He That Seeketh Findeth

He who seeks shall find ... but not always what he seeks for. When looking for games in the 6...a5 line that I wrote about yesterday, I came across this game. It has little relevance to the theme but still is food for thought:

Dautov - Maier, Garmisch Partenkirchen 1991
1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Be7 5.0–0 0–0 6.c4 a5!?
This may look strange if you don't know that 6...d6 7.Nc3 a5 and 6...d6 7.b4 are two quite critical lines in the Classical Dutch. See yesterday's entry for some more thoughts.
7.Nc3
If there is a way to take advantage of Black's rare 6th move, it most likely is 7.d5.
7...d6
Black presumably is happy to have avoided the 6....d6 7.b4 variation and enters a position more frequently reached by the move-order 6...d6 7.Nc3 a5. Normally I would have gone on to the next game in my database but I noticed that the unrated player held a draw with Black against a strong GM so I had a closer look:
8.Re1 Ra6!? (D)

An amazing move that I would never have considered in a serious game. I have seen ...Ra6 played at a later stage in this kind of positions - after Black has played ...e5 and accepted an isolated e-pawn. But then there has always been a clear way to the kingside.

9.Qc2 Kh8
I am not quite sure whether Black is preparing ...e5 with this move or if he is mainly waiting for White to play e4.
10.e4 fxe4 11.Nxe4 Nxe4 12.Qxe4 e5!?

In his book Play the Classical Dutch, Simon Williams states "If Black can achieve the ...e5 advance he will generally be at least equal". This advise is not at all hard to remember. The tricky part is to decide when Black can do this and when he cannot. It may be a question of calculation but also of evaluation. Here ...e5 certainly is a legal move. But after seeing the game, I am still not quite certain whether Black here can play ...e5 or not.
13.dxe5 dxe5
The Isolated King's Pawn (IKP) occurs far less frequently than its cousin, the Isolated Queen's Pawn (IQP). Normally Black is doing fine with the IKP in the Dutch as he is well placed to attack White's kingside fianchetto. But isn't the pawn just for taking?
14.Nxe5 (D)

One of two critical lines. The other starts 14.Qxe5 and one possible continuation is 14...Re6 15.Qxa5 Nc6 16.Qd5 Rd6 and Black has at least some practical compensation. However, in a practical game one may wonder whether a developing move like 14...Be3 hadn't been better.
14...Bb4 15.Rf1 Re6 16.Be3 Qe7 17.f4 Nd7 18.Bd4 Re8
White is pretty much tied up to the defence of his central knight.
19.Bh3 Nxe5 20.fxe5 Rd6 21.Bxc8 (D)

½–½
Isn't Black clearly better after 21...Rxd4 22.Qxb7 Qxe5?

I am not sure how well Black played in this game. But I think that for the next few months I will be looking a little harder for ...Ra6 ideas in the Dutch.

Delaying the Decisions

Sometimes you have to wonder why certain opening lines are well explored while others are ignored. Usually there is a good reason but it's not always easy to find and sometimes fashion seems the only explanation.

Generally the critical cross-road in the Classical Dutch is considered to arise after these moves: 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.g3 e6 4.Bg2 Be7 (the Modern Dutch Stonewall is characterized by the move 4...d5 followed by ...Bd6; the advantage is a more active employment of his dark-squared bishop and the disadvantage is that Black s reveals his central formation earlier) 5.0–0 0–0 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 (Dia)

In this position Black's main moves are 7...Ne4, 7...Qe8, 7...a5 (all examined in Simon Williams' Play the Dutch played by strong players and in general quite well researched) and 7...c6 (which has been played by Saemisch among others but seems unfashionable). None of these moves are developing moves in a strict sense but they all to some extent prepare queenside development, prepare ...e5 or prevents e4.

What's interesting is that if we retrace two half moves, to this position (Dia):

the picture is entirely different. Black's main options are 6...d5 - Botwinnik's Stonewall which sets up a relatively static centre and 6...d6 - the Classical Dutch (aka. the Ilyin Zhenevsky variation) which keeps the central pawns fluid (but generally prepares ...e5).

However there is also another relatively popular option - Alekhine's idea 6...Ne4!? which delays this decision. This system too is examined in Williams' book. Black's main idea is to meet some of White's developing schemes with ...d5 and others with ...d6. Another benefit is the fact that Black doesn't allow b4 (6...d6 7.b4!? is quite an important little line, scoring considerably better than 7.Nc3).

Another respected 6th move with similar motives is Bellin's 6...c6!? which has slowly increased in popularity for at least 15 years. This line has been played by Short, Larsen, Smyslov and Bronstein among others and is discussed in Giddins' excellent 'How to Build Your Chess Opening Repertoire'.

These by no means are easy lines to play for Black. Not only does he delay development but he also needs a good general understanding of the Dutch. In order to play the position well, you not only must know when to go for a Stonewall set-up with ...d5 and when to go for a fluid centre with ...d6. You also must be able to handle both kinds of position well!

The obvious question is: What about 6...Qe8!? (Dia) and 6...a5!? (Dia).


None of the moves have been tested in modern grandmaster clashes. Actually there are relatively few practical examples altogether - I find only 99 games with 6...Qe8 and 30 games with 6...a5 in MegaBase 2009. Obviously both moves can transpose to standard lines after 7.Nc3 d6 so the two principal questions are now:

1. Can and should White avoid 7.Nc3 d6 which would transpose to the 6...d6 7.Nc3 a5/7...Qe8 lines?
2. After 7.Nc3, can Black give the game an independent twist with an alternative to 7...d6 (or are these moves just move-order tricks avoiding the 6...d6 7.b4 option?)?

I don't have the answers yet but I will keep you informed about my investigations.