with a knight on eS.
22 .i.xd3 e5
Finally this move is played. However,
the position is merely opened nicely for
the bishop and, with the b-pawn on b6
rather than b 7, the c6-pawn is far more
of a target.
23 .i.b1
The bishop visits a different back
rank square, this time possibly with a
queen and bishop alignment in mind.
23 ... exd4 24 exd4
I also like 24 li:ixd4 although the re-
strictive text enables the knight to look
for a home on eS instead.
105
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
24 ... 1Wd6 25 1Wa4
The queen looks menacing here al-
though it is doubtful that 'i!Vxa7 is on
the agenda just yet!
25 ... l:i:fe8 26 11:leS!?
26 1..e4!?, further pressurising c6, also
looks attractive.
26 ... 1Wxd4
Not fancying 26 ... li:lxeS 27 dxeS,
Black takes up the challenge.
27 l:i:cd1 1Wc3 28 l:i:e3!
Unfortunately, it is clear that he has
walked into trouble.
28 ... 1Wxe3
Note that losing her majesty was
pretty compulsory as 28 ... 'i1Vb2 29 li:lxd7
l:i'.xd7 30 l:i'.xd7 'i!Vxbl+ 31 l:l.dl would
haYe been even worse. However, it has
706
to be said that 28 ... 'i!Vxe5' 29 l:l.xeS
li:lxeS 30 .l:txd8 l:l.xdS would have been
a more resilient way of doing it.
29 fxe3 11:lxeS 30 l:i:xd8 J:i:xd8 31
'li!'xa7
As Black's knight is attacked, White
can afford to allow the back rank check.
There is a bit of work to be done, but
this endgame is winning. As soon as
White coordinates his position the ma-
terial advantage makes itself felt.
31 ... 11:ldS 32 il.e4 li:lf6 33 il.13 b5
34 'li!'c7 li:lxf3+ 35 gxf3 l:i:d1 + 36
@12 l:tc1 37 'li!'c8+ @h7 38 'li!'f5+
@98 39 1Wc8+ @h7 40 'lii't5+ @98
41 e4 li:lh7 42 'li!'c8+ li:lf8 43 14 96
44 15 gxf5 45 exf5 J:i:c4 46 We3 h5
47 'li!'d8 h4 48 @d3 l:i:g4 49 'li!'c7 h3
50 'li!'xc6 li:lh7 51 'li!'xb5 li:lg5 52 a4
l:i:g2 53 a5 li:lf3 54 a6 1-0
Game45
Mikavica-Rausis
Neuchatel 1996
1 d4 d5 2 c4 ii.IS 3 li:lc3 e6 4 e3
After 4 li:lf3 the fact is that even the
majority of Baltic Defence players
switch to a Slav Defence via the move
4... c6,

from which there have been thou-
sands of games. Obviously the Slav De-
fence is outside the scope of this book,
but what I will say is that the lines in
which Black secures his light-squared
bishop (usually his problem piece) out-
side the pawn chain have a very good
reputation. Certainly, as a white Queen's
Gambit player myself, I personally
would be reluctant to engage in a move
order that allows Black to safely achieve
the above formation. As this book is
about the unusual Queen's Gambit de-
fences, I don't want to go into too
much detail, particularly about the the-
ory of this variation. However, I have
selected two games that I believe are
fitting. The following encounter was
played in the same year as this book's
creation and casts a fair reflection on
the line's theoretical standing: 5 'i'b3
'i'b6 6 cS 'i'c7 7 ~f4 'i'c8 8 'Llh4 ~g4
9 h3 ~hS 10 g4 ~e7 11 ~g3 ~g6 12
'Llxg6 hxg6 13 e3 'Lld7 14 J:!.cl ~h4 15
~h2 ~d8 16 'i'c2 ~c7 17 ~xc7 "fllxc7
18 f4 'Lle7 19 b4 f6 20 ~d3 'lz-'/2 Polul-
jahov-Gleizerov, Bydgoszcz 2001.
4 ... c6 5 11:if3
Effectively, White eschews 5 'i'b3 in
favour of the comparatively innocuous
The Baltic Defence: 3 !?cf3
5 e3. I'm certainly not going to claim
that White is worse here but the irony
of this game is that, rather than Black
worrying about his light-squared bishop
(in the Semi-Slav it is traditionally
hemmed in on c8), it is White who ul-
timately suffers for retaining a bad
bishop.
5 ... 11:if6 6 .lte2 11:ibd7 7 0-0 .ltd6 8
l:!:e1 ?! 0-0 9 .ltf1
White clearly plays too passively m
this game, but what could be more ap-
propriate than another instructive Igor
Rausis game to round off the section on
the Baltic Defence.
9 ... l:!:e8 10 h3 'W/e7 11 cxd5?!
Control of the tension on dS was all
that White had going for him. A minor-
ity attack would now take far too long
and so from now on it's all one-way
traffic.
11 ... exd5 12 11:ih4 .lte4 13 g3 h6 14
i.d2 .ll.h7 15 i.g2 g5 16 11:if3 li:ie4
17 l:!:f1 i.t5 18 g4 .ltg6 1911:ih2 f5
Seeking to crack open the white king.
20 11:ixe4 fxe4 21 '!ll'b3 11:if6 22 l:!:fc1
h5!
Relentless! Not that White was doing
anything anyway.
23 gxh5 .ltxh5 24 11:if1 .ltf3 25 12lg3
707
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
l.xg3 26 fxg3 g4 27 h4
White is desperate to keep things
closed off but this supported passed
pawn won't mean much in the overall
scheme of things.
27 .. .ltlh5 28 i.e1 i.xg2 29 @xg2
'i/Vf7 30 'ilid1 'i1Vf3+ 31 'i/Vxf3 exf3+
Creating an outpost on e4. Black's
knight is somewhat preferable to
White's bishop.
32 @f2 li:lf6 33 J:!:c2 J:!:e6 34 J:!:d1
J:!:ae8 35 J:!:d3 li:le4+ 36 @f1 li:ld6 37
@f2 @f7 38 a4 @96 39 a5 a6
Preventing the glimmer of hope that
would have been 40 a6. Now there is
nothing for White to do other than sit
and wait for the inevitable.
40 b3 J:!:f6 41 @f1 J:!:f7 42 .tt2 J:!:fe7
43 J:!:c 1 li:lf5 44 J:!:cc3 J:!:e4 45 @g 1
@f7 46 @f1 J:!:8e6 47 @g1 @ea 48
108
@f1 @d7
Toying with his opponent, Black is
considering a break on the queenside.
49 b4 li:ld6 50 J:!:d1 @c7 51 J:!:dc1
li:lc4
52 J:!:xc4
The pawn break ... b7-b6 would have
happened some day and so, in frustra-
tion, White sacrifices the exchange. He's
still left with a duff bishop though!
52 ... dxc4 53 J:!:xc4 b6 54 axb6+
@xb6 55 J:!:c5 J:!:d6 56 J:!:c3 J:!:d5 57
i.e1 a5 58 bxa5+ J:!:xa5 59 J:!:c2
J:l:a3 60 i.d2 J:!:a1 + 61 J:l:c1 J:l:xc1 +
62 i.xc1 J:!:e8 63 i.d2 @b5 64 @f2
@c4 65 .ta5 @d3 66 d5 cxd5 67
i.b6 J:!:a8 68 i.d4 J:!:a2+ 69 @f1
l:k2 70 i.e5 @xe3 71 .tf4+ @e4
72 h5 l:l:h2 73 h6 f2 74 @e2 d4 75
h7 d3+ 0-1
 The Baltic Defence: 3 ciJf3

Summary
The section on the Baltic Defence has shown how a swift ... lt:ic6 can easily produce
quick wins as there are clearly tactics available (particularly with the white queen on
b3). I do, however, believe that this chapter has exposed its positional frailties when
White has decided on a simple game.
Whilst the likes of Bent Larsen, Vladimir Malaniuk and even Paul Keres have
contributed heavily to the theory of this tricky opening, possibly because of my
memorable loss to him, it is the Latvian Grandmaster Igor Rausis who is to my
mind the leading man of 2 ... .lil.fS. However, whilst it is possible that Black could
defend (and no doubt will attempt to in the future) the positions reached in Games
43 and 44, it is the last game of this chapter that demonstrates that common-sense
should prevail. If Black has the opportunity to transpose into a favourable variation
of a Slav /Semi-Slav hybrid then he probably should do so.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 Jl.f5 3 li:lf3 e6 4 li:lc3 (D)

4 'lli'b3 lt:ic6
5 cS. Game 41
5 .lil.d2 (D) Game 42
4 ... li:lc6
4... c6 Game 45
5 .1.14
5 .lil.gS Game 44
5 ... li:lf6 (D) Game 43

4 ltlc3 5 .fi.d2 5 ... ltlf6

109
 CHAPTER SfVEN
The Chigorin Defence:
3 cxd5
1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 cxd5
I once went through a two-year pe-
riod losing only three games with
White; amazingly, all of them were to
the Chigorin Defence! However, as I
have actually defeated it a few times
now as well, I'm not going to praise this
energetic system too much. Neverthe-
less, with all due respect to the Albin
Counter Gambit and the Baltic De-
fence, this opening is generally held in
much higher regard. Indeed, whilst sev-
eral top players have heen known to
employ it occasionally, a regular mem-
ber of the world's top five, Alexander
Morozevich, practically has it as his
main defence to 1 d4.
As whole books have previously been
published on this opening, I thought
that, rather than include every sideline
here, I would especially concentrate on
current trends in variations and new
ideas. Consequently, although I don't
believe that I have left anything critical
out, most of the games included over
the next three chapters are recent and
it's possible that I have ignored some
I I0
I
lines that haven't been seen in years.
This first chapter deals with what
happens when White immediately tries
to punish Black for not employing ei-
ther 2 ... e6 or 2 ... c6 and looks to exploit
the hlack queen coming out early. Par-
ticularly in vogue at the time of this
book's publication are Games 46-50.
Game46
Muse-Ljubicic
Split 2000
1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 cxd5
Just as with 2 ... ~f5, this is the most
principled move. Black has done noth-
ing to support d5 and hence White
eliminates his pawn centre.
3 ... 1Wxd5 4 e3
More testing than 4 'tlf3, for reasons
given in Game 53.
4 ... e5
This is necessary, or else White is
simply afforded a large space advantage.
5 li:lc3 ~b4
Another necessity. Black is prepared
to concede bishops for knights in the

Chigorin in order to maintain some
challenge in the centre and to facilitate
quick development.
6 .ltd2 .ltxc3 7 .ltxc3
Initiating a line that has become very
popular in recent times. Here looks are
deceiving. White certainly isn't prepar-
ing to receive an isolated queen's pawn.
7 ... exd4 8 li:le2
The point. With Black's d-pawn
pinned, White also intends preserving
his bishop pair.
8 ... li:lge7 9 li:lxd4 li:lxd4
Black can preserve the queens now
with 9 ... 0-0 although after 10 ti:lxc6
'lll'xc6 11 'l!i'd4 ti:lfS 12 'lli'f4 l:l.eS 13 .lfl.d3
'l!i'd6 14 'lli'xd6 ti:lxd6 15 We2 they had
evidently been eliminated anyway.
White stood slightly better in E.Cosma-
Fomina, Istanbul Women's Olympiad
2000.
10 'i'xd4 'i'xd4 11 .ltxd4 0-0
The drawback of the text is the de-
centralisation of the king when we are,
after all, in an endgame. However, after
11...f6 12 i.c4 (12 .lfl.e2 was evidently
defendable for Black: 12 ... i.e6 13 0-0
Wf7 14 i.hS+ g6 15 i.f3 c6 16 l:l.fc! hS
17 .lfl.e2 l:l.hd8 18 b4 ti:lf5 19 i.c3 l:1d7
20 a4 a6 21 Wfl ti:ld6 22 l:l.d 1 l:l.ad8 23
The Chigorin Defence: 3 cxd5
Wei ti:lfS 24 l:l.dcl .11.dS 25 Wfl l:l.eS 26
.lfl.el ti:ld6 27 l:l.a3 l:l.de 7 28 l:l.cS fS 29
i.d3 f4 30 i.d2 ti:le4 31 ..Yl.xe4 l:l.xe4 32
l:l.cl '!,-'!, Lautier-Yermolinsky, Parnu
1998) 12... ti:lc6 13 .lfl.c3 ti:leS 14 .lfl.xeS
fxeS 15 0-0-0 We7 16 J:l.dS Wf6 17
l:l.hd 1 i.e6 18 l:l.cS c6 19 l:l.d6 there
were some questions hanging over its
positioning. Indeed, 19 ... l:l.he8 20 g4
Wf7 21 l:l.d7+ Wg8 22 l:l.xb 7 i.xc4 23
l:l.xc4 was easily converted in Bekker
Jensen-Buchmann, Kiel 2000. Perhaps
13 ... We7 is a better way to play but
White always retains that bishop pair
niggle.
12 .li.c4
Another grind came via 12 .lfl.e2 ..Yl.e6
13 0-0 l:l.fd8 14 b4 ti:lc6 15 .lfl.c3 l:l.d7 16
l:l.fcl ti:le7 17 b5 c6 18 a4 ..Yl.dS 19 f3 fS
20 i.b4 l:l.c8 21 Wf2 Wf7 22 l:l.a3 ti:lc8
23 ii.cs l:l.c7 24 ..Yl.d4 J:l.d7 25 l:l.ac3 ti:ld6
26 bxc6 bxc6 27 l:l.b 1 g6 28 l:l.c2 l:l.c 7 29
ii.cs We6 30 l:l.cb2 Wd7 31 l:l.b8 l:l.e 7 32
h4 J:l.f7 33 hSI gxhS 34 J:l.h 1 ti:lc4 35
l:l.xh5 ti:leS 36 J:l.hS and Black's pawn
weaknesses finally told in Matamoros
Franco-Castro Valero, Dos Hermanas
1998. Even if he could objectively hold
them, these positions aren't much fun
for Black.
111
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
12 ... :C:e8 13 l:!:d1 ti:lc6 14 Sl.b5
Simple but, as this game suggests,
obviously effective. Note that Black
can't now prevent the doubling of
pawns with 14 ... i.d7 because of the
rook-uncovering 15 .lil.xg7.
14 ... il.e6
Upon 14 ... l:!.e6, both 15 i.c5 and 15
i.c3 leave Black experiencing senous
development difficulties.
15 il.xc6 bxc6 16 a3
It's an opposite-coloured bishops
ending but with rooks on as well,
White's winning chances are signifi-
cantly increased.
16 ... a5 17 l;\c1 Sl.d5 18 f3 J;\ab8 19
@f2 f5 20 h3 l;\f8 21 h4 h5 22 \/.193
11.117 23 @f4 \/.196 24 l:!:c2 l;\a8 25
ll:hc1 ll:a6 26 .1:tc5 a4 27 il.e5 :C:17
28 il.xc7!
This may seem rather convenient, but
with so many weak black pawns around,
tactics like this were always going to
crop up.
28 ... ll:e7 29 il.e5 ll:f7 30 :Sd1 ll:a8
31 l:td4 l:ta6 32 l:tb4 il.e6 33 il.c3
Sl.d5 34 ll:b8 ll:aa7 35 l:td8 ll:fe7 36
ll:d6+
And another pawn effectively bites
the dust. Progression such as this was
7 72
always likely and this game serves as a
useful warning to black players.
36 ... 11.117 37 il.d4 l:l.ed7 38 l:txd7+
l:!:xd7 39 @xl5 l:!d6 40 l:ta5 il.e6+
41 @f4 il.d7 42 l:txh5 l:th6 43 l:txh6
9xh6 44 h5 il.c8 45 94 il.a6 46 95
hx95+ 47 li.lx95 \/.198 48 \/.196 il.c4
49 e4 il.17 + 50 \/.195 il.c4 51 14 1-0
Game47
Rogozenko-Morozevich
Istanbul Olympiad, 2000
1 d4 d5 2 c4 ti:lc6 3 cxd5 'li:l'xd5 4
e3 e5 5 ti:lc3 il.b4 6 il.d2 il.xc3 7
il.xc3 exd4 8 'Lle2 ti:ll6
This is more dynamic than 8... li:lge7
as the knight has some more adventur-
ous squares at its disposal.
9 ti:lxd4 0-0
More interesting for Black than
9... li:lxd4 10 'lli'xd4 which, it will come
as no great surprise to you, has lead to
very favourable White results:
a) 10 ... i.e6 has offered some hope:
11 'lli'xd5 .lil.xdS 12 f3 0-0 13 Wf2 cS 14
i.e2 i.c6 15 i.xf6 gxf6 16 J:!.hdl l:!.fd8
17 l:!.xd8+ l:!.xd8 18 J:!.dl l:!.xdl 19 i.xdl
b5 20 .lil.c2 h6 21 e4 Wf8 22 We3 We7
and Black held the ending in Detter-

Grabher, Austria 1996.
b) However, 10... 0-0 11 .lkc4 'l!!Vxd4
12 .lkxd4 .lke6 13 ~xe6 fxe6 14 J:icl
l:if7 15 @e2 l:ie8 16 ~xf6 gxf6 17
l:ihdl l:ife7 18 l:id3 @f7 19 e4 l:ig8 20
g3 l:ic8 21 l:icdl @e8 22 l:!a3 a6 23 l:ib3
c6 24 l:if3 l:if7 25 e5 f5 26 l:!d6 l:ie 7 27
l:!fd3 c5 28 @d2 c4 29 l:!3d4 l:ic5 30 f4
l:ia5 31 a3 b5 32 l:ib6 @f7 33 @c3 saw
White converting a small advantage in
Krivoshey-Bezgodov, Minsk 1998.
c) 10 ... 'l!!Vxd4 is also not much fun,
e.g. 11 .lkxd4
11...0-0 12 l:icl c6 13 .lke2 .lke6 14 a3
~b3 15 l:ic3 .lke6 16 f3 lt:ld5 17 l:icl
l:ifc8 18 @f2 and again the pair of bish-
ops prorruse White an edge,
T.Christensen-Charles, Suncoast 1999.
Regarding other ninth move alterna-
tives, premature is 9 ... 'De4?! in view of
10 lt:lb5!, when 10... 'l!!Vxdl+ 11 l:!xdl 0-0
12 lt:lxc 7 lt:lxc3 13 bxc3 nets White a
fairly comfortable pawn. The move
9 ... il.g4 is well met by 10 'l!!Va4, e.g.
10... ~d7 11 lt:lb5 0-0-0 12 'l!!Vf4 lt:le8 13
.txg7!, winning a pawn in Riemersma-
Heisel, Germany 1998.
10 li:lb5.
10 lt:lxc6 fails to inspire when com-
pared to plenty of other variations
The Chigorin Defence: 3 cxd5
we've seen so far. White certainly
doesn't get things all his own way with
the queens on: 10... 'l!!Vxc6 11 J:!cl l:!e8
(11...il.g4 12 'l!!Vc2 l:ife8 13 il.d4 'l!!Vd6 14
'l!!Vc5 'l!!VdW 15 f3 b6 16 il.xf6 'l!!Vxf6 17
'l!!Vc3 'l!!Vh6 left White regretting his deci-
sion to play 15 f3 in Syrigos-Pantavos,
Poros 1998) 12 ~d4 'i!i'd6 13 ~e2 b6
14 0-0 c5 15 ~c3 'l!!Ve6 16 .lkf3 lt:le4 17
~xe4 'l!!Vxe4 18 l:iel ~a6 19 f3 'l!!Ve6 20
'l!!Va4 b5 21 'l!!Va5 b4 22 .lkd2 J:!ed8 and I
prefer Black, M.Richter-Miladinovic,
Saint Vincent 2000.
10 .. .'lll'g5 11 h4?!
While it is tempting to try and nudge
the black queen away from attacking g2,
there is a problem with this move. Now
it becomes vety difficult for White to
castle kingside.
Hence 11 lt:lxc7 ~g4
is possibly how things should go and
now:
a) I have noticed an interesting point
regarding the concept of the move 12
il.xf6. Indeed 12 ... gxf6 13 '1Wd5 l:l:ad8 14
'l!!Vxg5+ fxg5 15 ~e2 ~f5 16 lt:lb5 with
an advantage to White, Green-Spain,
Auckland 2001 is another inexplicable
game. I can't help wondering what this
obsession with ... gxf6 is all about, when
113
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
surelr here 12 ... 'li'xf6, intending 13
11Vxg4 'li'xb2, is more accurate.
b) 12 'li'b3 is seen most in practice,
e.g. 12... l:i:ad8 with a further split:
bl) After 13 h3 ..ltc8 14 'li'b5 'li'g6 15
..ltxf6 gxf6 - here we go again! - 16 J:i:cl
'li'e4 17 ..ltc4 'li'xg2 18 ..td5 'li'g6 19
We2 @h8 20 l:i:hgl 'li'h6 21 ..ltxc6 bxc6
22 'li'xc6 'li'h5+ 23 @el 'li'e5 24 l:i:g3
l:i:g8 25 l:i:xg8+ l:i:xg8 26 12id5 ..lte6 27
luc3 ..ltxh3 28 'li'd5 ..ltg2 29 'li'xe5 fxeS
30 We2 h5 things had turned out okay
and indeed Black went on to win in
Flear-Miladinovic, Athens 1999. How-
ever, I'm not that convinced about the
earlier play and your money would be
on a computer with White!
b2) In contrast 13 ..ltc4 lue4 14 'li'b5
'li'h4 15 0-0 l:i:d6 16 f3 12ixc3 17 bxc3
J:i:h6 saw Black build up a very reason-
able attack and then blunder after 18
lud5 'li'xh2+ 19 Wf2 'li'h4+ 20 @e2
..ltd7 21 l:i:ad 1 lue5 22 'ii' c5 with
22 ... @h8?? 23 'li'xf8 mate (Summer-
scale-Oates, Hampstead 1998.
b3) 13 'li'xb7 'li'cs 14 .tbs (14 h3
12ie4 15 'li'b5 'li'd6 16 lud5 'li'xd5 17
'li'xd5 l:i:xd5 18 hxg4 12ixc3 19 bxc3 l:i:cS
20 l:i:cl g6 21 l:i:h4 l:i:b8 22 ..ltd3 l:i:b2 23
l:i:c2 lub4 24 cxb4 l:i:cxc2 25 ..ltxc2
l:i:xc2 26 a3 l:i:a2 27 g5 l:i:xa3 led to a
draw in Rebel Tiger-Century, Cadaques
2000; this is certainly of relevance as it's
two materialistic computers) 14... J:i:d6
1512ia6 'li'd5 16 0-0 ..ltc8 17 'li'c7 'li'xbS
18 'li'xd6 12ie4 19 'li'f4 12ixc3 20 bxc3
..ltxa6 21 l:i:fdl eventually led to a draw
in Van Wely-Miladinovic, FIDE World
Ch., Groningen 1997.
Again, whilst 11 ..ltxf6 gxf6 12 'li'a4
..ltg4 13 luc3 l:i:ad8 14 lue4 'ii' e5 15
12ixf6+ 'li'xf6 16 'li'xg4+ Wh8 17 ..lte2
7 74
l:i:d2 18 0-0 lueS 19 'li'b4 l:i:fd8 20 ..ltdl
l:i:xb2 21 ..ltb3 l:i:gS 22 'li'e4 12if3+ 23
@h 1 l:i:xf2 24 gxf3 l:!.xh2+ 0-1 was the
very entertaining encounter Olszewski~
Bromann, Budapest 1999, of course
White shouldn't really have lost, and
surely 11...'li'xf6 intending 12 12ixc7
'ik'xb2 is more accurate.
11 ... i!!'h6!
After 11...'li'g6, quite promising is 12
12ixc7 (it must be said that 12 h5 'li'gS
13 h6 holds a certain appeal) l 2 ... ..\tg4
13 ..ltd3! 'lli'h6 14 'li'a4 l:!.ad8 15 ..ltc2
..ltc8 (15 ... ..ltd7 16 l:i:dl also seems to
leave Black with insufficient compensa-
tion for the pawn) 16 J:i:dl l:i:xdl+
(16 ... J:i:d7 17 l:i:xd7 ..ltxd7 18 'llf c4 saw
White justifiably go on to win in Ci-
fuentes Parada-Miladinovic, Dos Her-
manas 2000) 17 ..\txdl 'li'g6 18 0-0. It's
safe to castle and White's extra pawn
and two bishops should rule .
12 .11.e2
White now makes nothing of his po-
sition and, having already weakened
himself on the kingside, objectively he
may as well go in for 1212ixc7!? ..ltg4 13
'lli'b3 l:i:ad8 14 'li'xb 7. However, al-
though Black has some reasonable prac-
tical chances after 14... l:i:d6, another

crazy Stuart Conquest cracker contin-
ued 14.. .ltle4 15 ..tbs ..td7 16 li:ldS
li:ld6 17 'iWa6 lub8 18 li:lf6+ gxf6 19
'iWxd6 ..txbS 20 'iWxf6 'iWxf6 21 ..txf6
l:td7 22 l:th3 l:tc8 23 l:tg3+ Wf8 24 ..tc3
l:tc4 25 J::l:gS ..tc6 26 g3 ..tf3 27 J::i:fS
..tg4 28 J::i:f6 J::i:d3 29 l:tcl lud7 30 l:ta6
lueS 31 Wfl J::i:d7 32 f4 ..th3+ 33 We2
..tg4+ 34 Wfl /uf3 35 a3 J::i:xc3 36 bxc3
J::i:d2 37 J::i:xa7 ..th3 mate (Marcelin-
Conquest, Noyon 2001).
12 ... S:d8 13 1//ic2
Arguably Black is a bit better already
and that was definitely true after 13
'iWa4 li:ldS 14 l:tdl ..te6 15 hS a6 16
J::i:xdS ..txdS 17 luxe 7 J::i:ac8 18 luxdS
J::i:xdS 19 ..tf3 J::i:dd8 20 0-0 'iWgS in Peng
Zhaoqin-Botsari, Istanbul Women's
Olympiad 2000.
13 ... li:ld5 14 S:d1
As previously mentioned, White has
problems castling kingside but after 14
0-0-0 ..te6!, there will be inevitable pres-
sure on the queenside too.
14 ... .tea 15 a3
15 ... S:d7!
15 ... luxeW 16 fxe3 'iWxe3 17 l:td3
l:txd3 18 'iWxd3 'iWcl+ 19 'iWdl 'iWf4
looks like an interesting sacrifice but the
text move is simply good.
The Chigorin Defence: 3 cxd5
16 li:ld4 li:lxc3 17 1//ixc3 li:lxd4 18
S:xd4 J:!.ad8 19 J:!.xd7
An amusing variation is 19 'i'xc7
l:txd4 20 exd4 l:tc8 21 'iWxb7 'iWcl+ 22
..tdl ..tdS 23 'iWxdS l:te8+. White must
concede his queen .
19 ... S:xd7 20 .if3 b6 21 g3
White is eager to protect the h-pawn
and get castled but I suspect he over-
looks the strength of Black's next move.
21 ... 1//if6!
Demonstrating a tremendous under-
standing. Black's queenside pawn ma-
jority is important but the icing on the
cake is White's inability to be able to
satisfactorily develop his rook.
22 1//ixf6 gxf6 23 h5
23 We2 ..tc4+ is, of course, no help.
23 ... h6 24 S:h4 c5 25 .ie2?
White should have taken this oppor-
tunity to play 25 b4 in order to bring his
rook into play. After Black's next move,
White remains tied up and, despite the
fact that drawing chances remain, my
Wood Green team-mate continues to
victory in a very competent manner.
25 ... .ib3! 26 J:!.f4 lt>g7 27 g4 J:td6
28 J:!.e4 \t>f8 29 J:l:f4 a5 30 J:!.e4 S:d8
31 J:l:f4 lt>e7 32 J:!.e4+ lt>d6 33 .id1?
.ie6 34 .ie2 f5 35 gxf5 .txf5 36
115
 Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

;::14 lile5 37 ll:13 b5 38 e4 .i1.e6 39 19 l:txcS l:txcS 20 .ltxcS b6 21 exdS

:c3 c4 40 13 1!114 41 l:!'.c2 J:!.d4 42 'h-'/2 Gulko-Brynell, Copenhagen 2000.
.i1.d1 b4 43 axb4 axb4 44 .i1.e2 lile3 1 o... 1!1'x92?!
10.. .li:le4!? looks like a critical alterna-
45 Jl:c1 Jl:d2 46 .il.xc4 ll:h2 47 .il.11
Jl:h1 48 Jl:c2 .i1.h3 0-1 tive. Then 11 .ltf3 is nothing because of
11...li:ieS and so 11 li:ixc6 'l!Vxc6 seems
Game48 likely, when the c3-bishop has to move
Kishnev-Rabiega for White to claim an edge. However,
German Bundesliga 200 I neither 12 .ltd4 'l!Vg6 nor 12 .lteS l:te8
.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _,. particularly impress.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 cxd5 1!1'xd5 4 11 .il.13 111'96 12 li:lxc6 bxc6 13 1!1'd4

e3 e5 5 li:lc3 .il.b4 6 ..id2 .i1.xc3 7
..ixc3 exd4 8 li:le2 li:\16 9 li:lxd4 0-0
10 .i1.e2!?

White has two raking bishops and,

Not as alluring as 10 4Jb5, but possi-
bly better as the g2-pawn is a risky one
to take. Rounding off White's other
options:
a) 10 'l!Vb3 4Jxd4 11 il.xd4 'l!Vd6 12
l:!.dl cS 13 il.c3 'l!Ve7 14 il.c4 4Je4 15
0-0 b6 16 ii.JS l:tb8 17 f3 4Jxc3 18
'l!Vxc3 il.b7 19 e4 '12-'/2 Dautov-
Morozevich, Gelsenkirchen 2000.
b) 10 4Jxc6 'l!Vxc6 11 'l!Vf3 (or 11 l:!.cl
l:!.e8 12 il.d4 'l!Vd6 13 il.e2 b6 14 0-0 cS
15 il.c3 'l!Ve6 16 il.f3 4Je4 17 il.xe4
'l!Vxe4 with equality in M.Richter-Milad-
imwic, Saint Vincent 2000) 11...'l!Vxf3 12
?' f3 li:idS 13 il.d4 il.e6 14 :tlg 1 f6 15 a3
aS 16 :tlc1 l:!.ac8 17 llild2 J:!.fd8 18 e4 cS
considering this move and the half-
open g-file, it's easy to envisage some-
thing big happening on g7.
13 ... 1!1'15?
Conceding the g-file all too easily.
More resistant would have been either
13 ... il.e6 or 13 ... il.b 7 but White's
chances still look preferable.
14 .i1.xc6 J:!.b8 15 .!l.91 lilh8 16 0-0-0
Completing the development.
White's army looks awesome and, in
fact, he is already threatening 17 l:txg 7.
16 ... .!l.b6 17 1!1'd8!
Black's intention was to meet the
move 17 l:txg7' with 17 ... l:txc6. How-
ever, White now exploits his opponent's
frailty on the back rank in devastating
fashion.

, ,6
 The Chigorin Defence: 3 cxd5

erable to 8 lt:lf3.
9 ... .11.xf3
Certainly entering into the spirit of
things although I suppose Black offi-
cially surfaces material up rather than
down in this line.
10 gxf3 'lli'xf3 11 il,xd4
The current view seems to be that
this is slightly stronger than the also
very playable 11 lt:lxd4 'ifxhl 12 lt:lxc6.

17 ...'lli'c5
17 ... l::tg8 would have walked into 18
'il'xg8+!! lt:lxg8 (or 18 ... Wxg8 19 l::td8+)
19 11.xg7 mate.
18 l1g5! 1-0
The icing on the cake. The black
queen must stay protecting the f8-rook
and there are no safe squares available
along the a3-f8 diagonal.

Game49 In the above position White is threat-

Cifuentes Parada-Moredaening 13 il.xg7 and I, myself, now faced
Malaga 2001 12 ... lt:lf6 (White is left with an excellent
.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __. endgame after 12 ... 'ifxh2 13 'il'g4! it:lf6
1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 cxd5 'lli'xd5 4 14 'ifxg7 'il'h4+ 15 Wdl l::tg8 16 'ifxf6
e3 e5 5 li:lc3 .11.b4 6 .!i.d2 .11.xc3 7 'ifxf6 17 il.xf6 bxc6 18 l::tcl) 13 lt:la5!>
.11.xc3 exd4 8 li:le2 .11.94 9 f3 'il'e4 (or 13 ... 'ifxh2 14 'il'a4+ c6 15
0-0-0! 0-0 {else 16 'ifb4 will keep the
enemy king in the centre} 16 il.xf6 gxf6
17 lt:lxb 7 with a clear advantage to
White) 14 'ifd4 0-0 15 0-0-0 b6 16 lt:lc4
'if xd4 17 il.xd4 lt:le4 18 il.g2 l::tae8 19
l::tgl f6 20 b4 c5 21 bxc5 bxc5 22 ii.al
it:lf2 23 il.d5+ Wh8 24 Wc2 l::td8 25 e4
lt:lh3 26 l::tfl. In general you'd favour
the two bishops over the rook and two
pawns but I'm sure that Black wasn't
anticipating what soon followed:
26 ... l::tfeS?! 27 l::txf6!! l::txd5 28 exd5 gxf6
The reason why 8 lt:le2 is much pref- 29 il.xf6+ Wg8 30 d6 it:lf4 31 d7 WfS 32

1 17
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
d,e8'll!' + 'ii.>xe8 33 .lteS tlle6 34 'ii.>d3
Wd7 35 We4 lilc6 36 tlle3 tllgS+ 37
@f4 tllf7 38 .ltc3 @bS 39 @fS tlld6+
40 lileS tllc4+ 41 tllxc4 li?xc4 42 .ltd2
@d3 43 .lth6 c4 44 lilf6 li?e4 45 a4 c3
46 lilg7 1-0 Ward-M.Goldberg, Jersey
1998.
11 ... 'l!!'xh1
There is little disputing how bad this
turns out and hence 11 ... tllxd4! 12
'lli'xd4 'll!'xh 1 has been suggested as a
better route to take. After 13 'lli'xg 7
0-0-0! (rather than 13 ... 'll!'xh2? 14 0-0-01
'lli'h6 15 'lli'xh8 'lli'xe3+ 16 @bl when
Black has three fairly irrelevant pawns
for a piece but plenty to worry about)
14 'lli'xhS 'lli'xh2 15 'lli'g7 'lli'h4+ 16 'll!'g3,
things aren't actually that clear although
the feeling remains that White should
be better.
12 .il.xg7 'i!i'xh2 13 'i!i'a4!
The h8-rook isn't going anywhere,
whilst the text eliminates a rather pain-
ful check on h4.
13 ... 0-0-0 14 .il.xh8 f6 15 'lli'g4+
lilb8 16 J:l:d1
A trade of rooks will obviously leave
Black's back rank vulnerable.
16 ... l:te8 17 'l!!'f4 'i!i'h1 18 li:lg3 1ii'g1
19 li:lf5 e5 20 .il.g7
1 18
Black isn't going to win this bishop.
20 ... a6 21 lild2
The king heads for safety, after which
there is no disguising that Black only
has two pawns for a piece.
21 ... li:le7 22 li:lxe7 'l!!'xg7 23 li:ld5
J:te6 24 @c1 1ii'g6 25 li:lc3 'l!!'e8 26
.il.g2 'l!!'e7 27 a3 J:tb6 28 'l!!'e4 1ii'g7
29 .il.h1 'l!!'g3 30 'lli'f4 'l!!'h3 31 @b1
lila7 32 d5 l:i:d6 33 'l!!'b4 1-0
Game50
Shtyrenkov-Tishin
Alushta 2001
1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 cxd5 'l!!'xd5 4
e3 e5 5 c3 .il.b4 6 .il.d2 .il.xc3 7
.il.xc3 exd4 8 li:le2 .il.g4 9 f3 .il.e6
A move about which many experts
disagree. Before launching into a debate
about this, however, the other tries to
date here are:
a) 9... 0-0-0?!
(an amazing idea attempted in a high
profile encounter) 10 tllxd4 l"i:lf6 11
'll!'a4! (11 fxg4?! offers Black a reason-
able amount of compensation after
11 ... l:theS) with:
al) 11....ltd7? 12 tllxc6 .ltxc6 13
'lli'xa7 l:the8 14 .lte2 'lli'gS 15 .ltxf6

'i'xf6 16 0-0 with a clear advantage for
White, as in Lilja-Bromann, Copenha-
gen 2000.
a2) 1l...li:lxd4 12 ..ixd4 (rather than
12 'i'xd4; ..ixf3!) 12 ... ..ixf3 13 gxf3
'i'xf3 14 l:i:gl li:lg4 (or 14... li:le4 15 l:i:g2
with everything under control) 15 l:i:xg4
'i'xg4 16 'i'xa7 'i'h4+ 17 Wd2. White
will escape the checks and it goes with-
out saying that the bishops are far more
preferable to Black's extra rook.
a3) 11...'i'gS 12 li:lxc6 'i'xe3+ 13 ..ie2
l:i:he8 14 li:le5 (White now wins an un-
convincing game; better would have
been 14 'i'c2! bxc6 15 ..ixf6 ..ixf3 16
gxf3 gxf6, with either 17 l:i:f! or 17 l:i:dl
leaving White set to rebuff Black's pres-
sure) 14 ... ..ifS 15 J:i:dl l:i:xdl+ 16 'i'xdl
l:i:xeS 17 ..id4?
17 ... 'i'f4? (17 ... ..ic2!! 18 'i'd2 'i'xd2+
19 Wxd2 l:i:dS would have left Black on
top) 18 ..ixeS 'i'xeS 19 0-0 'i'xb2 20
..ic4 ..ie6 21 'i'd3 'i'b6+ 22 Whl ..ixc4
23 'i'xc4 'i'e6 24 'i'b4! (as Black is
more vulnerable on the back rank, he is
now forced ro allow the trade of queens
that leads to a probably lost endgame)
24 ... 'i'd6 25 'i'xd6 cxd6 26 Wgl Wd7
27 @f2 li:ldS 28 We2 li:lf4+ 29 @f2 b5
30 g3 li:ldS 31 We2 aS 32 Wd2 a4 33 a3
The Chigorin Defence: 3 cxd5
li:lb6 34 Wc3 Wc6 35 @b4 li:lds+ 36
Wa5 li:le3 37 l:i:cl+ li:lc4+ 38 Wb4 d5 39
l:i:dl li:le3 40 l:i:cl+ li:lc4 41 f4!? d4 42
l:i:xc4+ bxc4 43 Wxc4 d3 44 Wxd3 WdS
45 Wc3 Wes 46 g4 f6 47 fS h5?? 48
gxhS! Wd5 49 Wb4 @es 50 Wxa4 WxfS
51 @b4 Wg4 52 @c3 fS 53 @d2 f4 54
We2 1-0 Topalov-Morozevich, Frank-
furt 1999.
b) 9... 'i'g5 10 li:lxd4 ..id7 11 li:lxc6
..ixc6 12 'i'd4 li:le7 13 'i'eS 'i'xeS 14
..ixeS f6 15 ..ic3 0-0-0 16 e4 l:i:heS 17
g4 li:lg6 18 Wf2 li:leS 19 ..ie2 l:i:d7 20
l:i:ad 1 and the bishop pair gave White a
niggle in Karr-Taddei, Mulhouse 2001.
10 li:lxd4 0-0-0
10 ... li:lxd4 11 'i'xd4 'i'xd4 12 .ltxd4,
just as in positions we've already cov-
ered, is a fairly comfortable (if not large)
edge ro White.
11 'lii'a4
Ultimately working out considerablr
worse than the text for \\/hite \Vas the
slower 11 .lte2 li:lge7 12 'i'a4 li:lxd4 13
..ixd4 li:lc6 14 ..ic3 l:i:heS 15 'i'bS 'ii d6
16 l:i:dl 'i'e7 17 l:l.xdS+ l:l.xdS 18 Wf2
J:l.eS 19 e4 a6 20 'i'd3 ..ixa2 21 ..ixg7
l:i:g8 22 .ltc3 'i'c5+ 23 @fl l:i:d8 24 'i'c2
li:ld4 25 'iic 1 .ltc4 26 ..ixd4 l:i:xd4 27 h3
..ixe2+ 28 Wxe2 'i'b5+ 29 Wf2 'i'b3 30
119
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
~gs 'lli'xb2+ 31 Wg3 J:1d6 0-1
B..-\ddison-Antal, Witley 2001.
11 ... li:ige 7 12 li:ixc6 li:ixc6 13 .i.bS
'i'c5 14 li.>12 .i.d7 15 J:1hc1 li:ieS 16
.i.xd7+ J:txd7 17 .i.d4 li:id3+ 18 li.>11
18 ... J:1xd4!
After 18 ... 'lli'xcl+? 19 J:!.xcl li:lxcl,
both 20 'lli'xa7 and 20 'lli'c4 are clearly
winning for White. Indeed, Black was in
trouble were it not for this clever ex-
change sacrifice.
19 exd4 'i'd6 20 J:1e1
Alternatives let the queen and knight
work wonders after 20 ... 'll!'xh2.
20 ... li:ixe1 21 J:1xe1 a6 22 J:1e8+
Despite having an isolated pawn,
White gets to bail out for a draw.
22 ... J:1xe8 23 'i'xe8+ 'i'd8 24 'i'xl7
'i'xd4 25 'ili'e8+ 'i!!'d8 26 'i!!'xd8+
li.>xd8 27 li.>e2 li.>e7 28 li.>e3 li.>d6 29
li.>e4 li.>e6 30 14 li.>16 31 b4 li.>e6 32
15 + li.>d6 33 g4 li.>e 7 34 li.>eS li.>17
35 g5 li.>e7 36 h4 li.>f7 37 li.>dS h5
38 li.>eS li.>e 7 39 li.>dS li.>f7 40 a3
li.>e 7 41 li.>e5 li.>f7 42 a4 li.>e 7 43 as
@f7 44 f6 gxf6 + 45 gxf6 b6 46
li.>d5 bxa5 47 bxa5 li.>xl6 48 li.>c6
@e6 49 li.>xc7 li.>dS 50 li.>b6 li.>d6 51
@xa6 li.>c6 52 li.>a 7 li.>c 7 53 a6 li.>c8
54 @b6 li.>b8 Y, - Y,
7 20
Game51
Piket-Morozevich
Wijk aan Zee 2001
1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:ic6 3 cxd5 'i!!'xd5 4
e3 es 5 li:ic3 .i.b4 6 .i.d2 .i.xc3 7
bxc3
The older move that has also experi-
enced a recent resurgence. White sets
about building up a big pawn centre.
The only drawback of this policy is that
the development doesn't come as
quickly as with 7 ~xc3.
7 ... li:il6 8 f3
Obviously aimed at controlling the
e4-square. The other obvious way to
budge the black queen is with 8 c4.
Then 8 ... 'll!'d6 9 d5 has been played a
few times, including recently:
a) Relocating the knight via 9... li:lb8 is
definitely deserving of consideration,
for example 10 'll!'b 1 li:la6 11 ~d3 li:lcS
12 li:le2 c6 13 e4 b5 14 li:)c3 b4 15 li:ld 1
cxd5 16 exd5 a5 17 li:le3 J:1b8 18 ~c2
0-0 19 0-0 g6 with level chances in Yu-
supov-Beliavsky, Solingen 2000.
b) 9... li:\e7 and now
b 1) 10 'll!'b 1 (which is more produc-
tive than 10 li:lf3 as it controls e4 and

facilitates White's next move) 10 ... 0-0
11 .ltb4 c5 12 .ltd. Now the ambitious
12... b5 didn't turn out so great: 13
'lli'xb5 l:b8 14 'lli'a5 lt:le4 15 it:lf3 lt:lg6
16 lt:ld2 f5 17 f3 lt:lxd2 18 @xd2 lt:lh4
19 l:g I l:b6 20 .lte2 f4 21 e4 l:a6 22
'lli'bs .ltd7 23 'lli'b2 l:b8 24 'lli'c2 .lta4 25
'Iii' cl and Black didn't have enough for
the pawn in Yusupov-Rabiega, Frank-
furt 2000.
b2) IO 'iWb3 0-0 11 .ltb4 c5?! (alas,
this doesn't work out so well as when
the queen is on b I as White has more
options when the going gets tough) 12
dxc6 'lli'c7 13 'iWa3! (like this!) 13 ... l:e8
14 .ltd6 'lli'd8 15 c7 'lli'd7 16 l:d! 'lli'e6
17 lt:lf3 lt:lc6 18 .lte2 b6 19 0-0 .ltb 7 20
cS and White went on to win in
Bonsch-Brynell, Tegel 2001.
An excellent example of a strong
black plan came after 8 lt:lf3?! .ltg4 9
.lte2 e4! 10 lt:lg! (IO c4 now looks like
White's last chance to avoid Black's
forthcoming grip on the light squares)
I O... ~xe2 11 lt:lxe2 0-0 12 0-0 lt:laS! 13
lt:lf4 'iWc6 14 'lli'c2 lt:lc4 15 l:fdl l:fe8
16 .lte 1 it:ld5 17 lt:lxdS 'lli'xd5 18 a4
l:e6! (Black makes perfect use of the
space afforded to him by the pawn on
e4) 19 l:db 1 a6 (preventing 20 l:bS and
hence allowing the queen to retain its
attractive central post) 20 l:b4 b6 21
'lli'e2 l:c6 22 l:c! l:e8 23 l:c2 l:ee6 24
~d2 l:g6 25 ~cl h5 26 'lli'el?! 'lli'f5 27
'lli'e2 l:xg2+!! 28 @xg2 l:g6+ 29 @hi
(29 @fl 'iWh3+ 30 @el l:g!+ is mating)
29 ... 'iWh3 30 f4 exf3 31 'iWf2 lt:ld6 0-1
Machelett-Brynell, Germany 2000.
8 ... 0-0
One would be tempted to contem-
plate throwing a spanner into White's
works with 8... e4 and, regarding this
The Chigorin Defence: 3 cxd5
move, it's probably fair to say the jury is
still out. So far, though, 9 c4 'lli'd6 10
'lli'b I! looks promising for White:
10 ... ~f5 11 f4 0-0 12 lt:le2 h5 (or
12... l:fe8 13 lt:lg3 ~d7 14 ~e2 l:ad8 15
~c3, when White's pawn control left
him well placed in Radjabov-Antal, Bu-
dapest 2000) 13 d5! lt:le7 14 ~b4 'lli'd7
15 lt:ld4. Again White stood better and
went on to win in Avrukh-Miladinovic,
Istanbul Olympiad 2000.
Similarly, 8 ... 'lli'd6 9 .ltd3 0-0 10 lt:le2
l:e8 11 0-0 b6 12 'Iii'c2 ~e6 13 l:ad I
l:ad8 14 @hi h6 15 a4 ~d7 16 e4 exd4
17 ~f4 'lli'c5 18 cxd4 lt:lxd4 19 'lli'xc5
bxc5 20 lt:lxd4 cxd4 21 ~xc7 l:c8 22
l:c! ~xa4 23 ~a6 left White with the
better chances, although Van der Ster-
ren-Piket, Amsterdam 1999 ended in a
draw.
9 e4
Now 9 c4 'lli'd6 10 d5 lt:le7 11 'lli'b!
aS!? (halting ~b4 altogether) 12 e4 c6
13 a4, as in Giorgadze-Sulava, San Mar-
ino 1998, makes slightly less sense.
9 ... 'lli'd6 10 d5 Ci:Je7 11 c4 Ci:Jh5
As usual, the brilliant young Russian
comes out with a new idea and, typi-
cally, it's a fairly aggressive approach.
The knight eyes up the f4-square and
121
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
rhe way is paved for ... f7-f5. Previously
11...lbd7 12 lbe2 b6 13 lbc3 a6 14 ~e2
/bes 15 0-0 f5 16 ~e3 ~d7 17 a4 lbg6
18 a5 lbf4 (Dautov-Miladinovic, Yere-
van Olympiad 1996) had been played
but I'm not certain I agree with the sug-
gested assessment of 'slightly better for
White' as Black seems to have his fair
share of play.
12'1ii'b3c5
Black had to choose between this and
12 ... aS as 13 ~b4 would have been
awkward. Now White has a supported
passed pawn on dS, but this won't be
such a big thing until the endgame. In
fact, in a middlegame Black would ide-
ally enjoy blockading it with a knight.
13 ii:le2 f5
Now we have an interesting situation.
White would love the e4-square for his
own knight but he dare not grant an
enemy steed access to d4.
14 ii:lc3 b6 1 5 .ltd3 ii:lg6
Objectively, I suppose White does
stand better but in practice I suspect
that each of 15 ... lbf6, 15 ... /bf4 and even
15 ... f4 wouldn't be that easy to handle.
16 g3
Simply keeping the black knights out
of f-l.
122
16 ... 'lii'e7
Instead 16 ... f4!? 17 g4 lbh4!? 18 gxhS
lbxf3+ 19 Wdl, with either 19 ... ~g4 or
19 ... 'lii'h6 to follow, looks fun although
actually White is not forced to accept
the piece and can play 18 ~e2 or 18
0-0.
17 exf5!
Ensuring that White gets the cher-
ished e4-square that I was talking about
earlier.
17 ... .ltxf5 18 .ltxf5 Il.xf5 19 ii:le4
The knight is superbly placed here
and it may even have the exciting e6-
square in its sights.
19 ... ii:lf6 20 .ltg5
Securing the knight on e4 and hoping
to exploit the awkward placing of the
black rook. Note 20 lbgS isn't that ef-
fective now because of 20 ... h6 21 e6
e4 22 0-0 lbf8!.
20 ... 'lifts 21 .ltxf6 gxf6 22 0-0-0
An ambitious, though certainly not
bad, continuation. White would, how-
ever, also have retained a simple edge
by castling short.
22 ...Il.h5 23 h4 Il.h6 24 h5
Both 24 d6 and 24 'lii' e3 also looked
attractive.
24 ... ii:le7 25 g4

Black's rook and knight are poorly
placed and White has an apparent bind
on Black's position. With little else to
do, Black's reaction is only natural.
25 ... f5 26 g5
26 gxfS li:lxfS 27 'l!Wc3 li:ld4 28 'l!We3
was the way of playing for an advantage
that wouldn't have allowed the forth-
coming exchange sacrifice.
26 ... fxe4 27 gxh6 'i1Vf4+ 28 lt>b1
exf3
White is still clear favourite but Black
has managed to mix things up nicely. It
is always better to have a 'messy' disad-
vantage rather than a clear cut one.
29 'i!Vd3?
29 l:hgl+ liith8 30 l:g7 li:lfs is fairly
unclear but 29 l:hfl! l:f8 (rather than
29 ... e4 30 'l!Wc3!) 30 'l!Wc3 looks good.
Black won't be able to employ his e-
pawn and White has moves like l:d3,
l:del and d6 to think about in the fu.
ture.
2s .. .1ut5
This way the knight looks set to make
it to d4. All of a sudden it's anybody's
game.
30 J:tde 1 11:id6
On the other hand, this looks a good
place for it too! As mentioned earlier,
The Chigorin Defence: 3 cxd5
knights love blocking enemy supported
passed pawns and here it hits the root
of the dS-pawn too.
31 J:thg1 + lt>h8 32 J:tg7 'i!Vxh6 33
J:td7?!
White's rooks soon lose all co-
ordination. Better was 33 l:g3.
33 ... J:tf8 34 'i!Vc3?
White continues to err in time trou-
ble. He was still able to secure a draw
with 34 l:fl e4 35 'lid+ 'lif6 36 'lixf6+
l:xf6 37 l:gl ! h6 38 l:d8+ liith 7 39
l:d7+ liith8 (or 39 ... li:lf7 40 l:e7) 40
l:d8+ etc.
34 ... 'i!Vf6 35 h6?
Accelerating Black's win although in
fairness there was no satisfactory way to
halt the menacing pawns.
35 ... f2 36 J:tf1 'i1Vf5+ 37 lt>a1 lue4
This or 37 ... li:lxc4 were fine but not
37 ... 'l!Wxd7' 38 'lixeS+ liitg8 39 'l!Wg3+
liithS (acguiescing in a draw but vastly
preferable nevertheless to 39 ... liitf7> 40
'lixf2+) 40 'lies+ with a draw by repeti-
tion.
38 'i!Vd3 'i!Vxd7 39 'i!Vxe4 'i1Vf5 40
J:txf2?
The black gueen can return to f6.
Still, there was little else.
40 ... 'i!Vxf2 0-1
123
 Unusual Queen's Gamb;t Oect;ned

, - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , . of Goldin-Lein, Oberlin 1999) 10 .lte2

Game52 b6 11 0-0 h6 12 'lli'c2, which ended in a
Tukmakov-Skembris draw in Kurajica-Bukal, Poree 1998.
Lausanne 2001 However, more common is 8... ibf6 9
.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _,. /bg3 0-0 (9 ... h5 is interesting in a differ-
1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 cxd5 'lli'xd5 4 ent sort of way!) 10 .lte2 .lte6 11 0-0,
e3 e5 5 li:lc3 .ltb4 6 .ltd2 .ltxc3 7 when Black needs to decide whether his
bxc3 'lli'd6 c6-knight should try to grip the c4-
The other move which, along with square (perhaps 1L.lba5) or journey to
7... /bf6, seems to have nudged the more the kingside via, say, 11...ibe7.
compliant 7... exd4 out of the spotlight.

8 .ltd3
Lesser seen, but far from illogical, is 8
f3, for example 8... f5 9 .ltd3 ibf6 10
lbe2 .il.e6 11 'lli'bl e4 12 .il.bS a6 13
.il.a4 b5 14 .il.b3 li:ia5 15 .il.xe6 'lli'xe6 16
a4 0-0 17 0-0 lbc4 18 .ii.cl c6 19 ibf4
'lli'd7 20 fxe4 lbxe4 21 '!li'd3 l:lae8 22
axbS axb5 23 .lta3 l:!7 24 .il.b4 ibf6 25
l:lael ibd5 26 ibxd5 'lli'xdS 27 l:lf4 g6
28 e4 l:lxe4 29 l:lexe4 '/,-'/2 Praszak-
Myc, Glogow 2001 witnessed an inter-
esting light-squared tussle in which
Black's play was at least outwardly at-
tractive.
After 8 lbe2 one option is 8... lbge7 9
lbg3 0-0 (better than the 9... f5?! 10 .lte2
.il.e6 11 0-0 0-0 12 'lli'a4 lbd5 13 c4 lbb6
14 'lli'c2 exd4 15 c5 'lli'd5 16 cxb6 d3 17
.il.xd3 l:lad8 18 bxc7 l:ld7 19 .il.xfS! 1-0
8 ... li:lge7
Or 8... ibf6 9 f3 (9 lbe2 0-0 10 lbg3
l:1e8 11 0-0 b6 12 'lli'c2 h6 13 f3 iba5 14
lbe4 lbxe4 15 .il.xe4 .il.b 7 looked very
reasonable for Black in Zimmerman-
J amrich, Budapest 1999 - White still has
those centre pawns but enough pieces
have been traded for Black not to be
too cramped) 9 ... 0-0 10 lbe2 l:l.e8 11 0-0
(compared to my previous note, not
committing the knight yet) 11...b6!? 12
'lli'c2 (12 'li'cl .il.b7 13 .ii.el l:l.ad8 14
.il.f2 e4 15 fxe4 lbxe4 16 .ltxe4 l:l.xe4
was double-edged in Yu Mingyuan-
Jamrich, Budapest 2001) 12... .il.e6 13
l:l.ad1 l:l.ad8 14 li?hl h6 with even
chances, Van der Sterren-Piket, Am-
sterdam 1999.
On the other hand, 11....il.e6 12 'Ill' c1
(if you're confused about the general

124
 The Chigorin Defence: 3 cxd5

employment of this move, the main vent White getting a pawn on e4, but if
idea is to over-protect the e3-pawn in Black can get one there himself and
order to enable an activation of the then trade light-squared bishops, he
dark-squared bishop via el) 12 ... l:!:ad8 could be laughing.
13 ~el ~c8 14 ~f2 e4 15 fxe4 li:lxe4
16 ~h4 f6 17 'iifc2 'iife7 18 li:lg3 is a
difficult line to assess. The fact that
White went on to win from here in Be-
liavsky-Miladinovic, Belgrade 1995
would suggest that perhaps he stands
better. However, there are obviously
chances for him to go wrong.
Finally, 8... f5 has also been seen, with
9 ~c4 ~e6 10 ~xe6 'iifxe6 11 'iifb3
'iifxb3 12 axb3 being slightly better for
White in Razuvaev-Kaminski, Biel 1995.
9 li:le2 0-0 10 0-0 b6 11 'l!Vc2 12 f3 il.e6 13 .1.e1 ll:ad8 14 .1.f2
11 f4?! exd4 12 exd4 ~f5! 13 'iifc2 li:lg6 15 ll:fd1 'l!Ve7 16 e4 fxe4 17
'i!Vg6 14 ~xf5 'iifxf5 15 J:!:acl J:!:ad8 16 il.xe4 li:la5 18 d5
li:lg3 'iifxc2 17 l:!:xc2 f5 18 l:!:el g6 19 The option was there to net a pawn
~cl l:!:fe8 20 l:!:e6 Wf7 21 l:!:ce2 li:la5 22 via 18 ~xg6 hxg6 19 'iifxg6, or perhaps
~d2 li:lc4 23 ~e 1 li:ldS 24 J:!:xe8 l:!:xe8 18 dxe5 li:lxe5 19 ~xh7+ Wh8, but
25 l:!:xe8 Wxe8 26 li:le2 Wd7 27 Wf2 Grandmaster Tukmakov prefers to keep
Wc6 28 Wf3 Wb5, Tjomsland-Heim, control of the position.
Bergen 2001 demonstrates how things 18 ... .1.f7 19 c4 li:lb7 20 li:lg3
can easily go horribly wrong for White White surely stands better but, as this
(particularly on the light squares!), but game proves, it's easily possible for
11 a4 l:!:d8 12 'iifc2 h6 13 ~cl ~b7 14 Black to drum up play.
~a3 'i!Ve6 15 l:!:ae 1 li:la5 16 li:lg3 l:!:e8 17 20 ... li:lc5 21 li:lf5 'li'f6 22 il.xc5
f4! showed rather better timing: bxc5 23 ll:ab 1
17 ... exd4 18 exd4 'iiV d7 19 'iif f2 li:ld5 20
l:!:e5 f6 21 l:!:h5 li:le3 22 l:!:b 1 'iifxa4 23
~b4 c5 24 ~xa5 'iifxaS 25 'iifb2 li:lxg2
26 'i!Vb3+ Wf8 27 ~h7 We7 28 li:lfs+
Wd8 29 li:ld6 ~f3 30 li:lxe8 li:lxf4 31
li:lxg7 li:lxh5 32 'iifg8+ Wc7 33 'iiff7+
Wb8 34 li:le6 1-0 Milov-Peek, Amster-
dam 2000. Food for thought, although
plenty of scrutinising to be done!
11 ... f5
It's easy to see the appeal of this
move. Not only does it attempt to pre-

125
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
With four isolated pawns to target,
vou'd think that it would all be one-way
traffic. But there's always the kingside
to consider!
23 ... i.e8 24 "ilf'f2 ti:lf4 25 ti:lg3 h5!?
Black is not going to bother trying to
grimly defend his pawns and instead
looks to build on his well-placed knight
by putting some pressure on the enemy
king.
26 i.c2 i.g6 27 i.xg6 "i!Vxg6
Finally a serious threat. If allowed,
Black will play ... h5-h4 followed by
...li:lh3+.
28 @h 1 h4 29 ti:le4 h3 30 gxh3
Upon 30 g3, possible is 30 ...ltlxdS
because of 31 cxd5 'lli'xe4.
30 ... ti:lxh3 31 "i!Vg3 'lli'h5 32 .l:tb3
Despite Black's admirable effort to
divert White's attention from his own
weaknesses, you'd still have thought
that the first player was favourite to
win. All credit to Black, though, as he
never gives up and in the end earns his
just rewards.
32 ... .l:tf5 33 .i:tf1 .i:tdf8 34 ti:lxc5 .l:tg5
35 "i!Ve1 ti:lf4 36 .l:tg1 .i:tf6 37 .l:txg5
'ili'xg5 38 "ilf'f1 l:!.h6 39 l:!.b2 'ili'e7 40
ti:le4 "i!Va3 41 .i:td2 .l:tb6 42 .l:tf2 .l:tb4
43 d6 cxd6 44 ti:lxd6 "i!Vc3 45 ti:le4
726
"i!Vxc4 46 "i!Vd1 Y,-Y,
Game53
Erdogan-Skembris
Anta!ya 2001
1 d4 d5 2 c4 ti:lc6 3 cxd5 "i!Vxd5 4
ti:lf3
The drawback of this otherwise natu-
ral looking developing move is that it
commits the knight too soon and lures
forward the black e-pawn to the second
player's advantage.
4 ... e5 5 ti:lc3
White clearly gains nothing from tak-
ing on e5. Indeed, 5 12ixe5?! 12ixe5
(5 ... /2ixd4'?) 6 dxe5 'lli'xe5 7 12lc3 c6 8
'lli'b3 /i:)f6 9 g3 il.cS 10 il.f4 'lli'hS 11
il.g2 0-0 12 0-0 il.b6 13 h4 il.g4 14
l:!.fel il.e6 15 'lli'c2 li:lg4 16 e3 h6 17 f3
12if6 18 '11H f2 12id5 19 12le2 l:!.ad8 20 g4
'llig6 21 Wh2 'llic2 22 'lli'g3 li:lxe3 23
ii.es J;[d2 24 J;[acl 'lli'a4 25 il.c3 J;[d5 26
12if4 J;[d7 27 12lxe6 fxe6 28 ii.es J;[d2 29
J;[xe3 il.xe3 30 'lie! J;[xf3 31 Wh 1
'lli'xg4 0-1 Honsch-Jamrich, Budapest
2000 was a recent example of how
things can go horribly wrong, whilst 5
dxeS '!Wxdl+ 6 Wxdl il.g4 enables Black
to develop quickly and regain his pawn.

5 ... .ltb4 6 .ltd2
Instead 6 e3 exd4 7 exd4 is of no use
to White and indeed 7 ... fbf6 (amusingly
7 ... ~g4 8 ~e2 ~xf3 9 ~xf3 'i1Vc4
transposes to a GOring Gambit De-
clined!) 8 ~d2 ~xc3 9 bxc3 fbaS 10
'ilV e2+ ~e6 11 fbgS 0-0 12 fbxe6 :l:i:fe8!
13 ~e3 'i1Vxe6 14 'i1Vd3 li:ldS 15 ~e2 cS
16 :l:i:bl fS 17 g3 c4 18 'i1Vc2 fbxe3 19
fxe3 'i1Vxe3 20 :l:i:bS fbc6 21 :l:i:fl 'i1Vd3 22
'ilV d2 :l:i:e3 23 :l:i:f2 l:l.ae8 24 @d 1 :l:i:xe2
0-1 Alber-Wisnewski, Seebad Her-
ingsdorf 2000 should not be encourag-
ing for the first player and, as before, 6
dxeS 'ilVxd 1+ 7 @xd 1 ~g4 8 h3 0-0-0+
9 ~d2 ~xf3 10 gxf3 fbxeS 11 @c2
li:le7 is also nice for Black to play.
6 ... .ltxc3 7 .ltxc3 e4! 8 1Zle5
8 fbd2'! e3 9 fxe3 li:lf6 10 e4 fbxe4
11 fbxe4 'i1Vxe4 12 dS liJe7 13 d6 cxd6
14 'i1Vxd6 0-0 was a little better for Black
in Cajzler-B.Kovacevic, Bizovac 2001.
8 ... e3
Also possible are 8 ... li:lge7 and
8 ... liJxeS 9 dxeS, which doesn't seem to
be of any concern to Black in the event
The Chigorin Defence: 3 cxd5
of either 9 ... liJge7 or 9 ... 'ilVxdl+ 10
J:t.xdl ~e6.
9 fxe3 1Zlf6
Aiming to get the knight to either e4
or g4 looks like an attractive policy but
9 ... liJxeS 10 dxeS ~e6 is a simpler con-
tinuation. White's extra pawn means
very little when you realise that it's one
of those trebled isolated ones!
10 i!Vb3!
This seems to lead to an endgame in
which White is not worse. Alas, some-
how he does actually manage to fluff it.
1O... "i!Vxb3 11 axb3 1Zlxe5 12 dxe5
1Zle4 13 g3 1Zlxc3 14 bxc3 0-0 15
.ltg2
The e-pawns aren't much to speak of
but White has some reasonable play
against Black's queenside. I don't be-
lieve that the final result is a fair reflec-
tion upon this position.
15 ... a5 16 l!lf2 c6 17 ll:a3 ll:a6 18
b4 a4 19 ll:ha 1 b5 20 ll:d 1 .lte6 21
ll:d6 ll:c8 22 .lte4 96 23 .ltd3 ll:a 7
24 c4 c5 25 cxb5 cxb4 26 ll:a 1 a3
27 ll:a6 lha6 28 bxa6 a2 0-1
127
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

Summary
After 1 d4 dS 2 c4 t2:lc6 3 cxdS 'ii'xdS 4 e3 eS 5 t2:lc3 .ltb4 6 .ltd2 .ltxc3, it looks as
though Black is holding his own in the 7 bxc3 variation. More recently the acid test
has been 7 .li.xc3 but just when it seems Black is on the ropes, along comes that
man Morozevich with a new idea to save the day!

1 d4 d5 2 c4 11:lc6 3 cxd5 'l!i'xd5 4 e3

4 t2:if3 - Game 5 3
4 ... e5 5 11:lc3 i.b4 6 i.d2 i.xc3 7 i.xc3 (D)
7 bxc3
7... t2:if6 - Game 51
7... 'ii'd6 - Game 52
7 ... exd4 8 11:le2 (D) 12lf6
8... t2:lge7 - Game 46
8... .ltg4 9 f3
9 ... .ltxf3 - Game 49
9... .lte6 - Game 50
9 11:ixd4 0-0 10 11:lbS
10 .lte2 - Game 48
10 .. .'iWgS (D) - Game47

7 i.xc3 811:le2 10... 'lWg5

728
 CHAPTER EIGHT I
The Chigorin Defence:
3~c3

1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 li:lc3
The largest Chigorin chapter, here we
cover the move 3 li:lc3, which pressur-
ises the dS-square and thus generally
avoids lines with the black queen com-
ing out early. Although 4 li:lf3 may ap-
pear next, there is less of a transposition
issue to the next chapter than one might
think However, things become similar
to the Queen's Gambit Accepted when
Black (as often happens) opts for an
early ... dxc4. Don't worry, I'm not using
that as a get-out clause for non- Like the Albin Counter Gambit, but
coverage. It's more likely that after 1 d4
with a pair of knights already developed!
As it's both queen's knights, this isn't a
dS 2 c4 dxc4 3 li:lc3 li:lc6, QGA books
would say 'see Chigorin Defence'. sacrifice at all. The main drawback is
A typical position for Black to accli-
that Black's only developed piece is go-
ing to be kept on the run.
matise to is Game 56 and, in general, a
4 cxd5
big decision that Black needs to make is
whether his knight goes to aS or eS after
After 4 dxeS d4 5 li:ldS .ile6 6 li:lf3
a ... dxc4, d4-d5 scenario. .ilxdS 7 cxdS 'ill'xdS 8 g3 li:lxeS 9 ilg2
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - ilb4+ 10 .i..d2 .ilxd2+ 11 'il!'xd2 0-0-0
Game54 12 0-0 in fact it's actually Black who has
Orlov-Yoos emerged a pawn up. Now 12 ... li:lxf3+ 13
Vancouver 200 I .ilxf3 'ill'd6 14 'il!'aS litb8 15 l:.acl li:le 7
16 l:.fd 1 'il!'b6?! 17 'ill'gS? (17 'ill'eS! re-
1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 li:lc3 e5?! claims a pawn or two) 17 ... li:lg6 18 l:.d3

129
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
f6 19 'li'fS 'li'xb2? 20 l:tddl (20 'li'c5!
was even stronger in view of 20 ... 'i'b6
21 l:tb3) 20 ... 'li'xa2 21 l:tal 'l!i'f7 22 'li'aS
saw White obtain a wicked attack in
Bekker Jensen-Maahs, Hamburg 1999.
However, it's not clear just how much
White has for the pawn after, say,
12 ... li:lf6!, and so 4 cxd5 looks like a
better route for White to take.
4 .. .1Zlxd4 5 e3 li:lf5 6 li:lf3
6 ... f6
More common is 6 ... .\11.d6 and now:
a) A novel idea is the 7 g3!? a6 8 .\11.g2
li:lfe 7 9 0-0 .\11.g4 10 h3 .\11.d7 11 e4 'li'c8
12 @h2 f6 13 .\11.e3 gS 14 li:ld2 li:lg6 15
li:lc4 .111.fS 16 l:tcl bS 17 li:la5 li:lh6 18 d6
.111.xd6 19 li:ldS 0-0 20 li:lb6 'li'e8 21
li:lxa8 'li'xa8 22 .\11.c5 'li'b8 23 'Ii' dS+ li:lf7
24 l:tfdl li:le7 25 'li'b7 'li'xb7 26 li:lxb7
l:tc8 27 .\11.[3 .\11.e6 28 .111.xd6 li:lxd6 29
li:lxd6 cxd6 30 l:txc8+ li:lxc8 31 .\11.g4
.\11.xg4 32 hxg4 li:lb6 33 l:txd6 1-0 of
Flear-Rabineau, St-Chely d'Aubrac 2001
and frankly it looks quite good for
White.
b) 7 e4 /i:lfe7 8 .111.bS+ @f8 (a stan-
dard response as allowing the good
bishop to be traded off leads to a lasting
edge after 8 ... .\11.d7 9 'li'b3 . the b 7-pawn
is in trouble too) 9 0-0 /i:lf6 10 .\11.e3 h6
730
11 .\11.e2 g5 12 li:ld2 li:lg6 13 li:lc4 li:lf4
14 l:tc 1 h5 15 a3 'li' d7 16 f3 li:le8 17 l:tf2
f6 18 .111.fl 'li'g 7 19 li:lbS g4 20 li:lcxd6
cxd6 21 'li'd2 g3 22 hxg3 'li'xg3 23
.\11.xf4 'li'xf4 24 'li'xf4 exf4 25 li:lxa 7! etc.,
Schlosser-Lach, Ditzingen 2001 is not
untypical of how a game might turn out.
7 'l!Vc2 li:ld6
The reason behind Black's sixth
move. However, although the knight in
general is well placed on d6, in this par-
ticular position other pieces suffer and,
furthermore, (as White's next move
exposes) there will be a problem with
Black's kingside pawns.
8 ~d3 96 9 h4!
9 ... ~g7 10 h5 f5
The only way for Black to play as af-
ter 10... gS? 11 .\11.xh7 fS 12 .11l.g6+, just
because it's a little isolated, there is still
no chance of him winning the bishop .
11 e4 f4 12 lbb5!
Now Black can't leave the knight
where it is because of the under-fire c7-
pawn.
12 ...lbxbS 13 ~xb5+ ~d7
With the bishop on g7, 13 ... @fS is
too dodgy as White's dark-squared
bishop will make it to the a3-f8 diago-
nal.

14 .il.xd7 + @xd7
This may look bizarre but the fact is
that Black wanted to keep the queen on
d8 to prevent White making e6 a home
for his knight via 15 ti:lg5.
15 .il.d2 1Zlh6 16 JI.as
Now the c-pawn takes a real ham-
mering and Black can't even play ... b7-
b6 because of 'liV c6+.
16 ... 1Zlf7 17 J:!:c1 J:!:c8 18 "l!li'a4+ @e7
19 .il.b4+ @f6 20 "l!li'xa7 JI.ts 21
.il.xf8 "l!li'xf8 22 "l!li'xb7 J:!:b8 23 J:!:c6+
1-0
Already exhausted, the black king has
had enough!
Game55
Markus-Antal
Budapest 2000
1 d4 d5 2 c4 /Zlc6 3 1Zlc3 dxc4 4 d5
1Zle5 5 f4
5 ...1Zlg4
The fact is that the other two vacan-
cies for the knight also warrant atten-
tion:
a) 5 ... ti:lg6 6 e4 e6 (6 ... e5?! 7 f5 ti:lf4 8
ti:lf3 ti:ld3+ 9 il.xd3 cxd3 leaves White
with a nice choice of pawns to take) 7
il.xc4 (Actually, 7 dxe6P 'l!Vxdl+ 8
The Chigorin Defence: 3 li:Jc3
Wxdl fxe6 - the bishop can't recapture
because of the 9 f5 fork - 9 il.xc4 is
possibly a better way to play. Certainly
safer, it offers White a slightly favour-
able endgame.) 7 ... ti:lf6 (also here
7 ... il.c5!? 8 ti:lf3 ti:lf6 9 il.b5+ il.d7 10
dxe6 fxe6 11 f5 exf5 12 exf5 'l!Ve7+ 13
'l!Ve2 'l!Vxe2+ 14 Wxe2 il.xb5+ 15 ti:lxb5
0-0-0 was good for Black, who went on
to win in Lindinger-Fries Nielsen,
Hamburg 1997) 8 il.b5+ (In an encoun-
ter of my own I was lured into some
tactics and, as you'll soon see, things
horribly backfired. Again more cautious
is 8 dxe6, but 8 ... 'l!Vxdl+ 9 Wxdl il.xe6
10 il.xe6 fxe6 11 ti:lf3 offers no more
than equality) 8... il.d7 9 dxe6 il.xb5 10
exf7+ We7 11 'l!Vb3 'l!Vd3! 12 ti:lge2 il.c4
13 'l!Vxb7 Wxf7 14 'l!Vxc7+ il.e7. Though
I was tempted by this whole sacrificial
thing in Ward-Lejlic, Gausdal 1996,
now Black's king is far safer than
White's, which was soon surrounded by
enemy pieces.
b) 5... ti:ld7 and now:
bl) 6 'l!Va4. At first this pin looks at-
tractive, with 6 ... a6 7 e4 l:tbS 8 'l!Vxc4
ti:lb6 9 'l!Vb3 e6 10 il.e3 ti:lf6 11 J:ld 1
exd5 12 e5 ti:lfd7 13 ti:lxd5 appearing to
pile on some pressure. However,
13 ... ti:lxd5 14 'l!Vxd5 (14 l:txd5!?)
14... .11.b4+ 15 Wf2 o-o 16 ti:lf3 'l!Ve7 17
il.d3 ti:lc5 wasn't that clear at all in
A.Garcia-Renteria, Cali 2001.
b2) 6 e4 ti:lb6 7 il.xc4 (arguably more
ambitious is 7 a4!> and indeed the hypo-
thetical line 7 ... a5 {7 ... e5 8 a5 ti:ld7 9
il.xc4 ti:lgf6 10 ti:lf3 il.d6 11 0-0 'liV e 7 12
f5 lead to White converting his space
advantage in Schrik-Helvensteijn, Arn-
hem 1996} 8 il.e3 e6 9 il.xb6 cxb6 10
il.xc4 il.b4 11 dxe6! 'l!Vxdl+ 12 l:!.xdl
131
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

~xe6 13 ~b5+ Wf8 14 l'i:lge2 would be though he would much rather have the
nice for White his superior pawn knight here than the queen.
structure compensates for Black)s 12 h3 li:lf6 13 J..e3 Jld7 14 il.b3
bishop pair) 7 ... l'i:lxc4 8 'l!Va4+ ~d7 9 li:lcS 15 0-0-0 J..xe3+ 16 'ill'xe3 li:lh7
'l!Vxc4 c6 10 l'i:lf3 e6 and White must be 17 li:le6!
careful. He may appear to hold an edge
but if all the centre pawns are coming
off, Black's bishops may well be rub-
bing their hands in glee!
6 e4
In a variation resembling a line in the
Danish Gambit, 6 h3 l'i:l4f6 7 e4 e6 8
l'i:lf3 a6 9 ~xc4 exd5 10 l'i:lxd5 l'i:lxd5 11
~xd5 l'i:lf6 12 ~xf7+ Wxf7 13 'l!Vxd8
~b4+ 14 ~d2 l:lxd8 15 ~xb4 l'i:lxe4 is
approximately equal.
6 ... e5 7 f5 h5
Possibly coming as a bolt out of the
blue to Black, White's pawns on d5 and
f5 are definitely pulling their weight.
The knight is a real pain here but it can't
be taken.
1 7 .. .l:i:g8 18 g4 a5 19 a3 b5 20
'ill'e2 li:b8 21 g5 b4 22 'ill'xh5! li:lfS
22 ... bxc3 23 'l!Vxh7 l'i:le7 24 l'i:lxg7+ is
winning for White.
23 axb4 axb4

The g4-knight was attacked Oeaving

no time for ... ~c5) and Black's problem
is that both his steeds desire the same
square.
8 li:lh3
An alternative and interesting way to
play is with 8 l'i:lf3 ~c5 9 ~xc4! l'i:lf2 10
'l!Vh3. The knight is obviously an annoy-
ance but the rook shouldn't be taken
because of 11 'l!VbS+.
8 ... J..c5 9 'ill'f3 li:le7 10 J..xc4 a6 11 24 li:la2
li:lg5 'i!l'd6 More entertaining and to the point
Black needed to prevent 12 d6 al- would have been 24 luxe?+! 'l!Vxc7 (or

132
 The Chigorin Defence: 3 li:Jc3

24 ... lild8 25 'lifxf7) 25 'lifxf7+ lilxf7 26 2001 is certainly food for thought) 7 e4
d6+ but White prefers to continue ..ltd6 8 ..ltxc4 (8 l'i:lf3, intending
without any risk. Well, either that or he iud2xc4, would be another approach as
didn't see it! there is no denying that c4 is a good
24 ... 96 25 fxg6 ll:xg6 square for a white steed) 8 ... a6 9 luf3
Heavy pressure would have remained l'i:lf6 10 'lii'b3 (10 0-0 is premature be-
after 25 ... luxg6 26 J::!,hfl !. cause of 10 ... hW) 10 ... bS 11 ..ltd3 l'i:lhS
26 lilb1 'l!li'b6 27 li:lxf8 lilxf8 28 12 0-0-0 l'i:lhf4. Probably 'with equal
'l!li'h8+ ll:98 29 'l!li'xe5 chances' is a fair assessment.
5 .. .lug6
The end of this pawn marks the end
of Black's resistance. I don't trust the ugly looking move
29 ... 'lil'd6 30 'l!li'xd6+ li:lxd6 31 e5
5 ... f6 and indeed the game Chuchelov-
li:le4 32 e6 fxe6 33 dxe6 i.c6 34
Van Houtte, Belgium Team Ch., 1997
ll:hf1 + lile8 35 h4 li:lc5 36 i.c4
continued 6 f4 ltlf7 7 'lii'xc4 lud6 8 'lii'b3
1l.e4+ 37 @c1 ll:h8 38 ll:f4 i.96 39
fS 9 g3 iuf6 10 ..ltg2 g6 11 l'i:lh3 ..ltg7 12
ll:fd4 1-0 0-0 0-0 13 ltlf2 l::te8 14 ..lte3 e6 15 l::tadl
-------------~ lilhS 16 ..ltd4 exdS 17 ..ltxdS luxdS 18
Game56 ..ltxg7+ lilxg7 19 l'i:lxdS ..lte6 20 'li!'c3+
Kosyrev-Charbonneau lilf7 21 'lii'xc7+ lilg8 22 'lii'xd8 1-0, thus
,,__ _ _ _Montreal
_ _ _2001
_ _ _ _ _ _,. offering
feeling. some evidence to confirm this

1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 li:lc3 dxc4 4 d5 6 'l!li'xc4

li:le5 5 'i!\l'd4 Not a million miles from our main
The other way to budge the knight is game, 6 e4 eS 7 'lii'xc4 a6 8 iuf3 ..ltd6 9
with 5 ..ltf4. ..lte2 iuf6 10 0-0 0-0 offers equal
chances.
6 ... a6

Now we have 5... lug6 6 .lig3 eS (this

is very logical but the recent 6 ... ..ltd7 7
a4 e6 8 e4 iuf6 9 .lixc4 ..ltb4 10 dxe6 7 li:lf3
..ltxe6 11 ..ltxe6 'lifxdl+ 12 l::txdl fxe6 13 Instead 7 'lii'b3 l;!,bS (one point be-
f3 'lz-'/2 Sharavdorj-J.Gonzales, Manila hind White's last move is the pawn

133
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

grabbing 7... e5 8 dxe6 il.xe6 9 'i'xb7,

hence the rook move that looks passive
but certainly becomes useful later) 8 e4
b5 9 a4 b4 10 il.c4 'i'd6 11 ti:lce2 ti:lf6
12 ti:lg3 e6 13 ti:lf3 .11.e 7 14 0-0 0-0 15
h3 exd5 16 exd5 l:td8 looked fine for
Black until it went horribly wrong for
him after 17 ti:ld4 ti:lxd5 18 ti:lgfS 'i' cS
19 il.e3 ti:lxeV 20 il.xf7+ lilhS 21 fxe3
il.f6 22 l:tacl 'i'eS 23 ti:lc6 'i'e4 24 l:tc4
il.e6 25 l:txe4 il.xb3 26 il.xb3 1-0
K.hassanov-Ghannoum Montreal 2001.
7 .. .li:lf6 8 e4 e5 9 a4
Game57
Vera-Formanek
Andorra 1996

1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 ti:lc3 dxc4 4 d5

ti:la5

Restricting Black a little. An odd

situation here is that White's queen feels
simultaneously both well and badly
placed!
9 ... i.d6 10 i.e2 0-0 11 a5
The pawn here has good restrictive
value but Black's bishop sits like a rock
on d6.
11 ... 'l!i'e7 12 g3 b5 13 axb6 cxb6
14 0-0 b5 15 'l!i'd3 i.d7 16 li:ld1 b4
17 i.g5 a5 18 li:le3 h6 19 i.xf6
'l!i'xf6 20 li:lc4 Y, Y,
The next move would most likely
have been 20 ... il.bS. The opening can
be regarded as a success for Black as he
can clearly hold his own in these type of
posmons.
According to theory, this is not as ef-
fective as when ti:lf3 and ... ti:lf6 have
been thrown in. Certainly it's true that
White has more options with the king-
side knights at home hut this and the
next game seriously question whether
this move is acceptable either way.
5 'l!i'a4+!
The only move ro truly test Black's
strategy. It looks like a good one,
though.

134

5 ... c6 6 b4 cxb3
It is important for me to cover this
move although 6 ... bS 7 'llfxaS 'llfxaS 8
bxaS b4
1s the real position to debate. The
point is that whichever way White opts
to move his knight, he still has the use-
ful central break to chisel away at
Black's pawns:
a) 9 tba4 cxdS 10 e4l e6 and now:
al) 11 ..\il.e3 ..li.d7 12 tbcS ..li.c6 13
exdS ..\il.xdS 14 tbf3 l:1.b8 15 ..\il.e2 tbf6
16 J:l.cl tbg4 17 tba6 tbxe3 18 tbxb8
tbxg2+ 19 'i1fl tbf4 20 l:1.xc4 tbxe2 21
l:l.c8+ 'i1e7 22 'i1xe2 1-0 Zimmerman-
Bouton, Cappelle la Grande 2000.
a2) The immediate 11 exdS also isn't
bad, e.g. 11...exdS 12 ..li.e3 tbf6 (and
more recently 12 ... ..\il.d7 13 tbcS ..\il.c6 14
l:bl l:1.b8 15 tba6 l:b7 16 ..\il.cS ..\il.xcS 17
tbxcS l:l.e7+ 18 tbe2 lbh6 19 l:l.xb4 0-0
20 'i1d2 lbg4 21 f3 tbe3 22 tbd4 with a
wmmng advantage, Barria-Velasco
Blasco, Salou 2000) 13 ..\il.e2 ..\il.e 7 14
tbf3 0-0 15 ..Ill.cs l:l.e8 16 tbd4 ..\il.xcS 17
tbxcS tbe4 18 tbxe4 l:xe4 19 0-0-0
..li.d7 20 ..lil.f3 l:eS 21 l:1.hel l:1.ae8 22
l:l.xeS l:l.xeS 23 tbc2 1-0 Komljenovic-
lnsua Mellado, Linares 1994.
b) 9 tbdl cxdS 10 e4! e6 11 ..\il.e3
The Chigorin Defence: 3 luc3
(slightly different, but worthy of a men-
tion, is 11 tbe3 tbf6 12 exdS exdS 13
tbf3 ..\il.e6 14 tbd4 ..li.cS 15 tbxe6 fxe6
16 tbxc4 dxc4 17 ..li.xc4 ..li.d4 18 l:l.bl
tbe4 19 f3 ..li.c3+ 20 'i1e2 tbcS 21 a3 b3
22 ..li.e3 l:l.c8 23 l:1.hcl ..\il.f6 24 ..\il.xb3
:li.e7 25 ..\il.xe6 1-0 Pelletier-Moreda,
Medellin 1996) 11 ... ..\il.e 7 12 exdS exdS
13 ..\il.d4 ..li.f6 14 tbf3 ..lil.fS 15 tbe3 :li.e4
16 l:dl h6 17 ..lil.e2 a6 18 0-0 l:l.c8 19
J:l.fel l:l.c6 20 tbeS l:l.e6 21 3 ..\il.h7 22
tbxdS ..\il.xeS 23 ..\il.xeS l:1.xeS 24 ..\il.xc4
l:txe 1+ 25 l:l.xe 1+ 'i1d7 26 lbb6+ 'i1c6 27
l:l.e8 ..lil.g6 28 ..li.xa6 hS 29 ..li.c4 h4 30
tbdS 'i1c5 31 a6 'i1xc4 32 a7 l:hS 33
tbe3+ 1-0 Volkov-Ferron Garcia, Inter-
net 2000.
As this sample of games suggests, the
results for White have been fantastic.
7 axb3 e6 8 i.d2
White's intention is to take the knight
but here 8 'llfxaS? 'llfxaS 9 l:l.xaS runs
into 9 ... ..li.b4.
8 ... 12lxb3
Notching up more pawns for the
piece, as 8... exdS 9 'llfxaS 'llfxaS 10 l:xaS
only gives two. The only way to pre-
serve the offside knight is with 8 ... b6
although then 9 dxc6 leaves a very
strong pawn and 9 ... tbe7 10 ..lil.gS! 6
135
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
(also taking 'DbS into consideration,
there are no convenient squares for the
black queen) 11 l:tdl li:ldS 12 e4 is ex-
cellent for White. Not only is the d5-
knight attacked and pinned, but
12 ... fxgS is decisively met by 13 c7+
'liV d7 14 .i.b5.
9 'l!Vxb3 exd5 10 e4
Black has three connected passed
pawns for the knight but, typically,
pieces play a greater role than pawns in
the opening/ middlegame phase. Hence
White is eager to get his developed.
10 ... d4
Black's chances have all hut been
written off by theory on the basis of
this game but I notice that the same
black player has attempted 10 ... dxe4
since our main encounter. My view,
though, is that he must be a glutton for
punishment as there will be a lot of suf-
fering to be done before those a-, b-
and c-pawns have an influence on the
position. Both 11 .ilc4 and 11 li:lxe4
look appealing.
11 J..c4! 'l!Vd7
Black can't take this knight as
11 ... dxc3? 12 .i.xf7+ ,;l;,d7 13 .ilf4!
leaves the black king caught in a fatal
crossfire, and 11...'lii'e7 12 li:lce2 b5 13
136
.i.d3 li:lf6 14 li:lf3 is no better than the
text as Black still can't get castled.
12 11:id5!?
12 'Dce2 is a safer way to retain an
advantage but, with all bar Black's
queen on the back rank, White decides
to go for it.
12 ... b5
Obviously the knight is safe on dS
for the time being because of .i.bS.
13 .il.d3 J..b 7
A different defence would put up by
13 ... l:tbS but Black's big problem re-
mains getting his kingside out.
1411:if3
14 ... .il.dG
Still 14... cxdS> isn't possible because
of 15 .i.xbS .i.c6 16 li:leS. White's next
move, then, is effectively a sacrifice.
15 0-0 cxd5
Black takes up the challenge as
15 ... li:le7 16 li:lxe7 .i.xe7 17 .i.xbS! cxbS
18 li:leS leaves Black unable to protect
both b5 and f7.
16 .il.xb5 .il.c6 17 J..xc6 'l!Vxc6 18
l:l:fc1
The piece count is now level but
White has a blatantly strong lead in de-
velopment.
18 ... 'l!Vd7 19 'l!Vxd5 J:l:d8

This rook was attacked, leaving no
time for the knight to come out.
20 'l!li'xd4
20 ... i1.xh2+
Upon 20 ... li'lf6, each of 21 e5, 21
.taS and 21 l:!:xa7 would have left
White in a winning position.
21 @xh2 'l!li'xd4
Black gets the queens off so that he
won't be mated but his little liquidating
combination has a flaw.
22 luxd4 ll:xd4 23 i1.c3 1-0
Black will lose one of his rooks.
Game 58
Ward-Fries Nielsen
Copenhagen 1998
1 d4 d5 2 c4 lbc6 3 luc3 lbf6 4 lbf3
dxc4 5 d5 lba5
With both king's knights out, of
course now there is no 5 ... li'leS option
and so this becomes critical.
6 'l!li'a4+
6 .tgS is a playable alternative, but
for what it's worth, I tried it once and I
didn't like it! The presence of the c4-
pawn becomes annoying and it's diffi-
cult preserving the bishops.
6 ... c6 7 b4 b5
The Chigorin Defence: 3 0,c3
Compared to the last game, 7 ... cxb3 8
axb3 e6 9 .td2 li'lxb3 isn't possible be-
cause after 10 dxc6!, the bishop on d2 is
protected by the knight.
8 'l!li'xa5 'l!li'xa5 9 bxa5 b4 10 lbd1
Recently White returned the piece
with 10 dxc6 bxc3 11 l:!:b 1. However,
the position is quite unclear and in fact
White soon got carried away: 11 ... .ta6
12 li'leS 0-0-0 13 li'lxf7? c2 14 l:!:b8+
@xb8 15 li'lxd8 e5 16 c7+ @c8 17 @d2
.tb4+ 18 @xc2 @xc7 19 li'le6+ @d6 20
li'lxg7 .tbs 21 e4 l:!:b8 22 li'lfS+ @e6 23
f3 .txaS 24 .tb2 li'ld7 25 li'le3 .ta4+ 26
@b 1 li'lb6 27 g3 c3 28 .ta3 l:id8 29
.tc4+ li'lxc4 30 li'lxc4 c2+ 0-1 Meins-
Rabiega, See bad Heringsdorf 2000 .
1o... cxd5 11 g3
The move e2-e4 isn't available right
here and so White has to find an alter-
native method of negotiating Black's
pawn majority.
11 .. .e6 12 i1.g2 l:!:b8
Searching for improvements, cer-
tainly 12 ... .ta6 is a candidate, for exam-
ple 13 0-0 .te7 14 .te3 0-0 15 li'leS
l:ifc8 16 f4 li'le4 17 li'lf2 li'lc3 18 l:ife 1
l:!:c7 19 li'ldl li'lbS with a highly com-
plex position in Mancini-Clery, Le Tou-
quet 2001.
13 7
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

13 i.e3 ll:b5 not going to happen.

Black's idea. He's not too worried 22 ll:fd1 i.c8
about his own a-pawn and prefers to
activate his rook and concentrate on his
other pawns.
14 i.xa 7 ll:xa5 15 i.d4
The drawback of having a knight on
f6 is that it's not a pawn! Consequently,
White's pieces can use the eS-square
that Black would ideally like to occupy
with a pawn.
15 ... i.d7 16 li:ie5 i.b5 17 0-0 i.e7
18 a3!

This has been a real problem piece

for Black, suggesting that perhaps
12 ... .lil.aG might have been the route to
take. With 22 ... dxe4, White can ade-
quately handle the remaining two con-
nected pawns after 23 li:lxd7 li:lxd7 24
li:lxe4 l:.c7 (or 24 ... c3 25 l:txd7! b2 26
l:tadl 0-0 27 li:lxc3 l:txc3 28 .lil.e4 l:.cl
29 'ii,,1, with everything under control)
25 li:lc3. Indeed, with the bishop on g2,
White's a-pawn could come in rather
18 ... b3 handy.
Black couldn't afford to open the b- 23 exd5 0-0 24 li:ic6 exd5 25 11:ie 7 +
file with 18 ... bxa3 as 19 li:lc3 0-0 20 @h8 26 li:iexd5 li:ixd5 27 ll:xd5
l:tfb 1 would see a very useful infiltration
to the seventh rank (20 ... l:tbS> isn't pos-
sible due to 21 li:lc6).
19 li:ic3 i.d7 20 e4!
Finally this move comes and Black's
pawn chain comes under serious pres-
sure.
20 ... i.c5
Black would prefer to get castled in
order to activate his other rook but,
alas, this would drop a centre pawn as
his knight is overworked.
21 i.xc5 ll:xc5 With the c-pawn nicely blockaded,
Black dreams of ... d5-d4 but it's just it's all over bar the shouting!

738

27 .. Jk 7 28 a4 .lte6 29 ll:b5 ll:d8
30 a5 96 31 a6 ll:a7 32 l:l.b7 J:l.xa6
33 ll:xa6 ll:d3 34 J:l.xe6!
Just the same, the finish is nice (if I
say so myselfl).
34 ... fxe6 35 lue4 1-0
The knight is heading for f6, when
l:txh 7 mate would follow.
.----------------,, text are:
Game59 a) 6 ... e6 7 il.xc4 il.b4 8 'lii'c2 0-0
Anand-Morozevich (note 8 ... il.xf3 9 gxf3 li:lxd4;, 10 il.xd4
Wijk aan Zee 2001 'l!i'xd4 11 'l!i'a4+) 9 l:tdl sees a lot of
.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ pinning but White still maintains his
1 d4 d5 2 c4 luc6 3 luc3 dxc4 4
luf3 luf6 5 e4
Less committal than 5 dS as White
keeps all of cS, dS, eS and fS under his
beady eye. The text certainly lays down
the gauntlet for his opponent to pres-
surise this attractive centre.
5 ... .ltg4 6 .lte3
Refusing to show his hand. Instead, 6
dS li:leS 7 il.f4 li:lg6 8 il.e3 eS 9 il.xc4
a6 leads to the sort of position we've
seen before and 10 0-0 il.d6 11 il.e2
il.d7 12 li:ld2 bS 13 a4 l:i.b8 14 axbS
axbS 15 'l!i'b3 b4 16 li:la4 li:lg4 17 il.xg4
il.xg4 18 f3 il.d7 19 li:lcS il.bS 20 J:i.fc 1
li:lf4 21 il.xf4 exf4 22 'lii'xb4 0-0 23
li:ldb3 ii.es 24 li:ld4 ii.es 25 'lW d2 c6 26
The Chigorin Defence: 3 l:uc3
li:ldb3 cxdS 27 exdS f6 28 lt>h 1 il.f? 29
l:td 1 'l!i'b6 30 l:ta6 'l!i'bS '12- '!, Baburin-
Miladinovic, Saint Vincent 2000 looked
like a fair result.
6 ... .ltxf3
Of all the top grandmasters I know,
Alex is the least afraid to concede his
bishops. The main alternatives to the
centre.
b) 6 ... eS 7 dS and now:
bl) 7 ... li:le7>! 8 il.xc4 li:lg6 9 'l!i'a4+
il.d7 10 il.bS il.d6 11 ii.gs il.e7 12 l:tcl
a6 13 il.xd7+ 'lii'xd7 14 il.xf6 il.xf6 15
'l!i'xd7+ lt>xd7 16 g3 il.e7 17 lt>e2 l:thc8
18 l:i.c2 f6 19 h4 li:lh8 20 hS li:lf? 21
lt>d3 il.cS 22 li:la4 il.a7 23 b4 was excel-
lent for White in Flear-Libiszewski,
Montpellier 2001. Previously we've al-
ready noted why it is important for
Black to try to avoid this trade of light-
sguared bishops.
b2) 7 ... li:lbS 8 il.xc4 il.d6. Objectively
White has a slight edge but we've al-
ready seen just how solid Black's posi-
tion is.
7 gxf3 e5 8 d5 lub8
This and 8 ... li:le7 are to be compared
with my last comments. This way Black
has already committed himself to
... il.xf3 although in a situation whereby
White was forced to recapture with a
pawn.
9 .ltxc4
The most natural move although
White could make immediate use of his.
forced gxf3 by 9 f4. The presence of
two white f-pawns, as opposed to one,
139
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
means that it's unlikely that a black
piece will end up resting on e5.
9 ... li:lbd7 10 'lli'b3 .ll.c5!?
Daring White to take a pawn that
should certainly be snatched after
10 ... .i.d6,r, i.e. 11 'ill'xb7 l:.bS 12 'ill'c6
l:.xb2 13 .i.b3 when the errant black
rook is in deep trouble. In Black's de-
fence, obviously he is missing his light-
squared bishop, making 10 ... b6 look
ridiculously ugly.
11 0-0-0
Later it was decided that White
should go for it with 11 'ill'xb7! l:.bS 12
'ill'a6 .i.xe3 (rather than the immediate
12 ... l:.xb2,, 13 .i.xc5 li:lxc5 14 'il!'a3 l:.c2
15 'ill'xc5 l:.xc3 16 .i.b5+) 13 fxe3 l:.xb2
14 'il!'a3. Indeed, according to Moro-
zevich, the resulting ending likely to be
reached via 14 ... 'il!'bS 15 0-0 'il!'b4 16
'il!'xb4 l:.xb4 17 .i.e2 is clearly better for
White because of his opponent's weak
queenside pawns.
11 ... .\l.xe3+ 12 fxe3 l::tb8
All of a sudden things are looking up.
Not only does Black have no difficulty
protecting his gueenside pawns, but also
now he can consider launching them at
the enemy king.
13 d6
140
It is logical to want to open up the
diagonal for the bishop and, besides,
White can't contemplate the thought of
Black blockading the d5-pawn via ... 0-0
and ... li:JeS.
13 ... 0-0 14 li:lbS c6!
Black doesn't want the white knight
arriving on d6 and feels that he can con-
trol it elsewhere.
15 li:lc 7 b5 16 .ll.e2
Although it temporarily breaks the
connection of the two rooks, 16 .i.1 r>,
with the future possibility of .i.h3,
might be an improvement.
16 ... l::tb6 17 l:!.d2 a6 18 .!::thd1 c5 19
Wb1 'l!i'bS
Black is playing nicely around the
pawn and knight. No doubt White's
rooks are frustrated at not seeing more
action.
20 'l!Va3 'ilVb7 21 .ll.11 c4 22 'l!Vb4
l:!.c6 23 li:ld5? !
Kind of an admission that White's lit-
tle knight foray was unsuccessful. Still,
although both 23 'il!'a5 and 23 .i.h3
have been suggested as improvements,
Black's position remains solid, with his
a6, b5, c4 chain apparently invulnerable.
23 ... li:lxdS
Trading off this rather superfluous
 The Chigorin Defence: 3 lbc3

knight, though, enables Black to get on

top.
24 l:txd5 l:tfc8 25 'i!i'c3 b4 26 'i!i'c2
b3 27 'i!i'c3
It goes without saying that opening
up the c-file with 27 axb3 cxb3 could
easily end in tears.
27 ... bxa2+ 28 Wa1

5 ... h6
Immediately putting the question to
White's bishop.
5 ... e6 is too passive but, as Black
doesn't want to commit his light-
squared bishop yet, the main alternative
is 5... ti":id5. Then after 6 e4 Black must
then decide on what to do with his
The usual judgement call. The white knight:
king prefers the extra cover and is con- a) 6 ... ti":ixc3 7 bxc3 f6 8 .\Tl.e3 ti":ia5 9
fident of it being safe to eliminate the ti":id2 c6 10 ti":ixc4 looks really ugly for
a2-pawn when the queens are off Black, Gelfand-Miladinovic, Belgrade
28 ... l:tb8 29 il.h3 h6 30 il.xd7 'ili'xd7 1995.
31 l:t5d2 b) 6 ... ti":ib6 7 d5 ti":ib4 8 .\Tl.xc4 ti":ixc4 9
31 'i'xe5? c3 32 bxc3 'i!!Vb7 would 'i!!Va4+ c6 IO 'i!!Vxb4 ti":ib6. Now 11 dxc6
certainly have seen Black making the would be a small edge but 11 l:Id I f6 12
most of the b-file! dxc6 'fic7 13 cxb7 .\Tl.xb7 14 ti":ib5 'fic6
31 .. .J::tc5 32 J::td5 J::tc6 15 .\Tl.e3 e5 16 ti":id6+ .\Tl.xd6 17 l:Ixd6
32 ... 'i!!Va4 33 d7 J:l.d8 would have kept 'i'xe4 18 l:Ie6+ l!tf7 19 'i!!Ve7+ l!tg8 20
the game going and I suspect the classy 0-0 .\Tl.d5 21 J:l.d6 h6 22 .\Tl.xb6 axb6 23
Indian GM was relieved to see this one J:l.d7 l:Ih7 24 J:l.dl g5 25 l:Id8+ 1-0 evi-
over. dently turned out even better in Notkin-
33 J::t5d2 J::tc5 Y, - Y, M.lvanov, Moscow 1996 .
. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - , , 6 il.xf6
Game60 After 6 .\Tl.h4 a6!? 7 d5 ti":ia5 8 e4 (8
Gausel-Nielsen 'i!!Va4+ c6 9 b4 is really murky now, par-
Reykjavik 2000 ticularly as Black can play 9 ... cxb3 10
,.__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.. axb3 e6, with the 11 .\Tl.d2 concept of
1 d4 d5 2 c4 li::ic6 3 li::ic3 dxc4 4 Game 57 not available), Black can con-
li::if3 li::if6 5 il.g5 sider 8 ... c6 and 8 ... b5, or even flicking in

14 1
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
8 ... g5 before eitber of those moves.
6 ... exf6 7 e3 li:la5!?
Refusing to give up the c4-pawn right
now looks like a good idea and, in either
event, simple moves such as 7 ... Sl.b4 8
Sl.xc4 0-0 9 'i!Vc2 Sl.xc3+ 10 'i!Vxc3 'i!Vd6
11 0-0 Sl.g4 12 lud2 l:tae8 13 Sl.d3 lub4
14 Sl.b 1 Sl.c8 15 lue4 'i!Vb6 16 lucS ludS
17 'i!Vc2 lead to a comfortable white
edge (Schandorff-Lindfeldt, Nyborg
2001).
8 li:ld2 c6 9 li:lxc4 li:lxc4 10 il.xc4
il.d6
In exchange for White's supenor
pawn structure, Black has a handy
bishop pair.
11 OO 0-0 12 'lii'h5
A standard idea although there is no
realistic chance of a serious attack.
12 ... f5 13 J:tad1'lii'g514 '!i't3
White isn't that enamoured with the
concept of trading queens, especially if
it brings a pawn to g5. However, the
text is sort of an admission that White
has nothing substantial to go on.
14 ... 'lil'g6 15 li:le2 il.d7 16 li:lf4 '!i'f6
17 g3
The knight has manoeuvred to a very
reasonable square but what's next?
17 ... J:l:te8 18 li:ld3 J:l:e7 19 .:id2
142
J:tae8 20 b4 95
Now it's almost reminiscent of a
more standard Queen's Gambit (rather
than a Trompovsky), things appear back
to normal. White attempts to press for-
ward on the queenside whilst Black
seeks his counterplay on the opposite
wmg.
21 '!i'h5 f4 22 li:le5 ii.ts 23 exf4
gxf4 24 li:lg4
Black is now forced to part with one
of his bishops but in the last few moves
weaknesses have appeared in White's
camp.
24 ... il.xg4 25 '!i'xg4+ @h8 26 a3
l:te4
Threatening the isolated cl-pawn, as
well as 27 ... fxg3.
27 '!i'h5 J:l:8e7 28 l:te2 'lil'g5
White is forced to trade queens and
now it's Black who has the better pawn
structure. However, as we now have an
opposite-coloured bishops scenario, a
draw still remains the most likely out
come.
29 '!i'xg5 hxg5 30 l:tfe 1 ll:xe2 31
J:txe2 .ll:d7 32 @g2 @g7 33 ll:d2 g4
34 f3 fxg3 35. hxg3 gxf3+ 36 @xf3
a5 37 bxa5 il.xa3 38 d5 cxd5 39
ll:xd5 .ll:xd5 40 il.xd5 il.b4 Y, Y,
 The Chigorin Defence: 3 lbc3

7 .. .li:lb8
Game 61 Although one must acknowledge that
Ward-Keeling database results from this position are
Jersey 2000 overwhelming for White, personally I
..__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ think that Black is fine. With the text,
1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 li:lc3 li:lf6 4 Black intends relocating the knight on
cxd5 li:lxd5 5 e4 d7, where it controls the important c5-
Of course 5 12:lf3 is also sensible, square. Also reasonable, however, is
when 5... gj_fS!? 6 'lifb3 would transpose 7.Ji::ie7, intending to rest the steed on
into our next game. g6.
5 ... li:lxc3 6 bxc3 e5 8 li:lf3
8 l:bl gj_d6 9 g/_d3 0-0 10 12:lf3 12:ld7
11 0-0 1Zlc5 12 il.g5 f6 13 g/.e3 1Zlxd3 14
'llfxd3 f5 was better for Black in Molina
Mansilla-Gallego Jimenez, Barcelona
2000. If White is looking for something
different then I suppose 8 'lifh5 is a can-
didate. However, although I suppose it
deserves a '!?', it shouldn't be that
frightening for Black.
8 ... i.d6 9 i.e2
White also had no joy with 9 gj_g5 f6
10 g/.e3 0-0 11 1Zld2 f5!? 12 exf5 g/.xf5
I've learnt first hand that this posi- 13 g/.e2 12:ld7 14 0-0 'llff6 15 c4 b6 16
tion is quite deceptive. Theoretically, 12:lb3 '/2-Y2 in Inkiov-Giffard, Evry
one might think that White's centre 2001.
puts him in very good stead. In practice, 9 ... 0-0 10 0-0 li:ld7 11 li:ld2 li:lc5 12
life isn't that easy at all. i.g4
7 d5
If White keeps the tension with 7
12:lf3, then Black can try to resist White's
central domination with 7 ... gj_d6 but
much more testing is 7... exd4 8 cxd4
gj_g4 9 d5 g/.b4+ 10 gj_d2 il.xf3. I sup-
pose that the white king can accept that
the centre will be its home with 11
'llfxf3 g/.xd2+ 12 l!txd2, but 11 gxf3
il.xd2+ 12 'llfxd2 'llff6 13 l:c! 12:le5 was
seen in Eljanov-Sepman, St Petersburg
1999, where you can't help feeling that
White is over-extended (and, if so, all Trading 'bad' for 'good' bishops like
because of 7 1Zlf3). this usually constitutes a good plan and

143
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
it's not a stupid idea here. However,
there is more to the position and the
fact that White has a pawn on c3 rather
than b2 has a significant negative effect
on the pawn structure.
12 ... 'iil'h4! 13 il.xc8 J:1.axc8 14 'iil'e2
f5
Black's position is the easier to play
and this (or the other pawn break
14... c6) readily suggested itself.
15 93 'iil'h3 16 f3 fxe4
I can recall in the game thinking that
16 ... li::)a4!? would be rather annoying.
Black would have a niggling advantage.
17 li:lxe4 li:lxe4 18 'iil'xe4
On the other hand, the last few sim-
plifications have relieved a lot of
White's problems and, as the game
shows, it's now easily possible for Black
to go wrong.
18 ... J:l.t5 19 il.e3 J:1.cts
Black continues actively but he's not
going to be able to budge the rock of a
queen on e4.
20 J:1.t2 h5 21 J:tat1 J:l.5t6 22 c4 b6
23 J:l.92?!
I decided here that I might like a
piece of the action but, in kidding my-
self that g3-g4 might eventually be
available, I was fortunate that my oppo-
144
nent missed a cute tactical opportunity.
23 ... 'iil't5
23 ... 'iil'g4! is possible as 24 fxg4?? al-
lows 24 ... l:txfl mate and 24 l:tgf2 falls
foul of 24 ... l:txf3!.
24 'iil'xf5 J:l.xf5 25 J:l.9f2 h4?!
Black perseveres with a policy of ag-
gression but without the queens it's a
misplaced concept.
26 94 J:l.5t7 27 1192 1/h 7 28 @h3
1196
The h4-pawn is obviously a target
now and even 28 ... .il..e 7 29 f4! could
well lead to a winning endgame.
29 1/xh4
The white king won't get mated and a
pawn is a pawn after all!
29 ... J:th8+ 30 1193 il.e7 31 J:l.e2
il.h4+ 32 @92 :il.e7 33 il.t2 il.d6 34
il.93 @f6 35 l:!fe1 J:te7 36 f4 il.b4
37 fxe5+ li,95 38 J:l.b1 il.c5 39 J:te4
J:tt8 40 h4+ W96 41 J:l.t1 J:tte8 42
e6 1-0
Game62
Gyimesi-Miladinovic
Malta 2000
1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 li:lc3 li:lt6 4 li:lt3
:il.t5

Fourteen years ago, after 4 ... ~g4 5
cxd5 ti:lxd5 6 e4 ti:lxc3 7 bxc3 e5 8 d5
ti:lbS 9 'lifa4+! ti:ld7, a stunning novelty
in 10 ti:lxe5 'llff6 11 ~e2!! appeared. It
wins in view of, say, 11...'llfxeS 12 ~xg4
'llfxc3+ (the problem is the black knight
but 12 ... l:tdS 13 0-0 is, for all intents and
purposes, game over) 13 ~d2 'llfxal+
14 l!i>e2 but, anyway, that's all old hat
now! The text, which has been unjustly
written off in the past, presents a better
practical try.
As is sometimes seen in the Albin
and, more notably, the Baltic Defence,
the bishop latches onto what can often
be an annoying diagonal. More fre-
quently seen to hit bl or threaten to
bring a knight to c2, the text also
throws a spanner into the works of
White's quick plan of e2-e4.
5 cxd5 li:lxd5
6 'lWb3
Having tried 6 ~d2 e6 7 g3?! ti:ldb4 8
l:tc! ti:lxd4 9 'lW a4+ c6 10 ti:lxd4 'llfxd4
11 Wb3 Wes 12 ~g2 0-0-0 13 ~e3
~c5 14 ti:ldl l:txdl+! 15 'llfxdl ~xe3 16
fxe3 J:tdS 17 'lWb3 ti:ld3+ 0-1 and, as you
can see, suffering horribly in Ward-
Horner, Norton (rapid) 1997, I must
concur that the text represents the criti-
The Chigorin Defence: 3 li:lc3
cal variation.
6 ... e6
6... ti:lb6 7 d5 ti:lbS 8 e4 is certainly
not what Black had in mind!
7 e4
7 'llfxb 7? ti:ldb4 is the kind of trap
that this book has witnessed dozens of
times. Not only is the fork there on c2,
but the white queen could easily wind
up trapped.
7 ... t;2ixc3 8 exf5
Forced, or else Black would get the e-
pawn for nothing.
8 ... li:ld5 9 .ltd2
With Black's light-squared bishop no
longer around it has to be said that
dabbling in a spot of pawn-grabbing
becomes more feasible. Nevertheless, 9
'llfxb7 ti:lcb4 10 ~b5+ l!i>e7 is still a little
worrying.
9 ... 'li'd6
10 .ltc4
It looks to me as though 10 'llfxb 7!?
is now the only way for White to strive
for an advantage. He shouldn't get his
queen trapped but after 1O... J:tb8 11
'llfa6, Black clearly has some play for the
pawn. However, as 11...l:txb2>! 12 ~b5'
is a problem, unless he wants to take on
fS instead, it may have to stay as a genu-
14 5
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
ine sacrifice.
10 ... 0-0-0 11 il.xd5
l'm sure it pained White to do this
but presumably he didn't want to drop a
pawn and 11 fxe6 'ili'xe6+ 12 Wdl feels
unpleasant.
11 ... 'li!'xd5
Either recapture would have lead to a
black advantage but, although arguably
the edge was bigger after 11...exdS, this
way Black can play to win with no risk
whatsoever.
12 'lii'xd5 l:l.xd5 13 fxe6 fxe6 14
il.c3 b5!?
146
Preparing to pressurise a key de-
fender of the d4-pawn. Funnily enough,
14... gS!? would have done exactly the
same thing on the other side of the
board, whilst enabling ... :fJ..g7 as well.
15 0-0-0 b4 16 il.d2 li:lxd4 17 li:lxd4
l:l.xd4
Black has netted a pawn but this end-
game is not easy to win. However,
eventually he comes good, thus paving
the way for some further investigations.
18 l:l.he1 il.c5 19 l:l.xe6 l:tc4+ 20
@b1 il.xf2 21 l:l.c1 l:txc1 + 22 @xc1
il.c5 23 l:l.e5 il.d6 24 l:ta5 l:tf8 25
il.e3 il.xh2 26 l:txa7 l:tf1 + 27 @d2
l:tf6 28 l:l.a8 + @b 7 29 l:ta 7 + @c8 30
l:l.a8+ @d7 31 g4 il.f4 32 @d3
il.xe3 33 @xe3 l:te6+ 34 @f3 @d6
35 a3 @c5 36 axb4+ @xb4 37 l:l.a7
l:tc6 38 @f4 @c5 39 @e5 @b6 40
l:ta3 l:l.c5 + 41 @e6 l:tb5 42 l:th3 h6
43 @f7 l:tg5 44 l:tb3 + @c6 45 l:tb4
@d6 46 l:tc4 c6 47 l:l.a4 @c7 48
l:l.b4 h5 49 gxh5 l:txh5 50 l:tg4 l:tb5
0-1
 The Chigorin Defence: 3 CiJc3

Summary
As I've already mentioned that the Chigorin is held in higher esteem than the open-
ings covered in Chapters 1-6, it only follows that there will be more encounters in-
volving higher rated players. As he is the opening's leading light, it is no great sur-
prise that I've featured several Alexander Morozevich games. However, I would
have to say (modestly of course!) that it is my own Game 58 that needs to go under
the microscope as the key debate as to which of the piece or pawns is better rum-
bles on.
You've received a bit of a treat in Game 62 as I publish a somewhat critical game
that didn't make it to most mainstream databases. Yes, luckily for you guys your
intrepid reporter just happened to be there at the event when all of the games were
later swept under the carpet. My apologies to Grandmaster Miladinovic, who
probably wanted it to remain a secret!

1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 li:lc3 li:lf6

3... eS - Game 54
3 ... dxc4 4 dS (D)
4... tiJeS
5 f4 - Game 55
5 'i!lVd4 - Game 56
4 ... tiJaS 5 Wa4+ - Game 57
4 li:lf3
4 cxdS - Game 61
4 ... dxc4 (DJ
4... ,ifS - Game 62
5 d5
5 e4 ,ig4 6 ,ie3 (D) - Game 59
5 ,igs - Game 60
5 ...li:la5 - Game 58

4 d5 4 ... dxc4 6 il..e3

74 7
 CHAPTER NINE I
The Chigorin Defence:
3 lt:lf3 and 1 d4 d5 2 lt:lf3 lt:lc6

1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 li:lf3 and 1 d4 of the Chigorin.

d5 2 li:lf3 li:lc6
The main bulk of this chapter focuses Game 63
on the position after I d4 d5 2 c4 li'ic6 Komljenovic-Miles
3 li:lf3. Equally, this could be reached Lisbon 2000
after I d4 d5 2 li'if3 li'ic6 3 c4 although,
as Game 67 explains, there is no 1 d4 li:lc6 2 li:lf3 d5 3 c4 11.g4 4
compulsion for White to commit cxd5 11.xf3 5 gxf3 'l!i'xd5
himself to this pawn break now with
that move order.
There is nothing especially scary for
black players in this section of the book
and you'll see why the variation covered
in Game 65 is particularly deceptive.
Although he obviously played more
exciting games, I feel that it is fitting
that I start the final chapter with a game
involving the late Tony Miles. Although
I grew up following his games in the
Sicilian Dragon, the player who most
recognised as England's first Grand- As a junior I considered this to be the
master became better known as a main line of the Chigorin but in more
Nimzowitsch Defence expert. Be it recent times it has been put on the
against I e4 or I d4, he loved respond- back-burner a little. The black queen
ing 1...li'ic6 and it's no great surprise takes up its familiar post in the centre
that, directly or by transposition (as be- and the major difference between this
low), he also became a leading exponent and similar variations previously cov-

748
 The Chigorin Defence: 3 tuf3 and 2 tuf3 tuc6
ered is that one bishop has already been
conceded to double some white king-
side pawns.
6 e3 e6
This represents a completely different
approach to the more forcing 6 ... e5 of
the next game.
7 li:lc3 1Wh5
Black's idea. He is not so eager to
part with his other bishop. Hence his
decision not to play 7 ... ..l.b4.
8 i.d2
As will become clear soon, White in-
tends to put a different Rook on c 1.
Not too dissimilar to our main game, 8
f4 'ill'xd I+ 9 Wxd 1 0-0-0 10 ..l.g2 has
also been seen and isn't of too much
concern for Black.
8 ... 0-00
9 14
Somewhat different was the 9 h4'?
luf6 10 ~e2 'ill'g6 11 'il,f! eS 12 hS
luxh5 13 f4 luxf4 (leading to an inter-
esting position although Black didn't
have to plan this piece sacrifice) 14 exf4
exd4 15 f5 'ill'd6 16 lue4 'ill'd5 17 ..l.d3
lue5 seen in Beliavsky-Rabiega, Tegel
2001. Comprising a better way for
White to play for a win, clearly there are
more losing chances too.
9 ... 1Wxd1+ 10 J::txd1 li:ll6 11 i.g2
li:le 7
As is typical of Chigorin variations,
White has the bishop pair but invariably
there are good squares around for
knights to settle on. With the text Black
eyes up f5.
12 li:le4
Not a lot different was the 12 'i!le2
lufS 13 l:l:hgl ~e7 14 l:tc! 'il;>bS 15 lue4
luxe4 16 ..l.xe4 g6 17 l:l:c2 l:td7 of Jans-
sen-Witt, Leeuwarden 2001, which also
ended in a draw.
12 ... li:lxe4 13 i.xe4 96 14 <;1;>e2 li:ld5
15 a3 i.d6 16 b4
It's very difficult to tackle Black's
solid kingside pawn structure and so
White starts expanding on the queen-
side instead.
16 ... <;1;>d7 17 J::tc1c618 J::tc2 a6
The problem for White is that Black
is well supported over there too.
19 Wl3 15 20 i.d3 h6!?
You have to admire Black's play. He
had all of his pawns thematically placed
on the opposite-coloured squares to his
bishop but now, from a position with
no weaknesses, he sets about obtaining
more activity.
21 h4 g5 22 hxg5 hxg5 23 J::txh8
149
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
g4+
This intermezzo was Black's point.
21...gS wasn't a pawn sacrifice at all.
24 @g2 !1xh8 25 l1c1 @e7 26 l:l:h1
l1xh1 27 @xh1 Y,-Y,
Now nothing much is happening.
Game64
Nemet-Helvensteijn
Amsterdam 2001
1 d4 d5 2 li:lf3 li:lc6 3 c4 .ltg4 4
cxd5 .ltxf3 5 gxf3 '1Wxd5 6 e3 e5
6 ... l:l:d8 7 li:lc3 'ill' a5 8 ..l.d2 li:lf6 9 a3
'ill'hS 10 4 'ill'xdl+ 11 '>i>xdl li:lb8 12
..l.g2 c6 13 b4 e6 14 '>i>e2 proved to be
an inferior version of the last game:
14... b6 15 i:!.hcl ..l.e7 16 li:ldl 0-0 17
..l.xc6 li:lxc6 18 l:l:xc6 ..l.d6 19 b5 li:ld5
20 li:lc3 and White converted the pawn
advantage, Loginov-Musalov, St Peters-
burg 2000.
7 li:lc3 .ltb4 8 .ltd2 .ltxc3 9 bxc3
Of course, unlike in Chapter 7, there
is no 9 ..l.xc3 exd4 10 li:le2 possibility
and so instead White takes the only
other option and ensures that he main-
tains a preponderance of pawns in the
centre.
9 ... 'i'd6
750
This type of knights versus bishops
scenario has been hotly debated over
the years. One thing that seems to have
been concluded is that 9 ... exd4 shows
Black's hand unnecessarily early. In-
deed, the likes of 10 cxd4 li:lf6 (or
!O. .. li:lge7 11 ..l.d3 0-0-0 12 ..l.e4 'ill'e6
13 'ill'b3 li:ld5 14 :!:!.bl) 11 ..l.g2 h5 12
0-0 0-0-0 13 'ill'c2 l:l:he8 14 l:l:abl l:l:d6
15 l:l:fc! (Ulibin-Hovling, Stockholm
1996) would suggest that, wherever
White decides to deploy his light-
squared bishop, the premature pawn
trade enables him to utilise the queen-
side ftles far more easily .
10 14
A very reasonable idea, but possibly
played at the wrong moment. Indeed,
previous analysis includes 10 l:l'.b! b6 11
4!? exf4 12 e4 li:lge7 13 'il!'f3 0-0 14
..l.xf4 'ill'a3 15 ..l.e2 fS 16 0-0 li:lg6!? 17
..l.xc7 'ill'e7 18 exf5 'ill'xc7 19 'ill'd5+'>i>h8
20 fxg6 li:le7 with some compensation
for Black according to Gary Kasparov.
Taking everything into consideration,
though, I'd suggest that White's chances
are preferable although there are plenty
of deviations available.
1O... exf4 11 e4
Always White's idea. Now he obtains
two very attractive pawns in the centre
and is pretty confident of regaining the
pawn on 4.
11 ... li:lge7 12 'i'f3 0-0 13 'i'xf4
With the bishop pair, it's no surprise
that White is seeking an ending. How-
ever, Black has a big lead in develop-
ment and achieves some speedy coun-
terplay.
13 ... J:l:aeB!
Black is preparing to hit out at
White's centre with ... f7-f5 and it's even
 The Chigorin Defence: 3 li:Jf3 and 2 li:Jf3 li:Jc6
more effective with a hlack pawn on d6
as White can't then keep his king cov-
ered with the simple e4-e5.
14 'il!i'xd6 cxd6 15 J:!b 1 f5!?
Given time to settle his pieces, White
would see his two bishops dominating.
16 J:!xb 7 fxe4 17 .i.g5 h6 18 .i.h4
l:!b8
Although 18 ...llifS also didn't look
silly, the text move holds a certain ap-
peal. White now gains two pieces for a
rook but his king remains vulnerable.
19 J:!xe7 tilxe7 20 .i.xe7 l:!b1+ 21
l!le2 J:!f3 22 .i.xd6
If anything, 22 .tg2 :!'l.b2+ 23 @dl
:!'l.fxf2 24 .txe4 :!'l.fe2 25 .tdS+ li!lhS 26
.th4 :!'l.ed2+ 27 'iile 1 :!'l.dc2 could only
be better for Black once you bear in
mind the trick 28 .tf3? :!'I.cl+! 29 .tdl
:!'l.xdl+ 30 'iilxdl :!'l.b 1+.
22 ... J:!b2+ 23 l!ld1 J:!xc3 24 .i.e5
J:!cc2
It's seventh heaven for the black
rooks and the white king is right to feel
nervous.
25 J:!g1 g5 26 .i.g2 J:!d2+ 27 l!lc1
J:!dc2+ 28 l!ld1 J:!e2
Of course Black could repeat for the
draw here and now but against a higher
rated player, he takes this opportunity
to enjoy his position a little more.
29 J:!e1 J:!bd2+ 30 l!lc1 J:!c2+ 31
l!lb1 J:!b2+ 32 l!lc1 J:!ec2+ 33 l!ld1
J:!d2+ y,.y,
Game65
K .Hansen-B.Kovacevic
Obewart 2000
1 d4 d5 2 c4 tilc6 3 tilf3 .i.g4 4
cxd5 .i.xf3 5 dxc6
White opts to avoid the doubled
pawns and thus selects the knight in-
stead of the bishop.
5 ... .i.xc6 6 tilc3
6 ... e6
Although it may appear to relinguish
control of the centre, you will soon be-
come aware of why this has been
Black's most successful response.
Essentially, after the likes of, say,
6 ... li'if6 7 f3 e6 8 e4 .te7 9 .te3 0-0 10
.td3 'l!Yd7 11 'l!Yc2 Whs 12 o.o :!'l.fdS 13
:!'l.fdl 'l!Ye8 14 :!'l.acl (a seguence seen in
Barkhagen-Karlsson, Linkoping 2001),
there can be no denying White's com-
fortable edge. I must, however, add
that, although run of the mill moves
clearly favour White, I do have a soft
spot for 7 ... e5 8 dxe5 'l!Yxdl+ (8 ... li'id7 9
151
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
il.f4 gS 10 il.g3 il.g7 11 e6 fxe6 12 e4 is
a simple way for White to return his
pawn) 9 'iii>xd 1 0-0-0+. The main reason
for this is that I once lost horribly with
10 'iii>c2 li:ldS 11 li:lxdS (White was more
successful with 11 il.d2 il.cS 12 li:lxdS
l:1xd5 13 e4 l:1xe5 14 il.c3 l:1g5 15 h4
l:1g3 16 ii.es l:1g6 17 hS l:1e6 18 il.xg7
l:1g8 19 h6 in Marovic-Calvo Minguez,
Olot 1969. There have been very few
practical encounters in this line and,
regarding White's 11th move, I was
more eager to cut out the likes of
... li:lb4+.) 11...l:1xd5 12 il.d2 l:1xe5 13
il.c3 l:1c5 14 e4 il.e7 15 l:1el l:1d8 16
il.d3 aS 17 a3 il.a4+ 18 'iii>d2 il.bS 19
l:1e3 il.gS (Ward-Duchovny, London
1994). Presumably it would be easy to
criticise a move or two but I can recall
struggling with the position at the time,
indicating that Black has at least reason-
able play (and he doesn't even remain a
pawn down!).
7 e4
After playing over the rest of our
main game, you will understand why 7
a3 has been tried as a deviation. How-
ever, it's very difficult to get excited
about it!
7 ... .il.b4 8 f3 'i!!i'h4+ !
152
A key move and the reason for delay-
ing ... li:lf6. White (who now gets sad-
dled with the odd undesirable weakness
on the kingside) is not going to be able
to just develop smoothly and consoli-
date his attractive pawn centre. The text
mixes things up just as well as the
8 ... fS!? 9 i.c4 'l!i'h4+ 10 g3 'l!i'e7 of Van
Dongen-Giffard, Vichy 2000.
9 g3 'iii'f6
9 ... 'l!i'hS has also been played, when
the 10 a3?! i.aS 11 i.e3 0-0-0 12 'iii>f2
il.b6 13 il.c4 li:le7 14 'lii'd3 li:lfSt 15
li:le2 (not, of course, 15 exfS?? 'lii'xf3+
although White's position is looking bad
now anyhow) 15 ... li:lxe3 16 'lii'xe3 eS of
Provkin-Egorov, Voronezh 2000 is not
to be recommended. Clearly the black
bishop benefits from the transfer to the
b6-f2 diagonal.
10 .il.e3 0-0-0
White's d4-pawn is destined to be
pressurised.
11 .il.d3
This is useful for preventing the
11...il.cS that would take advantage of
the pinned cl-pawn. The downside is
that at various stages you could imagine
a positional exchange sacrifice on d4
(for a pawn) being quite reasonable.
 The Chigorin Defence: 3 ii:Jf3 and 2 ii:Jf3 li:Jc6
11 .. .ti:le7 12 'lil'e2
The white queen is a little restricted
as it has to keep an eye on the f3-pawn.
12 ... .ta5 13 J;!t1
The bishop was preparing to relocate
on b6 but Black must be careful as the
queen-trapping 14 e5 is a very real
threat.
13 ... g5 14 f4 gxf4 15 J;!xf4 'l!l'g7 16
'l!l'h5 f5 17 0-0-0 e5
Very thematic although 17 ... 'L\g6 18
l:tf2 .1.xc3 19 bxc3 fxe4 was certainly to
be considered. Either way Black appears
to be on top.
18 dxe5 'l!l'xe5 19 ll:xf5!
A timely sacrifice to save the day.
Without this, White is struggling.
19 .. .li:lxf5 20 .if4 'l!l'c5 21 'l!l'xf5+
'lil'xf5 22 exf5
Black's extra gueenside pawn is no-
where near as relevant as White's two-
pawn majority on the kingside and so
the first player is probably no worse
despite his official material deficit.
22 ... .if3 23 J;!d2 .tg4 24 .ig5 l:td7
25 '.i,c2 c6 26 J;!f2 .id8 27 f6 .ih5
28 .ih6 .ib6 29 ll:t1 .ic5 30 li:le4
.tt8 31 .txf8 ll:xf8 32 li:lc5 l:td5 33
li:le6 J;!t7 34 h4 .ig6 35 .ixg6 hxg6
36 li:lg5 J;!t8 37 li:le6 'h -'h
Game66
Nenashev-Rabiega
Heringsdorf 2000
1 d4 d5 2 c4 li:lc6 3 li:lf3 .ig4 4
li:lc3 e6!
Deliberately avoiding 4 ... 'L\f6 5 cxd5
li:lxd5 6 e4, which transposes to the
favourable white line mentioned in
Game 62.
5 .tt4
Regarding alternatives, I don't think
much to the bishop-blocking 5 e3 but,
on the other hand, the following practi-
cal encounters are a bit worrying:
a) 5 cxd5 exd5 6 'l!Vb3 .1.xf3 7 exf3
li:lxd4 8 'l!V xb7 l:tb8 9 'l!Va6 c6 10 .1.d3
'l!Vc7 11 0-0 .1.d6 12 l:tel+ li:le7 13 .Iii.gs
0-0 14 .1.xe7 .1.xe7 15 .1.xh7+ @xh7 16
'li'd3+@g8 17 'l!i'xd4 .1.f6 18 'l!i'd2 'l!l'a5
and Black has excellent compensation
for the pawn, Levitt-Gormally, Oakham
2001.
b) 5 .1.g5 f6 6 cxd5 exd5 7 .1.f4 .1.b4
8 e3 li:lge7 9 .1.d3 'l!Vd7 10 0-0 g5 11
.1.g3 h5 12 h3 .1.f5 13 h4 .1.g4 14 'l!Vc2
.1.xf3 15 gxf3 gxh4 0-1 Ascic-
B.Kovacevic, Bizovac 2001.
5 ... .tb4
153
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
5 ... dxc4 6 e3 .>td6 7 .>tg3 l'i:lf6 8
.ltxc4 is typically a little better for
White, whilst 5... .>txf3 6 gxf3 .>td6 7
.>tg3 l'i:lge7 8 e3 'llfd7 9 'l!fc2 fS 10
.>txd6 'l!fxd6 11 0-0-0 0-0 12 f4 a6 13
Wbl l'i:ld8 14 l:.gl c6 15 l'i:le2 l'i:lf7 16
lt:Jcl, as seen in I<ramnik-Morozevich,
Frankfurt 2000, saw the knight heading
for e5 to place the World Champion
quite nicely.
6 e3 li::if6
The knight is much better placed on
f6 and one advantage of placing this
steed on this square was highlighted
after 6... l'i:lge7>! 7 l:.cl 0-0 8 .>td3 dxc4>
9 .>txh 7+! Wh8 (rather than 9... @xh 7 10
l'i:lgS+) 10 .>tbl l'i:ldS 11 .>tg3 l'i:lce7 12
0-0 c6 13 'llfc2 in Topalov-Rabiega,
Frankfurt 2000.
7 lk1 0-0 8 h3
If White could have his time again,
he might instead have used this oppor-
tunity to develop his light-squared
bishop. There is little doubt that he was
oblivious to the oncoming bombshell.
8 ... Jl.xf3 9 '1Wxf3
9 ... Jl.xc3+!?
Black voluntarily parts with both of
his bishops, with the intention being to
open up the centre and expose White's
154
lack of development. Previously 9... 'l!fe7
10 .>tgS .>txc3+ 11 l:.xc3 'l!Vb4 12 .>txf6
'llfxb2 13 l:.b3 'l!fcl+ 14 'l!fdl 'l!fxdl+ 15
Wxd 1 dxc4 16 l:.xb 7 gxf6 17 Wd2 was
better for White in Kramnik-lvanchuk,
Linares 1998 although active defence
saw Black holding the draw.
10 J:i.xc3
Although White specifically moved
the rook to cl in order to recapture in
this way, in retrospect a better practical
decision would have been 10 bxc3.
10 ... li::ie4 11 lk1 e5!
The point. White is put under imme-
diate pressure rather than being able to
get castled quickly and enjoy that
bishop pair advantage.
12 dxeS '1We7 13 '1Wd1
Things are looking dangerous in the
centre. The other move that had a solu-
tion to ... 'l!fb4+ was 13 a3, but after
13 ... l'i:lxeS 14 'llfh5 l'i:lg6 Black would get
in ... d5-d4 next, when White would be
left very vulnerable on the central files.
13 ... li::ixeS
Upon 13 ... 'llfb4+ now, 14 We2
'llfxb2+ 15 'l!fc2 'llfxc2+ 16 l:.xc2 would
have been okay for White as his king
wouldn't be in as much danger with the
queens off.
 The Chigorin Defence: 3 lbf3 and 2 lbf3 lbc6
14 a3 li:i96 15 'iii'f3
After 15 Sl.h2, finally we'd see
15 ... d4! in view of 16 'i!fxd4?> l:i.fd8 with
the unusual scenario of a queen being
trapped in mid-board.
15 ... 'iii'f6! 16 lk2 li:ixf4
17 cxd5?
Forced was 17 'ill'xf4 'ill'xf4 18 exf4
when, although rather miserable, White
has chances to defend against both
18 ... d4 and 18 ... l:!.feS. The text just
loses.
17 .. .ll:fe8 18 'iii'xf4 'iii'xf4 19 exf4
li:i93+ 20 i.e2 li:ixh1 21 lilf1 c6
Okay, the knight is lousy in the cor-
ner but it is a whole rook after all. Con-
seguently, Black acts guickly to get his
rooks involved. He then takes his time
but the final result is never really in
doubt.
22 dxc6 l:!ac8 23 i.f3 bxc6 24 b4
lkd8 25 94 l:!d3 26 1192 J:!.e1 27 b5
c5 28 a4 96 29 a5 l:!b3 30 i.c6
l:!eb1 31 l:!xc5 l:!3b2 32 11f3 li:ixf2
33 l:!d5 li:ixh3 34 J:!.d8+ 1197 35
l:!d7 l:!.b3+ 36 lile4 J:!.b4+ 37 11d5
l:!xb5+ 38 i.xb5 l:!xb5+ 0-1
Game67
Ward-Brameld
Jersey 1999
1 d4 li:ic6 2 li:if3 d5
Obviously we're not even at a
Queen's Gambit yet and so this isn't
really a Chigorin Defence. However, for
completion I thought I'd cover this as
well as briefly mentioning 3 c4 e5 (P or
>!). Now 4 cxd5 'i!fxd5 transposes to
Game 53 but more critical are 4 1Zlxe5
and 4 dxe5, when 4 ... d4 would be a
straightforward Albin but 4 ... Sl.b4+ 5
Sl.d2 dxc4 is of independent signifi-
cance. Recently both 6 e4 'ill' e 7 7 Sl.xc4
.l:1.g4 8 .l:1.b5 .l:1.xf3 9 .l:1.xc6+ bxc6 10
'ill'xf3 (Peralta-Terron Elena, Malaga
2001) and 6 'ill'a4 .l:1.xd2 + 7 1Zlbxd2
IZlge 7 8 e3 0-0 9 .l:1.xc4 1Zlg6 10 e6 .l:1.xe6
11 .l:1.xe6 fxe6 12 0-0 (Boudalakis-
Volfson, Patras 2001) favoured White,
but relatively speaking this line is in its
early days.
3 i.f4
Another popular non-confrontational
continuation is the kingside fianchetto.
In truth there have been numerous
games following along the lines of 3 g3
.l:1.g4 4 .l:1.g2 'i!l'd7 5 0-0 (or 5 h3 .l:1.h5 6
c3 0-0-0 7 b4 f6 8 a4 'i!l'eS 9 .l:1.a3 e5)
5... .l:1.h3. Alternatively White could try
to get in c4 a bit earlier, making it more
155
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined
relevant to this book!
More recently though, a different ap-
proach of 3... i.5 4 i.g2 'L\b4 has been
in vogue. With this idea, Black clearly
takes on board the misplacing aspect of
the white knight in the quieter lines. A
good equalising example is 5 'L\a3 e6 6
0-0 'L\f6 7 i.f4 i.d6 8 i.xd6 cxd6 9 c3
'L\c6 10 c4 i.e4 11 cxd5 i.xd5 12 'L\b5
0-0 13 'L\c3 i.xf3 14 i.xf3 d5 '/,-'/,
Arkell-Miles, British Ch., Millfield 2000.
3 ... il.f5
The other alternative is 3... i.g4 4 e3
e6 5 c4, when a nice game to highlight
White's advantage is 5... dxc4 6 i.xc4
i.d6 7 i.g3 'L\ge7 8 'L\c3 0-0 9 l:!.cl
i.h5 10 a3 a6 11 'L\e4 i.xg3 12 hxg3
i.g6 13 'L\c5 b5 14 i.a2 'liVd6 15 'L\b 7
'l!i'd7 16 'L\h4 l:!.fb8 17 'L\c5 'l!i'd6 18
'L\xg6 'L\xg6 19 'lii'h5 'L\f8 20 'L\e4 'l!i'd7
21 'L\g5 1-0 Lodhi-Sosa, Istanbul
Olympiad 2000. A neat attack (the black
queen is overworked), taking full advan-
tage of the rock-solid d4-pawn and half-
open c-file.
However, those of you on the ball
will observe that 5 ... ~b4+ 6 'L\c3 'L\f6
would merely transpose to our last
game. Unless White wants to block the
check on d2 instead, he might want to
look into delaying c2-c4 as in our main
game.
4 e3 e6 5 a3
Being a kind of cross between the
Chigorin and the Baltic Defence, the
immediate 5 c4 could easily transpose to
Game 43. That, of course, turned out
quite well for White and this main game
could yet transpose. 5 a3 is more ap-
propriate under the circumstances as it
delays the pawn break that Black, frus-
tratingly for him, knows is on the way
156
eventually. It is, of course, a very flexi-
ble move as it prevents a bishop or a
knight going to b4 and provides the
option of a b2-b4 expansion later.
5 ... il.d6 6 il.g3 li::if6
7 c4 0-0 8 li::ic3 li::ie4 9 J:!:c1
Simple chess. There is no need to
turn to 9 cxd5 just yet and White keeps
a watchful eye to ensure that ... e6-e5
isn't available.
9 ... dxc4 10 il.xc4 a6 11 il.d3 li::ixc3
12 J:!:xc3 il.g6 13 0-0 J:!:cB
I just feel that this whole game high-
lights the awkwardness of Black's
queenside pawns when there is a knight
rather than a pawn on c6. Black can
dream of ... c7-c5 but it's not going to
happen.
14 il.xg6 hxg6 15 'lil'b3
Yes, both the c7- and b7-pawns are a
major annoyance to Black, who is
plagued by having to defend them
throughout this game.
15 ... li::ia5 16 'lil'c2 li::ic6 17 'lil'e4
il.xg3 18 hxg3 'lil'd5 19 'i!li'c2
19 'lii'xd5 exd5 20 b4 would retain
some initiative, but the text is stronger.
19 ... :.ifdB 20 J:!:c5 'i!li'd6 21 J:!:c1
The black knight won't be going
anywhere for a while. Not only has it
 The Chigarin Defence: 3 {uf3 and 2 {uf3 {uc6
been loath to grant its enemy number
domination of the e5-sguare, but there's
the little matter of the somewhat pres-
surised c7-pawn to consider.
21 ... 'l!Ve7 22 'i'e4
The queen returns to the fantastic
square that it checked out for comfort
just a short while ago. With a rook on
c5, though, this time it will be unop-
posed.
22 ... 'i'f6 23 li:le5!
White's plan finally comes to fruition.
Now the c6-knight must budge, leaving
Black's queenside pawns at White's
mercy.
23 .. .luxe5 24 dxe5 'i'e7 25 'i'xb7
l:tb8 26 'i'xa6 l:txb2 27 l:txc7 l:td1 +
28@h2
This just seemed easier than 28 l:i:xd 1
'jj!'xc7.
28 ... 'i'g5 29 l:tc8+ @h7 30 l:t1c4
1-0
Quite a nice game that highlights the
danger of playing simple chess in the
QGD with a knight on c6. That said, I
must confess that my heart skipped a
beat upon noticing the concept of
30... l:i:bbl 31 l:1h4+ 'jj!'hs. Clearly my
opponent was unaware of this possibil-
ity, which in fact is refuted by 32 l:i:xhS+
gxhS 33 g4 h4 34 g3.
157
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

Summary
After 1 d4 d5 2 ti:lf3 I must confess to having my doubts about 2... ti:lc6 as the usual
amount of play for Black just doesn't seem to be there when White delays c2-c4. Of
course, it's nothing too disastrous but that there is a lingering edge.
Regarding the Chigorin Defence though, Black certainly appears to be holding
his own after 3 ti:lf3 .1lg4 4 cxd5 and in the 3 ti:lf3 line I would suggest that 4 11:lc3
could be critical instead. A very dynamic example was given in Game 66 but the
more cautious white alternatives suggested might prove more frustrating.

1 d4 d5 2 c4
2 'Uf3 ti:lc6 (D) - Game 61
2 ... 11:lc6 3 11:lf3 i.g4 4 cxd5
4 ti:lc3 - Game 66
4 ... i.xf3 5 gxf3 (D)
5 dxc6 - Game 65
5 ... 'l!Vxd5 6 e3 e6
6 ... eS - Game 64
7 li:lc3 (D) - Game 63

2 ... li:lc6 5 gxf3 7 li:lc3

158
 INDEX OF COMPLUE GAMES I

Agrest-Glenne, Be,;gen 2001 ...................................................................... 11

Anand-Morozevich, Wijk aan Zee 2001 ............................................... 139
Bates-Summerscale, Richmond 1994 ....................................................... 89
Bellon Lopez-Cirabisi, Genua 1989........................................................ 39
Bilobrk-Levacic, Bibin;e 2001 ................................................................... 15
Chatalbashev-Turner.J, Pardubice 1997 ................................................. 42
Cifuentes Parada-Moreda, Malaga 2001 ............................................. 117
Del Rey-Filgueira Fernandez, Corunha 2000....................................... 45
Dinser-Mione, Bratto 1996 ....................................................................... 56
Erdogan-Skembris, Ania/ya 2001 ......................................................... 126
Fridman-Seul, Essen 2001 ....................................................................... 104
Gagarin-Konotop, Moscow 1998 .............................................................. 92
Galovic-Dzurenda, Slovakian Team Ch., 2000 ........................................ 31
Gausel-Nielsen, Reykjavik 2000 ............................................................ 141
Gretarsson-Ehrke.M, Gausdal 1998 ....................................................... 97
Gross.S-Eiber, German Bundesliga 1995 ................................................... 29
Griinfeld.E-Tartakower, Karls bad 192 3 .. ............................................... 32
Gutop-Rausis, Moscow 1992...................................................................... 86
Gyimesi-Miladinovic, Malta 2000 ........................................................ 144
Hansen.K-Kovacevic.B, Oberwarl 2000 ............................................... 151
Hove-Hvenekilde, Taastrup 2000 ............................................................ 19
Hsu Li Yang-Handoko, Singapore 1997. ................................................... 9
Karr-Jossien, Bethune 1999 ........................................................................ 13
Kishnev-Rabiega, German Bundesliga 2001 ........................................... 116
Komljenovic-Miles, Lisbon 2000 ........................................................... 148
Kosyrev-Charbonneau, Montreal 2001 ................................................. 133
Lagunow-Hohelj, Munster 1993 .............................................................. 72

159
Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined

Lamprecht-Polyakova, Pardubice 1998 ................................................... 78

Legky-Brochet, St Quentin 1999 .............................................................. 62
Loffler.M-Schmid.M, Basie 2001 ............................................................ 52
Madej-Gruz, Polish Girls Ch., Zakopane 2001 ............................................. 7
Markus-Antal, Budapest 2000.................................................................. 131
Martin de! Campo-Manzur, Merida 1997 ............................................. 35
Martinez-Yanez Acin, Narciso Yepes 2001 ............................................. 21
Meschke-Eulberg, Hassloch 1997 ............................................................ 27
Mikavica-Rausis, Neuchatel 1996........................................................... 106
Miladinovic-Auth, Kava/a 2001 ............................................................... 67
Mittelman-Harari, Hampstead 1998 ........................................................ 50
Muse-Ljubicic, Split 2000 ....................................................................... 110
Nemet-Helvensteijn, Amsterdam 2001 ................................................. 150
Nenashev-Rabiega, Heringsdorf 2000 ................................................... 153
Orlov-Yoos, Vancouver 2001 .................................................................... 129
Pedersen.S-Grigorian.A, Copenhagen 1999............................................. 65
Piket-Morozevich, Wijk aan Zee 2001 .................................................. 120
Postny-Schneider.D, World Junior Ch., Athens 2001 ............................. 54
Rei-Vasconcelos, Portuguese Ch., Lisbon 1999.................................. :...... 84
Ricardi-Rausis, Yerevan Olympiad 1996 ................................................... 69
Richardson.J-Mortensen, Copenhagen 1997........................................... 59
Rogozenko-Morozevich, Istanbul Olympiad, 2000 .............................. 112
Sadler-Condie, British Ch., Swansea 1995 ................................................ 77
Santos-Rodriguez.N, Athens 1998.......................................................... 25
Shtyrenkov-Tishin, Alushta 2001 .......................................................... 118
Singer-Diermair, Oberwart 2000 .............................................................. 17
Szollosi-Deak.L, Hungarian League 1995................................................. 94
Todorov.0-Brochet, Cannes 1996 ........................................................... 99
Tukmakov-Skembris, Lausanne 2001 ................................................... 124
Van der Wiel-Tiviakov, Groningen 2001 ................................................. 44
Van Wely-Sokolov.I, Internet 2000 ........................................................ 101
Vera-Formanek, Andorra 1996 .............................................................. 134
Visser.H-Van der Laar, Dutch junior Ch., Hengelo 1997 ....................... 23
Ward-Brameld,Jersey 1999 ..................................................................... 155
Ward-Fries Nielsen, Copenhagen 1998 .................................................. 137
Ward-Keeling,Jersey 2000 ....................................................................... 143
Ward-Rausis, Le Touquet 1992 ................................................................. 81
Ward-Shaw, Oakham 1994 ........................................................................ 74
Yermolinsky-Reprintsev, Philadelphia 1995........................................... 48
Zimmerman.Y-Kovacevic.B, Oberwart 2000 ........................................ 70

160