Christmas Tree Preview

00G - updated 6 July 2019

Tonight, I am relaxing at a wine bar, listening to good jazz, with my laptop in hand ... a dangerous thing ... I thought I would share an extra post on a recent game of mine which is a nice advertisement for my planned destination with the Bird Opening. The Gruenfeld formation is commonly considered the strongest response against the Bird Opening, I cannot dispute that point, but I will propose a new main line for White: the Christmas Tree!?? I am not aware of anyone championing this line as White. The basic Christmas Tree formation is shown in the above diagram. The following game shows the Christmas Tree formation can have bite:

I should mention I first heard of the Christmas Tree in reversed form (Dutch) from Simon Williams. Some base lines for the Christmas Tree Dutch were offered in "Dutch Defense: Dangerous Weapons" book. However, with White having an extra move with the Bird Opening, the lines do not play the same. Regardless, Chessbase's Online Database, has 8 Qe2 as the most popular move in the Christmas Tree formation, with various players using it. I am starting to accumulate games for future analysis/posts, but the above game was encouraging validation for the direction I am heading!

Good Chess! Keith