Courtesy of friend Mark Ruston, Londoner and IM slayer, I have been alerted to a miniture played by GM Dubov, one of my favourite players. As I am sure you know, GM Dubov’s main coach was GM Morozevich, another favourite of mine, and he is known for his sacrificial chess. My favourite all time move in chess was played by him and can be found here. In the game below, the move 9. a4 is played.
Firstly, I am not a 1. d4 player so I don’t know how to play against the Queen’s Gambit Accepted. Secondly, I am not strong enough to play a move like that. Black can choose to push on b4 or gobble up pawns in the centre and capture on a6 with his bishop if necessary, can’t he? I am not strong enough to see that the rook can be deployed to d4, at which point it looks to me like black is suddenly in a world of trouble and required to play very precisely, especially if he castles kingside. With the rook on h4 black looks soon lost to me without accurate play, which in a rapid game is, of course, impossible.
The computer analysis shows black isn’t doing too badly until 17. Nd5, as is shown above, but who would want to be on the wrong side of that sort of attack anyway? One false step and its curtains, as proved to be the case.
You may find the minture here https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2439171
M J M
