1) ODD MOVE IN THE SLAV DEFENSE

Letter from Herbert:

In my last competition in the Bavarian Bezirksliga, my opponent came up with a move I first considered to be rather bad. Now I'm no longer sure what to make of his idea. Why do grandmasters avoid this move?

Rossmanith - Obermeier

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Bg5

A DUBIOUS MOVE

This is the move I had never met before and I've not seen in a grandmaster play.

My game continued: 6.Qa5 7.e3 Ne4 8.Bxc4 e6 9.Qb3 Qb4 10.0-0 Qxb3 11.Bxb3 Nxg5 12.Nxg5 Be7 13.Kge4 a5 14.Rad1 Bxe4 15.Nxe4 and White eventually won.

SILMAN REPLIES:

The Bishop move to g5 isn't played in high-level competition because, with best play, White has to struggle for equality and can easily end up in difficulties. IM John Donaldson, a great expert on the Slav, had this to say about 6.Bg5: "The answer is 6...Ne4 with the idea that 7.Nxe4 Bxe4 8.e3?? Bxf3 drops a piece.

A TRAP WITH MANY VICTIMS. WHITE MUST RESIGN

"White could try 8.Qd2 but after 8...Qd5 I don't seem how the pawn on c4 is recovered."

John is, of course, right. I should add that after 6.Ne4 White has played 7.Bd2 in a couple games (one between youngsters under ten years of age!). Black can handle this Bishop retreat by 7.e6 8.e3 Nxc3 9.bxc3 b5 when White is just a pawn down.

In the actual game, your 6.Qa5 guarantees good play. It was only later mistakes that placed you in jeopardy.

2) A BIT OF COLLE PLUS A TRANSPOSITION TO THE SLAV

Letter From Matthias:

My ELO is 2150, but I think the "real" playing strength is below 2100, because the rating is based only on two tournaments.

In an answer to one of your letters you recommended 4.h3 (after 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Bg4), which is an interesting recommendation. Do you also have a recommendation against 3...Bf5 and 3...c6 (transposing to the Slav)? Despite the fact that I have good literature about the Colle, I face difficulties playing against these moves.

SILMAN REPLIES:

Matthias' question concerns the following COLLE snapshot (to see the letter and reply Matthias referred to, click HERE), where I show how one learns an opening by making mistakes and then improving upon your previous play.

Here we have a player that enjoys the Colle System as White. He's learned the key positions and feels very comfortable after:

         1.d4 d5

         2.Nf3 Nf6

         3.e3

Now 3.e6 4.Bd3 with 5.0-0, 6.Nbd2 and a quick e3-e4 is exactly what White wants. If Black now plays some Bozo move like 3.h6, simply continue with your normal plans. If he doesn't get in your way, don't veer off the course you originally set for yourself.

         However, if Black plays:

         3.Bg4

you must take notice! Now, following your usual ideas won't get the job donesince his move is both logical and good. Thus, 4.Bd3 (4.Be2 is much too passive, giving Black more respect then he deserves! Try hard not to react in a defensive manner and allow your opponent to dominate you mentally.) 4.Nbd7 5.c3 e5 and Black has beaten you to the punch. This will likely happen to you, but live and learn. Next time you will be prepared:

         4.c4

The usual recommendation. The idea is to follow up with 5.Qb3, trying to take advantage of his unprotected b-pawn (in other words, you are hoping to label his .Bg4 as a mistake!). This is a good approach, and it also gives you some useful guidelines to follow: "If Black moves his Bishop out early, change plans with c2-c4 followed by Qb3 and Nc3, putting immediate pressure on d5 and b7."

Such verbal ideas are extremely important in your understanding of the openings you choose, so try and learn as many as possible.

By the way, I've always liked playing 4.h3 here, with the idea of answering 4.Bh5 with 5.g4 Bg6 6.Ne5 when Black has some nasty problems to deal with.

NOT EASY FOR BLACK

6.Nbd7 7.h4! (This forces Black to move his h-pawn, and allows White to take on g6 and ruin the enemy structure after .fxg6. Taking on g6 right away by 7.Nxg6 is very nice for Black if he can reply with 7.hxg6) 7.h5 (and not 7.Nxe5 8.dxe5 when the dual threats of 9.exf6 and 9.h5 forces the win of material) 8.Nxg6 fxg6 9.Bd3 (Threatening a "tiny" mate on g6.) 9.Kf7 10.g5 and Black is already lost after 10.Ne4 11.Qf3+.

This isn't best play, of course, but it shows you how you can turn an initial bad experience (answering 3.Bg4 with 4.Bd3) into something very positive (winning subsequent games with 4.c4 or 4.h3).

Okay, that was our Colle connection. But Matthias was not asking about 3.Bg4, but seemed more worried about 3.Bf5 (and 3.c6), which is indeed a good move. In this case White can't speak of gaining an opening advantage, but that's hardly surprising; if the Colle gave White an advantage many strong grandmasters would play it. Instead, the Colle is a solid system that allows you to create positions that are to your taste and also contain more than one drop of poison. Thus, I would suggest the following:

A) 3.Bf5 4.c4 c6 once again takes us into a Slav where White has not played in the sharpest (and thus most dangerous) manner. Nevertheless, the ever-hopeful Colle player should not despair since he has two comfortable choices test Black's theoretical knowledge (if Black knows everything he gets equality, if he doesn't know what he's doing White comes out on top): The move I would recommend for the Colle dude with a memory is 5.cxd5 (The alternative is 5.Bd3 Bxd3 6.Qxd3 followed by 7.Nc3, 8.0-0 and e3-e4 with a space advantage. This method requires virtually no memorization and is useful for those that want a quick and mindless way to answer 3.Bf5.) 5.cxd5 6.Qb3 Qc7 7.Bd2 (Threatening to swap off the bad Bishop by Bb4.) 7.Nc6 8.Bb5 e6 9.Bb4 when White can get an edge if Black isn't well versed in Slav theory.

BLACK MUST BE CAREFUL

Theory continues (after 9.Bb4) 9.Bxb4+ 10.Qxb4 and now, since 10.Qe7 gives White a small but annoying endgame edge, Black must find 10.Nd7! which eventually equalizes if Black comes up with a couple more "only" moves: 11.Bxc6 Qxc6! 12.Nc3 a5 13.Qb5 Qxb5 14.Nxb5 Ke7 15.Kd2 Rhc8, =.

B) 3.c6 4.c4 e6 and now White can choose between 5.Nc3, transposing into the Sharp Semi-Slav, or 5.Nbd2, which I feel is the preferable choice for the Colle player.

THE PREFERABLE CHOICE FOR THE COLLE REPERTOIRE

This move makes a Black .dxc4 less desirable since Nxc4 would bring the Knight to a strong central square. After 5.Nbd7 White could then try either 6.Bd3 followed by 0-0 with an easy game, or 6.b3 (going into an old Colle-Zukertort System) with Bb2, Bd3, and 0-0 to follow - once again, this is fairly easy for White to play, doesn't call for much (if any) memorization, and gives the first player serious attacking chances.