The Belgian who Created a System

Edgar Colle was born in Gent, Belgium, in 1897, best known for the eponymous Colle System: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.c3. The formation c3-d4-e3 is the famous Colle triangle, a species of reversed Semi-Slav Defense. This placid-looking opening he turned into a dangerous attacking system! The sequence continues with Nbd2, O-O, and Re1 followed by e4. Although White takes two moves to do e4, it should lead either to an open game after ...dxe4 or, if Black avoids the exchange, the strong advance e5.
A key point is when Black hits the d-pawn with ...c5; White should reply c3 to shore up the centre. Black should keep up the pressure on d4, holding up White's e4 break and threatening to isolate the d-pawn.
Colle won the Belgium championship in 1922, 1924, 1926 and 1929. His international debut was in Scheveningen 1923 before Euwe and in 1924, he came third in the unofficial Paris Olympiad.
But 1926 was without doubt his best year. He won in Amsterdam (before Tartakower and Euwe) and in Merano (before Spielmann, Tartakower, Yates). Apart from these successes, he also managed to finish second in Weston Super Marne. After that, he participated in many international tournaments. This resulted in a victory in Scarborough 1927, Hastings 1928/29, and Scarborough 1930.
Colle was another chess player with enormous talent whose ill health impeded him from getting to the Olympus of chess. He survived three difficult operations for a gastric ulcer, only to die as a result of the fourth at the age of 34, in 1932.
Let us enjoy the next positions from this ill-fated chessplayer, who injected new life into the theory of chess openings.