MarinFan,

Thanks, the Yusupov-Nogueiras game is indeed one of the games that every QGD exchange player should know.  I am familiar with it, but I think there was another game played about the same time (or perhaps just a bit later) that was almost its twin. 

You may be right though, even the other game may have seen White play Nf3 instead of Nge2.  Oh well. 

BTW:

Kasparov annotates the Botvinnik-Keres (1952) game in his My Great Predecessors series.  I found it in volume 2, p. 141 (2003 English edition).

Kasparov says "11...Bd6?  A serious positional mistake (Black was tempted by the threat of 12...Bxh2+).  11...Ng4 was correct, and 11...Bg4 also deserved some consideration."

This position is without Black having played ...h6.  Instead, Black had played Nbd7-f8.

IMJohnCox wrote on 07/15/07 at 01:29:28:


Didn't Botvinnik famously defeat Keres after this ...Bd6?  That may account for theory's being so confident on this point.

Funny enough I've had this 7...Bd6 played against me twice, once by GM Kiriakov and once last Monday. On neither occasion have I fancied what I said in the book, which was the product of a lot of angst at the time. I haven't revisited 11...Bxh2+ but I was definitely aware of it at the time (one idea of Kh1 is to defang this idea) and I had a computer by my side, so I suspect I concluded that White could survive.

I'm never as confident as textbooks about this ...Bd6 being bad. I do quite like MNb's 11 h3 and 12 000, which somehow seems logical to me. Promoting g4 looks natural with ...h6 in, and so does having a N on e2 so that ...g5, Bg3 Bxg3; fxg3 Rxe3 never works.

If you're interested in this line, check out the Henrichs CD.  He has a survey on 7..Bd6, about which he says, "in theory this variation enjoys a dubious reputation, probably deservedly."

LeeRoth

Since this is a thread about Black deviations from the main lines, I would like to mention one that I've seen a view times based on an early ...Bd6.  Often this line is omitted in most books covering the QGD exchange, so I was pleased to see this mentioned in John Cox's Starting Out: 1d4! since it has some bite in amateur play.  Here's the brief line he gives with quotations from Cox:

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Bd6 "is very frequent below grandmaster levels:  White can continue more or less as in our main set-up although he needs to take a little care of Black's extra play down the e-file." 7.Bd3 0-0 8.Nge2 Nbd7 9.Qc2 h6 10.Bh4 Re8 11.0-0 Nf8 12.Kh1 "with much the same sort of game, although at some point Black is going to find that the threat of e5 gains a shade of tempo for White."  (Cox)

When I looked at this line, the position after 11.0-0 began to raise a red flag in my mind when I saw the possibility 11...Bxh2+.  I looked at this briefly, but I didn't find a satisfying defense for White.  I don't use a computer engine for analysis, so maybe I am missing something.  Is there something here for White?

As an alternative to 11.0-0, I looked into the flexible 11.h3 which seems promising for White.  In fact, when I checked one of my BookUp databases, I had looked at this position before and entered the model game Volkov-Kozlov given below:

[Event "RUS-Cup5"]
[Site "Ekaterinburg"]
[Date "1997.02.13"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Volkov,Sergey"]
[Black "Kozlov,Oleg"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "D36"]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Nbd7 7.Qc2 Bd6 8.Bd3 h6
9.Bh4 0-0 10.Nge2 Re8 11.h3 Qa5 12.Bg3 Bxg3 13.Nxg3 c5 14.0-0 c4 15.Bf5 b5 16.e4 b4
17.Nxd5 Nxd5 18.exd5 Nb6 19.Bxc8 Raxc8 20.d6 g6 21.Ne4 Nd7 22.Rfe1 Kg7 23.a3 bxa3 24.Re3 a2
25.Qc3 Qd5 26.Nc5 Rxe3 27.fxe3 Qxd6 28.Rxa2 Qc7 29.Ra5 Kg8 30.Qa3 Ra8 31.Ne4 Nb6 32.Re5 Kg7
33.Re7 Qd8 34.Nd6  1-0

I think this is good for White, but I am curious if 11.0-0 Bxh2+ works for White.

By the way, Kozlov has several games with the above setup as Black, so you might want to look at some of his other games if you want to study this line.  Volkov's line seems to be one of the most convincing tries for White.

On a side note, I just started reading Cox's book and so far I really like it.  This is a great overview, especially given the space limitations.  His choices are honest and he has a knack for finding the big points most relevant to practical play.

PS: I found the print source for the Botvinnik-Larsen game:  it is at the end of note 47 to D36 in the old ECO.  The game is not at the end of any of the key lines given, it is just part of a side note.

I've mentioned it before, but Burgess and Pedersen's The Queen's Gambit for the Attacking Player has some excellent information.

Another great source for any QGD player is Baburin's highly acclaimed but seemingly little-read Winning Pawn Structures which focuses almost entirely on the IQP (Isolated Queen Pawn).