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QID petrosian system 4.a3

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Avatar of darkunorthodox88
NM darkunorthodox88
May 11, 2018
0
#1

Hi, im interested to hear what you guys play against the annoying 4.a3 in the QID

im just not very fond of black's choices here.
g6 leaves white with a big center and its unclear where the king knight goes in this improvised hippo.
ne4 nxn bxn nd2 bb7 e4 once again leaves white a big center and not even a bishop pair for it.
the most common move 5...d5 after 6.cxd5 nxd5 (exd5 just looks too passive for me) qc2 and white will get his big center, engines give this as roughly equal and black can try to wing attack the center but white is always in control and the database gives white almost twice as many winning chances.
so how do you black players deal with this annoying line?
Avatar of darkunorthodox88
NM darkunorthodox88
May 12, 2018
0
#2

the order i get this position from doesnt allow me to play ba6

here black has played f5 in the past but the lines where white plays an early d5 leave black a bit ackward.
Avatar of darkunorthodox88
NM darkunorthodox88
May 12, 2018
0
#3
catdogorb wrote:

Sometimes I'll screw around with QID and Nimzos in blitz.

This is a pretty comfortable position (below) in fact I prefer black.

 

You call it a big center, I call it a big target.

Anyway, if you don't like it, then pick something else. 4...Ba6 is a major alternative. You can also go for what seems to me to be a QGD with 4...Be7 and d5 to follow.

If it's important for your repertoire to be able to play 4...Bb7 positions, then use chessgames.com, get 50 or 100 games, and go over them / play guess the move with them. Take notes. By the end of that process you'll be comfortable with the positions.

i have gone over these positions with the engine but i dont buy it. black plays c5 white plays c3, some swap happens, and now black has no good pawn thrust. some exchanges happen in the c file and i dont see good counterplay for black. its a bit of a simplification, but i just dont see any big winning chances. the statistics give white like an 80% chance to not lose in these passive lines

whats interesting is that the position arising from 1.e4 b6   with the early bd3 lines i find enough counterplay either through ba6 or the queenside pawn storm but in these QID lines the lack trade of the d pawn for the b pawn i feel softens black's counterplay.

Avatar of pfren
IM pfren
May 12, 2018
0
#4

4...Ba6 is the most popular, and reliable antidote.

Avatar of darkunorthodox88
NM darkunorthodox88
May 12, 2018
0
#5
intending bxf3 agaisnt qc2, and bg2 bg7 0-0 ne4 vs the fianchetto. meeting qd3!? instead of qc2 is a bit awkward though
Avatar of SmyslovFan
SmyslovFan
May 30, 2018
0
#6

I've won some very nice cc games using this as White. My bible is Mikhail Gurevich's book on the QID Petrosian system. He wrote the section of ECO that covers this opening. Objectively, it shouldn't lead to an advantage for White, but it leads to complex positions where the player who is better versed in the subtleties of the opening will have a large competitive edge. 

 

Here's a link to that great little book by Gurevich:

https://www.amazon.com/Queens-Indian-Defence-Kasparov-Batsford/dp/0805023151/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527711181&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=gurevich+petrosian+Queen%27s+Indian