playing e7-e5 against the London system Bf4,Nf3 with bishops on g7 and b7

First game 15..h5!

    

Second game : 12..Nh5

Second game: 22..g4

second game analysis: 37..Bxh3! 

Double Fianchetto against the London system

Praggnanandhaachess (2710) - RebeccaHarris (2736) 0-1

after 3..Bg7

after 7..Bb7

after 11..e5!

after 16 Rfd1 

Black to play: 27..Bd5!

Hikaru beats Carlsen today in St Louis Blitz

Fantastic game by GM Hikaru.

Video replay here -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNxwzJwtQIY&t=189s

14 f5!? with expansion on kingside. 14... Rd7? big mistake by Carlsen as 15 Nd5! and Black will not be able to push d6-d5.  it is surprising as Black was not lost after 14 f5!? for instance Ne7 or my preferred move would be Qb6+ followed by Nb4 controlling d5 and preparing Nxd3.

22Qh4!! is the winning move most likely missed by Carlsen who resigned a move later. Game analysis embedded in replay window above powered by lichess.org

Team TSM 

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 ..g6,Bg7

a popular plan for Black is to play d6,g6,Bg7 in the Spanish Defense. We will see how White should respond 

 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 g6

There is no obvious refutation, White should continue development.

7. O-O Bg7 8. Re1 O-O 9. Nbd2 

This is a key position for this variation. Black has a lot of options here to continue. The best way is to illustrate all the possible 9th moves with arrows. white usually plays Nf1-g3

in the next diagram. This is a lot of ground to cover.

Variation A: Black plays 9..Nh5 right away.

9..Nh5 10Nf1 f5 

11. exf5  11... Bxf5 12. Ng3  12... Nxg3 13. hxg3 b5  14. Bb3+  d5 

Here we are in the game Miton-Shirov 2009, but I recommend 15d4!with 15..e4 16 Ng5 followed by f2-f3 which is very strong for White.

Variation B: Black plays ..h6 to prepare a future f7-f5

 9..h6 10. Nf1 10... b5 11. Bc2 

11... d5 12. Bd2

12..Be6 13. a4 13... Qd6 14. b4 Nd7 15. Bb3 

15..dxe4  16. dxe4 Nb6  17. a5 Nc4 18. Ne3

Nepomiachi-Akopian 2010, White is slightly better 

Variation C: 9..Nd7 10Nf1 Nc5 11Bc2 (11. Bxc6 bxc6 12. d4 Anand-Caruana 2018)Ne6

12. Ng3 Bd7 13. h3 Kh8 (13..f5? 14ef5 gf5 15d4! with threat d4-d5)

14 Ne2!? (14Be3) Ne7 15. d4 with ideas Be3 and a2-a4

Areshchenko,A (2673)-Matta,V (2246) 2009

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

Benko ideas

 Here's a blitz game where I sacrificed a pawn in the Benko, then the exchange and finished with 2 small tactics to achieve a win with Black pieces.

After 4..a6 Benko Gambit

After 12..Ne8 going to c7, activating Bg7

Here Black to play , 21..Qb5 = ok but tried Rxc4 to win a5 pawn

This is an exchange sacrifice with Knight going to e5.

Trying to create imbalances and active play 

Position after ..h5, the engine says the position is dead equal 0.0 despite black being an exchange down.
the strong knight on e5 + c-pawn guarantees equality. my opponent plays for the win though with white

    

Black to play

can you guess which move I played with Black to take a decisive advantage
answer is Ne3+!!, if white takes fxe3 I get c1=Q+ promoting my pawn. therefore on Ne3+ my opponent rightly played Kf3  but I get to capture the rook on c4 as this is also a fork.

                                                                Black to play

How would you continue here ?

answer in the final diagram of the game

my opponent resigned after I played ..Ra3! reaching the diagram above. I offered a full rook but if white does Rxa3, c1=Q gives me a queen. tactics based on pawn promotion !

Hikaru Nakamura against Alireza Firouzja

 Hikaru won the Speed Chess Championship today on chess.com

He just signed with TSM https://tsm.gg/ 

White to play (Hikaru is White, Alireza Firouzja is Black)

Replay here

He just signed with TSM https://tsm.gg/