I've probably mentioned the transposition from the Chigorin Defence before (it was also mentioned about a year and a half ago over at 200 Open Games). Recently I managed to get it in one of my own online games, fittingly, in a Chess.com match between "The Gambit Players" and "Philippine C", and it actually started out as an Albin Counter-Gambit: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5, and White replied with the tame 3.e3. After 3...Nc6 4.cxd5 Qxd5 we were into a Chigorin, and after 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Nf3 exd4 7.exd4 we were into a Göring/Danish Gambit Declined.
Capablanca's line with 7...Bg4 8.Be2 (8.Be3!? - Mark Nieuweboer) 8...Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Qc4 gets pretty sterile if White knows what he/she is doing, so I was tempted to duck out with the sensible 8...Nf6, but as I was playing a slightly higher-rated player with Black I thought I would test my opponent out in the Capablanca Variation. It worked, for after 7...Bg4 8.Be2 Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Qc4 10.Bd2?! 0-0-0 11.Qe2?! Qxe2+ 12.Bxe2 Nxd4 I was already a pawn up and managed to win with the extra pawn after a long struggle.
In the meantime I finally had an outing in the line that I had corresponded with Gary Lane about over at Opening Lanes (Chesscafe.com): 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.c3 d5 5.Bd3!? dxe4 6.Bxe4 Nf6 7.Bxc6+ bxc6 8.0-0 (which both of us suggested independently of each other). I got some pressure in the IQP middlegame that ensued but did not make the most of it and ended up with a draw, but my opponent came close to losing on time.
Also I'm currently working on what will probably end up as a book-sized pdf article on the "open gambits" with an early d2-d4 (including the Italian and Max Lange gambits as well as the Danish, Göring, Scotch and Urusov) so that all the various transpositions will be handled in the one pdf file, and there will be links to replayable annotated examples in the text. It's an ambitious project so it may well take me several months, but it would be satisfying to pull it off.
"a book-sized pdf article on the "open gambits" with an early d2-d4"
ReplyDeleteGood to read you've taken over my project - I would never have finished it.
If Black doesn't like transposing to the Danish/Göring Gambit Declined there is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.e3 exd4 4.exd4 and now not ...Nc6. This is the French Exchange with 4.c4.
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