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 ..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

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 

repertoire spanish game white 5 Qe2

Position after 9 Bg5!

White to play (11th move)

White to play ( 18th move) 

[White "Tiviakov"][Black "Almasi"]

[White "Tiviakov"] [Black "Almasi"] [Event "Wijk Aan Zee"] [Date "1995.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Qe2 b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. c3 d6 8. d3 0-0 9. Bg5 Be6 10. Nbd2 Qe7 11. Bd5! Bxd5 12. exd5 Nb8 13. Ne4 Nbd7 14. Nh4! h6 15. Nf5 Qd8 16. Bh4 Kh7 17. Qf3 Rh8 18. g4! Kg8 19. Nxg7! Kxg7 20. Rg1 Nxe4 21. Bxd8 Bxf2+ 22. Ke2 Bxg1 23. dxe4 Bxh2 24. Bxc7 Bf4 25. Bxd6 f6 26. a4 Nb6 27. b3 bxa4 28. Bc7 *

Replay Game here

Aronian Kramnik 2018 Chess Analysis

Replay game here
http://aronian-kramnik_2018-annotated.html

after 8..Rg8

after ..f5

after ..Qe2

Grischuk wins against So in Spanish Defense

Spanish 5d3 key games : chess opening analysis (white)

also available here chessbase : spanishd3analysis.html