The Keres Spanish...and How to Beat It
I've been working on a new chess project today, and I want to share a sample of what I learned from my work!
While the main lines of the Spanish Opening are the Marshall Gambit and Berlin (with the Breyer and Zaitsev coming in third/fourth respectively), some players don't want to have to keep up with regular theoretical developments and may prefer to play a shortcut, in the hope of surprising White.
One example of such a shortcut is the Keres Variation, which goes:
Black's idea behind this move, compared to the normal 11...Qc7, is that Black can try to pressure the White center later, with moves like ...exd4, ...Nc6 and ...Bf6. In fact, this kind of active play is one reason I learned this variation 4-5 years ago as Black, especially since most players as White went into the old main lines with 12.Nbd2 (which seems quite decent for Black).
However, the reason I gave up this variation as Black was 12.a4!, which seems to give White an advantage in all lines. I'm not entirely sure why the trend in this variation recently shifted to 12.d5, since White is doing well after 12.a4 both objectively and practically speaking, with Black losing a lot of the recent GM games.
I break down the variation, and a nice win by GM Wesley So, in the game analysis below:
What do you think? Does Black have an improvement in the 11...Nd7 line, or should he indeed give it up and play something else?
I also have something exciting to share - in The Chess Improvement Group, we have just started our first group repertoire project! We will be creating a 1.d4 Main Line Repertoire for White, so if you have ever wanted to build a strong and critical opening repertoire with ideas people can't just read in a book, this is the perfect time for you to join us!
Click here to get involved.
What do you think? Does Black have an improvement in the 11...Nd7 line, or should he indeed give it up and play something else?
I also have something exciting to share - in The Chess Improvement Group, we have just started our first group repertoire project! We will be creating a 1.d4 Main Line Repertoire for White, so if you have ever wanted to build a strong and critical opening repertoire with ideas people can't just read in a book, this is the perfect time for you to join us!
Click here to get involved.
