BDG 101: Part 3

In the open positions that arise from gambit openings, the struggle becomes exceptionally fierce. A single tempo becomes immensely significant, and each move requires a momentous decision. Constant practice in gambit openings leads to expansion of the creative horizons of the chess-player, teaching him to combine in the game's early stages. -GM Yakov Estrin

The Euwe Variation

After the moves 1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 exf3 5.Nxf3 World Champion Max Euwe recommended the move 5...e6 in order to free Black's king-side bishop and prepare for castling.

Of the many variation of the BDG, I have faced this one the most times and have had a great success rate in winning against it. It doesn't mean that it is a bad opening variation, its just that my opponents seam to fall into the many traps I like to set in this line of play .

6.Bg5 is the most popular continuation in this variation though 6.Bd3 and 6.Bc4 will many times transpose into it. Black's usual response is 6...Be7 though I've also seen 6...Bb4? played on more then one occasion.7.Bd3 followed by a king-side castle leaves Black either trading the bishop for the c3 knight or retreating it back to e7. Either way just costs him another tempi.

6...c5? tends to be premature as White can continue with 7.Bxf6 gxf6 8.d5! e5 9.Bc4 Bd6 10.Nh4 f5 11.Bb5+ Bd7 12.Nxf5 Bxd5 13.Nxb5 Qa5+? 14.b4! Black resigned in Diemer-Steinfurth, Corr. 1-0 

Continuing, after 6...e7, I like to play 7.Qd2 to add protection to my bishop while waiting for Black to go ahead and castle 7...0-0 so I can commit my pieces to a king-side attack as in the following game:

My favorite game was against a 2000 rated player on ICC which went:

Over all the Euwe variation tends to be easy to beat, at least for me. Maybe that's why Euwe himself abandoned the variation for the Bogolubjov 5...g6 variation. 

Read:

Part 1 http://www.chess.com/article/view/bdg-101 

Part 2 http://www.chess.com/article/view/bdg-101-part-2