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

Berlin Wall destroyed: Hikaru Nakamura wins in 22 moves against Magnus Carlsen day 3 chess24.com finals

 Berlin Wall is the position after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 in the www.chess24.com finals.

Hikaru chose anti-berlin 4 d3 on which Carlsen plays the most popular and active 4..Bc5 

6. Nbd2 O-O (6..Bg4 was played by Carlsen before)  7. Qe2

White hasn't decided where his king will castle

7..Re8 8. Nc4 Nd7 9. Bd2 b5 10. Ne3 Nf8 11. h4 Ne6? (11..a5 was safer) 

White to play , what did Magnus miss with Black ? I am sure he intended 12..Nd4 but white has 13Nf7! Ne2 14Nd8 with  2 pawns up

12. Nxe5 a5? 13. Qh5! g6 14. Qf3 f6 15. Nxc6! Qd7 16. Qxf6 Qxc6 17. Bc3 

Position after 17 Bc3!

White threatens 18 Qh8+ and h7, and has already 3 pawns for the piece. White can continue the attack with h4-h5 as well as 0-0-0 followed by d3-d4

17...Rf8 18. Qh8+ Kf7 19. Qxh7+ Ke8 20. Qxg6+ Kd7 21. d4 b4 22. dxc5 1-0

very convincing win by Hikaru today in the berlin 

Grischuk wins against So in Spanish Defense

Spanish Defense d3 variations

in light of the second game Karjakin-Carlsen, posting key variations from the d3 spanish

spanish d3 variation

pgn file here. pgn file for d3 variations , click here

Key position after
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6

Here White has three options

A) 8 a4

This forces Black to choose between ..b4 and ..Rb8?!. Carlsen won against Topalov a key game in the latter in 2010. For the former, White can play Nd2-c4, or Nd2 followed by Bc4.

For the beautiful win from Carlsen against Topalov ( Nanjing, 2010) in the Rb8 variation click here.
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1599150

Please note that Karjakin has experience with White 8a4 and has faced 8..Bd7!? after 8a4; see pgn file for details.


B) 8 a3

Chosen by Karjakin in game 2. I think he may go with A) or C).  This move  saves the white bishop which can retreat on a2. But Black can develop ..Na5,..c5 and this is a bit slow. see
Vachier Lagrave,M (2798)-Svidler,P (2759) Biel 2016 

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1826305

C) 8c3

This allows white to play Re1, Nd2-f1 and later d3-d4. Very flexible set-up.

see  (40) Carlsen,M (2876)-Aronian,L (2780) Stavanger 2015

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1795016

Tactics in the Spanish

White to play and win !

Difficulty: Medium