Opposite pawn storms | Turov - Matlakov | Ragozin defense

Описание: In this game Maxim Matlakov played opening which gained lot of popularity these days: Ragozin defense. It is kind of a mix between Queen;s gambit Declined and Nimzo-Indian defense. White played standard pawn minority attack and black didn't hesitate to counter attack White's king.

2019 King Salman World Rapid & Blitz Championships
Moscow, 2019

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Turov, Maxim - Matlakov, Maxim
World Blitz Championship 2019 round 01
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Bb4 5. Qa4+ Nc6 6. cxd5 exd5 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. e3 O-O 10. Be2 Be6 11. O-O a6 12. Rfc1 Bd6 13. a3 Ne7 14. b4 g5 15. Qd1 Ng6 16. Qe1 Rfe8 17. Nd2 c6 18. Nf1 g4 19. Na4 Rad8 20. Nc5 Bc8 21. a4 h5 22. b5 axb5 23. axb5 h4 24. bxc6 bxc6 25. Ra8 Qg5 26. Qd1 g3 27. hxg3 hxg3 28. fxg3 Bxg3 29. Nxg3 Qxg3 30. Bf3 Rxe3 31. Qf1 Nh4 32. Bh5 Re7 33. Qf2 Qg5 0-1

The Ragozin Defense has become very popular nowadays against the move 1.d4. Given its flexibility in the move order, black can employ it in different move orders, depending on white’s starting move. For example: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 (Black threatens to play the Nimzo Indian with 3…Bb4) 3.Nf3 d5 (Queen’s Gambit ?) 4.Nc3 Bb4! Ragozin Defense. It can be applied to 1.Nf3 or 1.c4 as well, as long as white has developed his knight to f3.

Black’s success in this variation was achieved due to the efforts of top level players such as Aronian, Giri, Wojtaszek, Leko to name a few. Their games have not passed unnoticed and the Ragozin is now one of black’s top choices. The main line against this defense has always been 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5. However, recent results show that play is double edged and black has more than just one way to achieve interesting play. For instance, 6…h6 7.Bh4 Bf5!? is quite trendy and has scored well in practice.
Black’s play is rather natural; he has solved the problem of the c8 bishop, he will continue with Nbd7 and there are always ideas of playing g5 and Ne4. Another interesting idea for black is to go 6…h6 7.Bh4 Nbd7, followed by g5 and Ne4 or c5, as played by Anand. With black doing so well in the main lines, it is natural to start looking for alternatives in the previous moves with the idea of reducing the number of choices for black. In this article we want to present you a rather new alternative for white that we consider interesting enough to try. Instead of playing 6.Bg5, it is interesting for white to try 6.Bf4!?, which is more restrictive.


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