An Opening Repertoire for White - Raymond Keene

Raymond Keene offers a repertoire for the 1. d4 White player. The opening systems chosen are a mixture of solid systems and some lesser seen systems that side-step deeply-analysed variations, but all result in active play for the repertoire player. For example, in the Nimzo-Indian Keene recommends the mainline e3 Nimzo lines, with the option of transposing into Sämisch lines when it’s advantageous. But against the King’s Indian Defence he recommends playing the Nge2 system that looks and feels like the Sämisch system but avoids the volume of opening theory needed to play the Sämisch effectively.

Each system in “An Opening Repertoire for White” is explained through the use of complete annotated games that serve as model games demonstrating the key themes of each system or variation. For major opening systems, there is a model game or two to demonstrate each key variation or key strategic theme.

Queen’s Gambit systems (1. d4 d5 2. c4)

Part 1 of the book covers Blacks responses stemming from 1… d5:

Against the Chigorin Defence (1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6) Keene offers both the direct 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. Nf3, and, by transposition, the more solid 3. Nf3.

The Albin Counter-gambit (1… d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4) is met with 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. g3 where the fianchettoed bishop is a useful asset should Black castle queenside, or sustained pressure on Black’s queenside.

The Queen’s Gambit Accepted (2… dxc4) Keene adopts the antiquated 3. Nc3 which side-steps some of Black’s modern treatments of the opening. Black’s strongest option is to counter with 3… e5 leading to an isolated queen’s pawn position where Black has no obvious pawn breaks, while White has free development.

Versus the Tarrasch Defence (3… c5), Keene advises avoiding Black’s modern treatment of the Schlechter-Rubinstein’s 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3, and instead recommends Marshall’s forgotten treatment of swapping off the dark-squared bishops with 6. Bg5. Keene also devotes half a page to counter the dangerous von Hennig-Schara Gambit. There’s also a supplementary section on playing the typical Isolated Queen’s Pawn ending with opposite coloured bishops (using Petrosian - Benko, Curaçao Candidates Tournament 1962, and Szabo - Penrose, European Team Championship 1973 as analysis examples).

The Queen’s Gambit Declined is met with the Exchange variation with Nge2, leaving the choice between queenside castling and kingside pawn attack, a minority attack on the queenside, or pushing through the centre to the player. There’s also the Bf4 Exchange system, should Black adopt a move-order that prevents Bg5.

The Slav Queen’s Gambit (2. c6) is countered with the unassuming Exchange variation, maintaining a tiny plus. White manages to adopt some ideas from the Bf4 QGD Exchange system, of preparing the kingside thrust g4, in a “super-Pillsbury Attack”.

The Indian Defences (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4)

Part 2 of the book shows how to deal with Black’s approach of 1… Nf6 followed by one of the Indian defences (e6, d6, g6).

Against the Old Indian (2… d6 followed later by … e5), a precursor to the King’s Indian where Black’s dark-squared bishop is developed to the more passive e7 square, White plans to castle queenside and attack Black’s king on the opposite side of the board. The model game is Spassky - Kavalek from the 1979 Montreal “Tournament of Stars”.

Keene recognises that the Sämisch variation of the King’s Indian as being White’s chief blockading system, but too heavily documented which makes it hard to learn. He proposes the repertoire player adopt 5. Nge2 which gives the opening a Sämisch feel, but sidestepping the mountain of Sämisch King’s Indian memorisation.

Against the Grunfeld Defence Keene advocates the Exchange variation (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 d5 3. cxd5 Nxd5), but with Romanishin’s 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Qb3 instead of the main-line, which, leaves Black the choice between a traditional Exchange Grunfeld but not having an extended White centre as a target or a Smyslov-like retreat of the knight to b6.

The chapter covering the Nimzo-Indian towers in comparison, likely based on Keene’s respect for the system and Nimzowitsch. The repertoire is based around the e3 Nimzo-Indian, enabling White’s central pawns en masse, also with the option of reverting into a sharper Sämisch variation. The chapter covers three main White win-scenarios demonstrated through 8 annotated games: White’s massive central pawn-roller (Botvinnik - Capablanca, and Kasparov - Ivanovic), the f-pawn mating attack thrust exemplified in Bronstein against Najdorf from the 1953 Zürich Candidates Tournament, and Black castling queenside with Geller - Lisitsin

Gambits and … c5 Defences

Against the Budapest Gambit, Keene recommends a less ambitious approach of giving back the e5-pawn in exchange for control of the d5 square and a dark-squared bishop on b2, based on easy-to-remember natural development for White.

Keene advises against accepting the Benko Gambit (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5) since Black enjoys unhindered and harmonious development, plus two open files to hammer away at White’s queenside pawns, so advocates politely declining the gambit with 4. Nf3 and aiming for a central pawn breakthrough.

Against the 1970s-fashionable Czech Benoni (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e5), Keene recommends an approach similar to against the Old Indian, castling queenside and breaking through for a mating attack on Black’s kingside. As in the Old Indian Chapter, the model game involves Spassky with the White pieces.

The Modern Benoni (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6) receives a cutting-edge response in the form of the Taimanov system with 7. f4 and 8. Bb5+ based on the model game Kasparov - Nunn from the 1982 Lucerne Olympiad. (This game also features in Borik’s “Kasparov’s Chess Openings” repertoire book)

Best 1. d4 players

Part V of the book is Keene’s 1. d4 Oscars, a top 10 list of 1. d4 players. Each player is represented by a game that demonstrates their prowess of the repertoire move 1. d4. Some player’s games are those referenced in the respective chapters of the opening repertoire, but others not. The list of players is respectable, but the selection of games is odd, for example, Korchnoi is represented by a Torre Attack game, Alekhine plays the White side of 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nf6?! – the Marshall Defence.

This is a companion volume to Levy & Keene’s An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Player, which focuses on 1. e4.

In 2003 this book was rehashed and republished by Harding Simpole as Two Opening Repertoires for White - Volume 2. The order of chapters has changed, and the 1. d4 Oscars part chopped out.

Title

An Opening Repertoire for White

ISBN

0713442387

Author(s)

Keene, Raymond

Publisher

B.T. Batsford Ltd

Year

1984