CONTENTS

Contents

Symbols 4
Dedication 4
Acknowledgements 4
Bibliography 4
Introduction 6

1 Bishop’s Opening 9
2 Two Knights Pianissimo 16
3 Giuoco Pianissimo 21
4 Philidor Defence 29
5 French Defence 37
6 Sicilian Defence: Unusual 2nd Moves 63
7 Sicilian Defence: 2...e6 3 c3 72
8 Sicilian Defence: Rossolimo Variation 93
9 Sicilian Defence: Moscow Variation 118
10 Caro-Kann Defence 128
11 Pirc Defence 141
12 Modern Defence 147
13 Alekhine Defence 150
14 Scandinavian Defence 159
15 Nimzowitsch Defence 168
16 Queen’s Fianchetto Defences 171

Index of Variations 174

 CARO-KANN DEFENCE

10 Caro-Kann Defence

1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 (D) advantage as the black king will not be safe on

This is the characteristic move of the Ad- either side of the board.
vance Variation. White claims a slight space b) 9 g4!? Íg6 10 Ìge2 h5 11 Ìf4 Ìge7 12
advantage and avoids an early exchange of cen- gxh5 Íf5 13 a3 also looks attractive for White
tre pawns by advancing in the centre. Top play- as he can generate pressure on both sides of the
ers have been increasingly attracted to this line board.
over the past few years because there is more of
an opportunity to outplay an opponent with cre- A)
ative middlegame play instead of proceeding
down long, forcing variations in the main lines 3...c5 4 dxc5 (D)
beginning with 3 Ìc3.
rslwkvnt
rslwkvnt zp+-zpzp
B
B zp+-zpzp -+-+-+-+
-+p+-+-+ +-ZpZ-+-
+-+pZ-+- -+-+-+-+
-+-Z-+-+ +-+-+-+-
+-+-+-+- PZP+-ZPZ
PZP+-ZPZ TNVQMLSR
TNVQMLSR
4...e6
Black must now choose between breaking Black can also attack White’s e5-pawn by
up White’s central pawn-chain with ...c5, or de- 4...Ìc6 5 f4, and now:
veloping his light-squared bishop outside his a) 5...Ëa5+? 6 c3 Ëxc5 7 b4! Ëb6 8 Ëxd5
own pawns. Íf5 9 Ëf3 with an extra pawn for White, Al-
A: 3...c5 128 onso Moyano-Gonzalez Aguirre, Mislata 2009.
B: 3...Íf5 133 b) 5...Ìh6 6 Ìf3 e6 7 Íe3 (White develops
a piece and protects the c5-pawn) and then:
Another idea is 3...Ëc7!?, which was ana- b1) 7...Íe7 8 Ìbd2 f6 9 Íb5 0-0 10 Íxc6
lysed in Win with the Caro-Kann (Johnsen and bxc6 11 Ìb3 leaves White a pawn up, Gross-
Hansen) as a secondary option (after their main Winter – David-Bordier, corr. 2017.
choice, 3...c5). With 4 c4 White seeks to exploit b2) 7...Ìf5 8 Íf2 Ëa5+ 9 Ëd2 Íxc5 10
the position of the black queen on c7. 4...Íf5 Ëxa5 Íxf2+ 11 Êxf2 Ìxa5 12 Íd3 Ìe7 13
(4...dxc4? 5 Íxc4 Íf5 6 e6! Íxe6 7 Íxe6 Ìbd2 favours White thanks to his control over
fxe6 8 Ìf3 gives White excellent compensa- the d4-square and superior bishop, S.Grover-
tion for the pawn) 5 Ìc3 e6 6 cxd5 cxd5 7 Íe3 Gschnitzer, London 2019.
Ìc6 8 Îc1 a6 and now: b3) The pawn advance 7...d4 is the most
a) 9 Ìf3 h6!? 10 Íe2 Ìge7 11 0-0 Íh7 is a challenging continuation, but it awaits a prac-
line given by Johnsen. Now White could con- tical trial. 8 Ìxd4 Íxc5 9 c3 0-0 10 Ëd2 Ëb6
sider the provocative 12 Ìh4!? intending to 11 Ìc2 Íxe3 12 Ìxe3 Îd8 13 Ìc4! Ëc7
play f4. Then 12...g5 13 Ìf3 gives White an (13...Îxd2?? 14 Ìxb6 costs Black material)
 CARO-KANN DEFENCE 129

14 Íd3 b5 15 Ìd6 f6 16 Ìxb5 Ëb6 (16...Ëb8?! his e5-pawn and Black has lost the right to cas-
17 exf6 e5 18 0-0! with a development advan- tle.
tage for White) 17 Ìd6 fxe5 18 Ìc4 Ëc5 19 c) 5...Ìd7 leaves White’s c-pawn alone
Ëe2 exf4 20 Ìbd2 gives White a favourable and hunts down his e-pawn. 6 b4 Ìxe5 7 Íb2
middlegame since his pieces can use the e4- Ìc6 8 Ìf3 Ìf6 9 c4 a5 (V.Novikov-Arkell,
square. World Senior Team Ch, Vilnius 2014) 10 b5!
c) 5...e6 6 Íe3 d4 (Black recovers his pawn Ìb8 11 Íd4! Ìbd7 (11...Ìe4 12 Ìc3 Ìxc3
at the cost of conceding the e4-square to White’s 13 Íxc3 Ìd7 14 c6! bxc6 15 bxc6 Ìf6 16
pieces; 6...Ìh6 7 Ìf3 transposes to line ‘b’) 7 Íe2 Íd6 17 0-0 0-0 18 a4 with an advantage
Íf2 Íxc5 8 Ìd2 and now: for White) 12 c6! Ìc5 13 Ìc3 gives White
c1) 8...Ìh6 9 a3! (White prepares Ìe4 with- some pressure.
out allowing ...Íb4+ in response) 9...0-0 10 d) 5...Ìc6 6 Ìf3 Íxc5 7 b4 Íb6 (after
Ìe4 Íe7 11 Ìf3 favours White thanks to the 7...Íe7 8 b5 Ìa5 9 Íd3 Íd7 10 0-0 Ìc4?! 11
powerful centralized knight on e4, Sherwood- Íxc4 dxc4 12 Ìc3 White has superior devel-
Markus, corr. 2019. opment and a space advantage, Sveshnikov-
c2) 8...Ìge7 9 a3! Ìd5 (9...0-0?! 10 Íd3 J.Petrov, Nova Gorica 1999) 8 Íb2 (D).
Ìd5 11 Ëh5! g6 12 Ëh6 with kingside pres-
sure, Samolins-Bolsakovs, Latvian Ch, Riga
2018) 10 Ëg4 0-0 11 Íd3 f5 (11...f6?! 12 Ìgf3
r+lwk+nt
fxe5 13 fxe5 Ìf4 14 0-0 favours White’s supe- B zp+-+pzp
rior development) 12 Ëg3 Ëa5 13 Îb1 b5 14 -vn+p+-+
Ìf3 (14 b4?! Ëxa3 15 bxc5 Ìc3 gives Black
counterplay) 14...Íb6 15 0-0 Íd7 (Hohlbein-
+-+pZ-+-
L.Andersen, corr. 2018) 16 Îa1! is pleasant for -Z-+-+-+
White as Black’s queen is misplaced.
5 a3 (D)
Z-+-+N+-
-VP+-ZPZ
rslwkvnt TN+QML+R
B zp+-+pzp Now Black can either continue to develop
-+-+p+-+ his pieces or challenge White’s centre:
d1) 8...Ìge7 9 Ìbd2 and then:
+-ZpZ-+- d11) 9...0-0 10 Íd3 Ìg6 11 b5 Ìa5 12 g3
-+-+-+-+ f6 (after 12...Íc5, as in Morozov-Macchia-
Z-+-+-+- godena, corr. 2018, 13 h4 gives White a king-
side initiative) 13 0-0 Íd7 14 a4 Îc8 15 Ëe2
-ZP+-ZPZ with an obvious plus for White as his pieces
TNVQMLSR have more scope.
d12) 9...Ìg6 10 h4! h5 11 g3 Íc7 12 Ëe2
5...Íxc5 f6 13 exf6 gxf6 14 Íg2 favours White because
Declining to recapture the c-pawn immedi- of the looseness of Black’s pawn-structure,
ately entails some risk for Black: Melia-Gvantseladze, European Women’s Ch,
a) 5...Ìe7 6 Ìf3 Ìg6 (J.Lindholm-Järven- Stary Smokovec 2018.
pää, Helsinki 2018) 7 h4! Ìc6 8 b4 Ìgxe5 9 d2) 8...f6 9 Ìbd2 fxe5 10 Ìxe5 Ìf6 11
Ìxe5 Ìxe5 10 Íb2 Ìc6 11 h5 with kingside Íd3 0-0 12 Ìdf3 Ìh5 13 0-0 Ìf4 (Begliy-
pressure for White. Rüfenacht, corr. 2016) 14 Êh1 with just an
b) 5...a5 prevents White from expanding on edge for White thanks to his control over the
the queenside with b4 at the cost of weakening e5-square.
the b5-square. 6 Ìc3 Íxc5 7 Ëg4 Êf8 8 Íd3 6 Ëg4!? (D)
Ìc6 9 Ìf3 Ìge7 10 0-0 Ìg6 11 Îe1 gives The queen foray is White’s third most popu-
White an obvious advantage as he has protected lar choice behind 6 Ìf3 and 6 b4, but it has
130 MODERN CHESS OPENING REPERTOIRE FOR WHITE

been played by So, Kariakin, Topalov and Mor-

ozevich.
rslwk+-t
B zp+-spzp
rslwk+nt -+-+p+-+
B zp+-+pzp +-vpZ-+-
-+-+p+-+ -+-+-+Q+
+-vpZ-+- Z-+-+N+-
-+-+-+Q+ -ZP+-ZPZ
Z-+-+-+- TNV-ML+R
-ZP+-ZPZ A3: 7...Ìbc6 132
TNV-MLSR A4: 7...0-0 132

Note that we have reached a position from Minor options:

the Advance French (1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 a) 7...Ëc7 8 b4 (gaining a tempo for Íb2
dxc5 Íxc5 5 Ëg4) with the extra move a3 for by attacking Black’s bishop) 8...Íb6 9 Íd3
White, which makes the line more appealing. Ìg6 10 Íb2 0-0 11 Ìbd2 Ìc6 12 Ëg3 f6!?
6...Ìe7! (Black sacrifices a pawn to free his position as
The knight development is clearly Black’s 12...Íd7?! 13 h4! is very strong for White;
strongest reply although it has been chosen in e.g., 13...f5 14 h5 Ìh8 15 c4 a6 16 Îc1 with a
only half the games that have reached this posi- large space advantage and superior develop-
tion. Other moves: ment) 13 Íxg6 hxg6 14 Ëxg6 Ëf7 15 Ëxf7+
a) 6...g6?! preserves the right to castle, but Îxf7 16 0-0 Íc7 17 exf6 gxf6 18 c4 gives
now Black’s kingside dark squares are vulnera- Black insufficient compensation for the pawn.
ble. 7 Ìf3 Ìc6 8 Ìc3 (Schmidt-Schäffer – b) 7...Ìf5 8 Íd3 h5 9 Ëf4 Ìc6 (Bartel-
T.Pähtz, Vienna 1996) 8...f6 9 Íb5 fxe5 10 Vaibhav, Biel 2018) 10 Ìc3 is pleasant for
Ìxe5 Ìe7 11 Íh6 gives White an advantage White as Black has not interfered with the
as Black’s position is full of weaknesses. smooth development of White’s pieces.
b) 6...Êf8?! avoids weaknesses at the cost
of forfeiting castling rights. 7 Ìf3 Ìc6 8 b4 A1)
Íb6 (Black leaves the e7-square free for his
knight) 9 b5 (Beveridge-Louro, corr. 2018) 7...Ëb6
9...f5 10 Ëf4 Ìce7 11 a4 with an obvious ad- Black takes advantage of White’s momen-
vantage for White as he has a spatial plus and tary lag in development to attack the f2-pawn.
Black has difficulty completing his develop- This is Black’s most challenging plan.
ment. 8 Íd3! Íxf2+
c) 6...Íf8 avoids the drawbacks of lines ‘a’ Black might as well grab the pawn since
and ‘b’, but the bishop retreat is very slow. 7 8...Ìbc6?! 9 0-0 Ìg6 10 Ìc3 Ëc7 (Topalov-
Ìf3 Ìc6 8 Íd3 h5 9 Ëg3 h4 10 Ëf4 gives Navara, Shamkir 2019) 11 Ìb5! Ëb8 12 b4
White a development advantage, Morozevich- Íe7 13 Îe1 leaves White obviously better.
I.Popov, Moscow Ch rapid 2014. 9 Êe2 (D)
7 Ìf3 (D) 9...a5!
White should avoid the greedy 7 Ëxg7? Îg8 Restricting White from expanding on the
8 Ëxh7 Ìbc6 with a huge lead in development queenside with b4. This is better than 9...Ìbc6?!
for Black, Tadi‡-Predojevi‡, Serbian Team Ch 10 Îf1:
2020. a) 10...Ìd4+ 11 Ìxd4 Íxd4 (11...Ëxd4?
Now there are four main lines: 12 Ëf3 is winning for White) 12 Ëxg7 Îg8 13
A1: 7...Ëb6 130 Ëxf7+ Êd8 14 Ìc3 with a clear advantage for
A2: 7...Ìg6 131 White.
 CARO-KANN DEFENCE 131

rsl+k+-t r+lwk+-t
B zp+-spzp B zp+-+pzp
-w-+p+-+ -+n+p+n+
+-+pZ-+- +-vpZ-+-
-+-+-+Q+ -+-+-+Q+
Z-+L+N+- Z-+L+N+-
-ZP+KvPZ -ZP+-ZPZ
TNV-+-+R TNV-+RM-
b) 10...Íd4 11 c3 Ìxe5 (Black is forced to a) The e5-pawn is immune from capture as
sacrifice a piece for two pawns) 12 Ëxd4 Ìxd3 10...Ìgxe5?? 11 Ìxe5 Ìxe5 12 Ëxg7 costs
13 Ëxd3 Íd7 14 a4 leaves Black with insuffi- Black a piece.
cient compensation for the piece. b) 10...Ìce7? 11 b4 Íb6 (Darini-Zahedi-
c) 10...Íc5 11 b4 Íd4 12 c3 Ìxe5 13 Ëxd4 far, Tehran 2019) 12 h4! h5 13 Ëg5 Íd7 14 a4
Ìxd3 14 Ëxd3 Íd7 15 Íe3 Ëc7 16 Êf2 e5 17 gives White a strong initiative.
Ëd2 and White will consolidate his extra piece. c) 10...0-0 11 Ëh5 Íd7 12 Ìbd2 Íb6 13
10 Ìc3 Ìb3 Íe8 14 Ëh3 h6 (threatening to take on e5,
White continues to develop and keeps Îf1 in and more effective than 14...f6?!, which is a
reserve as Black’s queen is tied to the defence typical method to obtain counterplay like in the
of his bishop. French, but here 15 exf6 Îxf6 16 Íg5 e5 17
10...Íd7 Íxf6 gxf6 18 Íxg6 hxg6 19 c4! dxc4 20 Ìbd2
Seeking to control the a4-square. 10...Ìbc6?! gives Black insufficient compensation for the
runs into 11 Îf1 Íd4 (11...Íc5 12 Ìa4 Ëa7 13 exchange) 15 Ëg3 (15 Íxg6 fxg6 16 Ëxe6+
Ìxc5 Ëxc5 14 b4! with a strong initiative for Íf7 17 Ëg4 g5 followed by ...Íg6 offers Black
White) 12 Ìa4 Ëa7 13 c3 Íb6 14 b4 Ìg6 15 b5 very reasonable counterplay) 15...f5 16 Íd2
Ìce7 16 Ëh5! with an attack – Rambaldi. Íf7 (16...d4!?) 17 h4 Êh8 18 h5 Ìge7 19 Ëh4
11 Ëxg7 Îg8 12 Ëf6! Ìbc6 13 Ìa4 Ëa7 leaves White with a space advantage.
14 g3 0-0-0 15 Îf1 Íb6 16 Ìc3 10 Ëh5 Ëc7 11 b4!?
Now: Now:
a) 16...Íc7 17 Ìb5 Ëb6 18 Íf4 with some a) 11...Íd4!? is a relatively safe option. 12
advantage for White – Rambaldi. Ìxd4 Ìxd4 13 Íd2 Ìf5 (13...Ìxc2?? loses to
b) 16...Ìf5 17 Ìb5 Ìcd4+ 18 Ìfxd4 Ìxd4+ 14 Îc1, and 13...Ëxe5?? to 14 Íxg6) 14 f4
19 Ìxd4 Íxd4 20 Îb1 (White prepares to ex- with a complex middlegame.
pand on the queenside) 20...h5 21 b4 axb4 22 b) 11...Íe7 12 Íb2 Íd7 13 Îe1 (13 Ìc3!?)
Îxb4 Íc5 23 Îh4 Êb8 (Black improves his and then:
king position and seeks counterplay along the b1) 13...Íe8?! 14 Ìc3 Ëd7 15 Ëh3 f6
c-file) 24 Îxh5 Îc8 25 Îh7 Íe8 with roughly (Black sacrifices a pawn to seek counterplay)
level chances. 16 exf6 Íxf6 17 Îxe6 Ìce7?! (So-Carlsen,
Internet rapid 2020) 18 Îae1! Íf7 19 Îxf6!
A2) Ëxh3 20 Îxg6! and White’s rampaging rook is
unstoppable; e.g., 20...Ëxf3 21 Îxg7+! Êxg7
7...Ìg6 (21...Êh8 22 Îxh7+ Êg8 23 Îh8+ Êxh8 24
Black immediately puts pressure on the e5- Ìxd5+ mates) 22 Ìxd5+ Êh6 23 Ìxe7 (the
pawn. black queen has no safe squares) 23...Ëf4 24
8 Íd3 Ìc6 9 0-0 (D) g3 Ëf3 25 Ìf5+ Êg5 26 h4+ Êg4 27 Ìe3+
9...0-0 Êh5 28 Íe2 Ëxe2 29 Îxe2 and White’s
Another reasonable option is 9...Ëc7 10 Îe1. knight and three pawns are superior to Black’s
Then: rook.