ChessBase Reader Printout, Microsoft , 2025/06/21 1
D02 castling, was an excellent way to justify
QGD Setups - Part 1 White's previous move. In case of c3
[GM Abhijeet Gupta] 14.bxc3 Bxc3 15.Rd1 Ne4 16.Bb4 a5
17.Bxc3 Rxc3 18.Nxe4 Bxe4 19.Nd2
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 c5 White consolidates his position keeping
[ 3...Bf5 This has been played recently by his extra pawn. ) 10.e3 Rc8 11.Bg3 Bd5
top players. The idea is pretty logical. Black 12.Kd1!N An improvement over Aroninan-
is developing the bishop outside of the pawn Carlsen game Nbd7 13.Bh4 Kf8 14.Rc1
chain. The drawback of this move is that c3 15.bxc3 Rxc3 16.Rxc3 Bxc3 17.Bg3!
White can quickly attack the b7-pawn. 4.c4 Bxa2 18.Ba6! with the idea to go Ke2 and
e6 5.Qb3! bring the rook into the game. White is
A) 5...Nc6 This is a standard way to react slightly better here. ]
after Qb3. Black is ready to meet Qxb7 4.e3 e6
with Nb4. The drawback of this setup is [ 4...Qb6 Black can try to benefit from the
that the knight is not very well placed on move order with quick c5 and attack the b2-
"c6" 6.Nbd2 Bb4 ( 6...Bd6 pawn. 5.c4! This is the best reply. White is
This is possible, but White is better after abandoning the b2-pawn and developing the
the simple: 7.Bxd6 cxd6 8.cxd5 exd5 initiative as quickly as possible.
9.e3² I can't see compensation for the A) 5...e6 6.Nc3 Qxb2 7.Nb5 Ne4
ruined structure. ) 7.a3 dxc4 8.Qxc4 ( 7...Na6 8.Be2 Qb4+ 9.Nd2 Ne4
Bxd2+ 9.Bxd2² The knight is still 10.Rb1 Qxd2+ 11.Qxd2 Nxd2 12.Kxd2
misplaced on c6 and Black has no Believe it or not comp thinks White is
compensation for the bishop pair. ; almost winning here with the threats like
B) 5...b6 Weakens the light squares a lot. Nd6 ) 8.Be2 Nc3 9.Nxc3 Qxc3+ 10.Nd2
6.e3² ; Nc6 11.Rc1 Qa3 12.cxd5 exd5 13.0-0
C) 5...Qc8 as a rule, defending the pawn Be7 ( 13...c4 14.e4! ) 14.dxc5 0-0
doesn't promise Black equality. White 15.Nb1 Qa5 16.Nc3± ;
should continue developing his pieces B) 5...Qxb2 accepting the sacrifice is quite
naturally, then play Rc1 and put some risky 6.Nbd2 e6 7.cxd5 exd5 ( 7...Nxd5
pressure on the c-file. 6.Nc3 c6 7.e3 Be7 this also failed to equalize after: 8.Rb1
8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 Nbd7 10.h3² the pawn doesn't matter that much. White
Followed by Rc1. Giving up the centre with has a huge lead in development Qxa2
dxc4 gives White a small but long-lasting 9.Bxb8! very common idea which is worth
advantage ; remembering Rxb8 10.Bb5+ Kd8 11.Bc4
D) 5...dxc4 I feel Black is almost forced to Qa5 12.Bxd5 exd5 13.0-0‚
go for this to justify the move Bf5 6.Qxb7 Black's position looks very difficult to play,
Be4 7.Qxc7 White should accept the his two extra pawns are not important at
challenge and win a second pawn. My all ) 8.Rb1 Qxa2 9.dxc5 Nc6 10.Bb5
analysis shows that with an accurate play Be7 this modest move is Black's best try
he can keep the advantage. Bb4+ ( 10...Bxc5 is well met by 11.Be5
( 7...Qxc7 8.Bxc7 Bb4+ 9.Kd1 [%cal Gb1a1] Qa5 12.Bxf6
This is an additional option for White if ruining Black's structure. Black king will not
Black takes on c7 first ) 8.Nbd2 Qxc7 have any safe square on the board until
9.Bxc7 Ke7 ( 9...0-0 this looks a bit slow the end of the game. gxf6 13.Qc2 Qb6
and White is just in time to coordinate his 14.Ba4 Qa6 15.Qxc5 Qxa4 16.0-0‚
pieces after: 10.a3 c3 11.axb4 cxb2 White has more than enough
12.Ra2 Rc8 13.Rxb2 Rxc7 14.Nxe4 compensation for the sacrificing material )
Nxe4 15.e3² White keeps his extra pawn ; 11.Ra1 Qb2 12.Qa4 0-0 Black manages
9...Nbd7 This move is probably less to castle, but he has problems with the
accurate as the knight picks out its way too awkward position of the queen 13.0-0 Bf5
early. In many lines, c6-square will be 14.Ra2 Qc3 15.Bxc6 bxc6 16.Nd4 Bd3
better than d7 10.e3 Rc8 11.Bg3 Bd5 ( 16...Bd7 17.Rc2 Qd3 18.N2f3!+-
12.a3 Ba5 13.Bd6! , preventing Black's [%cal Gf3e5] ) 17.Nxc6 Bxc5 18.Be5 d4
ChessBase Reader Printout, Microsoft , 2025/06/21 2
19.Rfa1 Nd5 20.Nf3² We would round up Nc6 15.N2f3 Bg4 16.Qc2 g6 17.Rfe1
the d4 pawn pretty soon. After that, the a7 [%cal Gd3f1,Gf1g2] Although the position is
pawn will be weak and White's pieces are around even I prefer White due to the isolani
much more active. ; on d5. ]
C) 5...cxd4 6.Qxd4 Nbd7 ( 6...Qxd4 [ 6...Nc6 7.Bg3 0-0 8.Nbd2 Transposes ]
7.Nxd4! Thats the reason why Black [ 6...Qc7 This just loses a move 7.Bxd6
should probably play Nbd7 first so that Qxd6 8.Ne5² [%cal Gf2f4,Gb1d2] ]
White cannot take back with the knight. a6 7.exf4 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Qc7 9.g3 0-0 10.0-0
8.Nc3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nbd7 10.Bg3 e6 Nbd7 11.Re1 e5 12.fxe5 Nxe5 13.Qc2²
11.0-0 Be7 12.Be2² [%cal Ge2f3] This [%cal Gb1d2] White is slightly better, thanks to
symmetrical structure is quite unpleasant his better pawn structure.
for Black. The bishop will land on the long
diagonal, the rooks will occupy c and d -
files. Black will have a problem developing
his queenside. ) 7.Nc3 Qxd4 8.exd4 dxc4
9.Bxc4 Nb6 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Bxd7+
Kxd7 Otherwise, Nb5 can be painful for
Black. 12.Bd2! Sidestepping against Nd5
jumps e6 13.Ne5+ Ke8 14.a4 a6
Black can't allow a5-a6 15.a5 Nbd5
16.Ke2 Be7 17.Rhc1² The problem for
Black will be his kings' position as he can
not castle anymore, our idea could be Ra4-
c4 next ]
5.c3 Bd6 The only independent move,
everything else will probably transpose into
the mainline
[ 5...Qb6 6.Qb3 c4 Otherwise Qb6 doesn't
really make that much sense here 7.Qc2
Black can't play Bf5 and this setup doesn't
make any sense for him. White can choose
between b2-b3 or e3-e4 breaks Bd6 8.Bxd6
Qxd6 9.Nbd2² White is simply better here ]
6.Bd3 Bxf4
[ 6...0-0 7.Nbd2 Bxf4 ( 7...Nc6 8.Bg3
Transposes ; 7...Qc7 8.Ne5
is a transposition to Chapter 3. ; 7...b6?!
is wrong here, because Black has no time
for Bb7 8.Bxd6 Qxd6 9.e4 A useful trick
Nxe4 10.Nxe4 dxe4 11.Bxe4 Nc6 12.dxc5
Qxc5 13.0-0 Bb7 14.Qe2 Rfd8 15.a3²
[%cal Gb2b4,Gc3c4] ) 8.exf4 This is a pawn
structure that we are going to get on regular
basis. White's doubled pawns are not weak
at all. White enjoys a space advantage on
the kingside, better central control and a
semi-open e-file. Qc7 9.g3 cxd4 10.Nxd4
a thumb rule here is that we always try to
take with a piece on "d4". If White manages
to play Qe2 followed by Ndf3, his advantage
will be undisputable due to the control of the
central squares d4 and e5. e5 11.fxe5
Qxe5+ 12.Qe2 Qc7 13.0-0 Re8 14.Qd1
