Carlsen Spanish Torture vs Tari : Norway Chess 2020

Spanish d3 variation. Carlsen demonstrates Knight vs Bishop domination against Tari. norwaychess.no/en/

Ruy Lopez-Spanish Defense

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. O-O d6 8a4!?

Variation A: Black plays 8..Rb8 to main tension.

 8..Rb8 9. axb5 axb5 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Re1  

here Black has two options 11..Bd7 which is Carlsen-Topalov 2010 with great attack by Magnus.

The second option is 11..Be6 to fight for control og a2-f7.

11..Be6 12.Bxe6 fxe6 13. c3 Qd7 

here White plays d3-d4 and in King-Krasenkow 1999, White had the edge

 

Variation B: Black plays 8..b4 to prevent any pawn exchange and get space advantage.White typically plays 9.a5!? leading to following position

White typically plays Nbd2-c4 (Bc4 and b2-b3 also possible) and here a possible variation

 9..O-O 10.Re1 Be6 11. Nbd2 Rb8 12. Nc4 Nd7 13. Be3 Bf6 14. c3 bxc3 15. bxc3

De Firmian-Beliavsky game

Spanish defense d3 line with Be7 : 2 key games

we are analyzing a key variation with d6,Be7 in the spanish defense where White chooses d3.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 d6 7.c3 O-O 8. Nbd2 b5 9. Bc2 Re8 

same position reachable via Anti-Berlin d3 as follows

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 d6 5.O-O Be7 6. c3 O-O 7. Nbd2 a6 8. Ba4 b5 9. Bc2 Re8 

TABIYA 1A Spanish d3 variation d6,Be7

Black is aiming at developing Bc8-b7 as well as Bf8-g6-Bg7

White is preparing Re1,Nf1-g3 or Re1,d3-d4 and a3-a4

Lets continue with 2 logical moves for each side

10.Re1 Bf8 11.h3 Bb7

TABIYA 1B Spanish d3 variation d6,Be7 after 11..Bf8

Here there are two different plans. one consists in playing d3-d4 and soon d4-d5 and a2-a4 and c2-c4. Black will play g6,Bg7 as well as Nc6-b8-d7 followed by c7-c6

The second plan consists in postponing d3-d4 and going for Nd2-f1-g3

Game 1 : Firouzja-Carlsen 2020 after 11..Bf8

Game 2: Anand-Carlsen 2015 transposing 11Nf1 g6 12 h3 Bb7