Hi all,

i started to play the Tromp, but one of my opponents
played a move i have never seen. 
In the Line d4-Nf6 ; Bg5-d5 ; Bxf6-exf6 ; e3-Bd6 ; c4 ... he played Be6 !? Is it wise to push c5 ? Is there any wellknown Moveorder that gives white anything ?

Thx so far.

Regards

nyoke wrote on 08/12/09 at 13:45:03:


Ok, I found it in 'Chess Strategy in Action' (Watson's analysis of doubled f-pawns in the Tromp with 2...d5 3.Bf6 ef). Watson gives the game Krasenkow-Schmidt (my notes):

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.e3 c6 4.Bf6 (transposing into typical 3.Bf6 ef lines) 4...ef 5.c4 dc 6.Bc4 Bd6 7.Nc3 00 8.Nf3 f5 (I guess not Bg4 perhaps due to 9.h3 and 10.g4) 9.Ne5 (the only game I could find with this continuation; 9.Qc2, transposing to 8.Qc2 lines, is normal) 9…Nd7 10.Nd3 (to stop ...f4? plus, Nf4 is thematic) 10...Qe7 11.00 Nf6 12.g3 Be6 13.Be6 Qe6 14.Qe2 Rac8 15.b4 Rfe8 16.Rac1 h5 17.Qf3 g6 = Watson; Krasenkow-Schmidt 01’ drawn in 37 moves

I guess black's active pieces and possible kingside play somehow balance out white's minority attack on the queenside, because Watson calls this equal. I trust it wasn't evaluation by game result!

No doubt this will be in one of Watsons 'strategy' books, which cover all such oddities. Not sure which one, I'll check.

Do you know any coverage of this variation in Theory sections of Chessbase Magazines? (I choose it as Black)
(BTW, I like both 2..e6 and 2..d5, but the former often transposes into the Torre, while choosing 2..d5, I could be almost certain that 3.Bxf6 follows.)

TN wrote on 06/01/09 at 13:32:52:

Dean wrote on 06/01/09 at 18:28:04:


I disagree that 3...gf6 is equal after 4.c4 dc4 5.e3 c5 6.Bc4 cd4 7.ed4 Bg7 8.Qh5!?. In my opinion with best play Black can eventually equalise after 3...ef6 but White certainly has the easier game.

A problem with 3.Bxf6 is that black can play both
3... exf6 for a very solid and only slightly worse game, and 3... gxf6 for an equal game with winning chances. 

After 3.Nd2 or 3.e3,   3...c5! is the critical move where white may have nothing better than 4. Bxf6 gxf6 anyway. 

@Name Change

I didn't know you could change your username on this forum. It's a useful feature to have, although for now I will keep my current username.

@Resources for the 2...d5 Trompowsky

1. 'Winning with the Trompowsky' by Peter Wells
2. 'The Trompowsky 2nd edition' by Nigel Davies
3. The Chess Informants - there are several instructive games with this variation
4. Hodgson's games, particularly his annotated games. 
5. NIC Yearbook 74 has an excellent survey by Gavrikov on the 3.Bf6 ef6 4.e3 c6 variation which covers all of White's and Black's plans very well.
6. 'The Queen's Bishop Attack Revealed' by James Plaskett.

Out of these sources, no.6 contains the least 'theory' but is very useful in detailing the strategies, no. 3 is the most up-to-date in terms of its coverage of theory, no.5 contains a good balance between theory and plans, no.4 is probably the most instructive from White's perspective, and no.1 and no.2 are the best in terms of their coverage of theory, with no.2 placing a greater focus on the illustrative games than no.1.