64 square madness that some of us call chess...: B06 Modern Defence (1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3 Nd7 5.Bc4 c6)

B06 Modern Defence (1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3 Nd7 5.Bc4 c6)

To the most often played move 1.e4, at least when looking at my reference database, my opponent chose to reply with 1...g6 (91817 games), which is the 7th most often tried move. More commonly are seen the moves 1...c5 (1281179 games), 1...e5 (763333 games), 1...e6 (418509 games), 1...c6 (228415 games), 1...d6 (143373 games) and 1...d5 (123256 games). The move 1...g6 was played by Magnus Carlsen against Arkadij Naiditsch on the third round of the 3rd Grenke Chess Classic on February 4th, 2015, for instance. That game ended in favor of Arkadij Naiditsch. It has also been played by very strong players like Levon Aronian, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik. To 1...g6 I have mostly replied with 2.d4, like I did in this game. It is also the most popular choice in the games found in my database, it was played in 89112 games. Best players that have played the move are Carlsen, Kasparov, Wesley So and Maxime Vachier Lagrave.

The next move 2...Bg7 (91836 games) was also the most played response and it has a score of 52.4%. My third move, Nf3 (20395 games), is the second most commonly played move and it has a score of 49.5%. 3.Nf3 has been played by Magnus Carlsen with great success in 2016, 4 games and 4 wins! Not that the wins were due to that move. The most often played move, 3.Nc3 (50345 games), has a score of 54.5%. The 3rd move by my opponent was d6 (20651 games, score 49.3%), which again was the most played move. The next move 4.Nc3 (7271 games, score 49.8%) was also the most often played move in my database. Then, on move 4, my opponent played Nd7, which was the 4th most popular move, played in 987 games (score 55.8%). More commonly seen moves were 4...Nf6 (6959 games), 4...a6 (2664 games) and 4...c6 (1676 games). Even with my 5th move, Bc4 (387 games, score 58.3%), we were able to follow the moves that had been played by much stronger players, such as Vladimir Akopian and Lazaro Bruzon Batista. The reply 5...c6 (28 games), followed a path that no Grand Master has played, at least according to my database. The first move that had not been seen before was 8.a3. The position after 7...a5 had occurred in 3 games before and in all of them White had played 8.a4.

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Move	N	Result	Elo

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1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.Nc3 Nd7 5.Bc4 c6 B06 Modern Defence 6.0-0 b5 6...e6 7.Bf4 Qc7 8.d5 e5 9.dxc6 bxc6 10.Be3 Ngf6 11.Qd2 Nb6 12.Bxb6 axb6 13.Rfd1 Ke7 14.a4 Ng4 15.Qe3 h5 16.h3 Bh6 17.Qd3 Be6 18.Bxe6 fxe6 0-1 (18) Trinh,T (2045)-Laptos,K (2231) Montreal 2003 6...Ngf6 7.Ng5 0-0 8.d5 cxd5 9.Bxd5 Nxd5 10.exd5 Nf6 11.Re1 Re8 12.Qf3 Bf5 13.Nge4 h6 14.Nxf6+ exf6 15.Ne4 Re7 16.Bf4 Bxe4 17.Rxe4 Rxe4 18.Qxe4 a5 19.b4 f5 20.Qe1 Bxa1 21.Qxa1 Nyilas,B (1001)-Cazan,A (1199) Baile Felix 2017 0-1 7.Bb3 a5 8.a3N Black has a cramped position 8.a4 b4 9.Ne2 Nb6 9...Ba6 10.Re1 e6 11.c3 c5 12.cxb4 cxb4 13.Bf4 e5 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.Qd5 Ke7 16.Qxf7+ Kd6 17.Rad1+ Kc7 18.Nxe5 Ngf6 19.Nxd7+ Kc8 20.Rc1+ Kb7 21.Nxf6+ 1-0 (21) Fell,S-McDougall,E Sydney 2002 9...e6 10.Bg5 Qc7 11.d5 cxd5 12.exd5 e5 13.Re1 h6 14.Bh4 g5 15.Bg3 Ne7 16.c3 f5 17.h3 f4 18.Bh2 Nc5 19.cxb4 axb4 20.Bc4 0-0 21.Rc1 Rxa4 22.Nxf4 gxf4 23.Nxe5 Bxe5 24.Rxe5 Pletinckx, E-Peran,P Cappelle la Grande 1989 0-1 10.Be3 Nf6 11.e5 Nfd5 12.Qd2 Nxe3 13.fxe3 d5 14.c3 bxc3 15.Qxc3 0-0 16.Qxc6 Ba6 17.Qc2 Bh6 18.Qd2 Bc4 19.Bxc4 Nxc4 20.Qd3 Nxb2 21.Qc3 Nc4 22.Nf4 g5 Zeleny,T (1785)-Hoff,T (2050) Plzen 2000 1-0 (42) 8.Ng5 e6 9.Bxe6 Nh6± 8...Bb7? 8...Nb6!? is worth looking at 9.Ng5± e6 10.Qf3 White has a mate threat 10.Bxe6!? fxe6 11.Nxe6 Qe7 12.Nc7+ Kf7 13.Nxa8 Bxa8+- 10...Qe7 11.d5 White threatens to win material: d5xe6 11.e5 dxe5 12.Nxb5 Ndf6 11...Ne5 Black threatens to win material: Ne5xf3 11...Nc5 12.dxe6 fxe6 13.Qg3= 12.Qg3 12.Qe2 h6 13.Nf3 Nxf3+ 14.Qxf3 12...Nc4?? 12...exd5 13.exd5 Nh6 13.dxe6+- fxe6 14.Rd1 Rd8 14...Be5 15.f4 Bxc3 16.bxc3 0-0-0+- 15.Be3?? throws away a nice position 15.a4 might be the shorter path Bxc3 16.Qxc3 Nf6 17.axb5 cxb5 18.Bxc4 bxc4 19.Qxc4 Rd7+- 15...h6?? hands over the advantage to the opponent 15...Nxe3 and Black can hope to live 16.Qxe3 Bc8= 16.Nf3?? White is ruining his position 16.Bxc4!? hxg5 17.Bxg5+- 16...Nxe3± 17.fxe3 17.Qxg6+?! Qf7 18.Qxf7+ Kxf7 19.fxe3 Bxc3 20.bxc3 a4 17...g5 18.Rd2?? there were better ways to keep up the pressure 18.e5 d5 19.Rf1 18...Nf6?? allows the opponent back into the game 18...Bxc3!? 19.bxc3 Nf6 19.Rad1 19.Nd4 d5 20.exd5 cxd5 21.Ndxb5= 21.Ncxb5? Ne4 22.Qe1 Nxd2 23.Qxd2 0-0-+ 19...d5= 20.exd5 exd5 20...Nxd5? 21.e4 0-0 22.exd5 exd5 23.Re1 Qc5+ 24.Kh1+- 21.e4 Nh5 21...0-0 22.exd5 cxd5 23.Re1= ≤23.Nxd5 Bxd5 24.Bxd5+ Rxd5 ≤24...Nxd5 25.Rxd5 Rxd5 26.Rxd5 25.Rxd5 Qe3+ 26.Qf2 Nxd5 27.Rxd5 Qe4 22.Qg4 White threatens to win material: Qg4xh5 22.Qe1 Bxc3 23.bxc3 22...Nf4?? gives the opponent counterplay 22...Nf6 this is the best bet to save the position 23.Qf5 0-0 24.exd5 cxd5= 23.exd5+- Kf8?? shortens the misery for Black 23...Bc8 24.Qg3 a4+- 24.dxc6 Rxd2 25.Rxd2 25.Nxd2?! Bd4+ 26.Kf1 Bxc6+- 25...Bxc6 26.Qf5+ 26.Qc8+ secures victory Be8 27.g3+- 26...Bf6 27.Qc8+ White forks: c6 27.Kf1 a4 28.Nd5 Nxd5 29.Bxd5 27...Kg7?? 27...Qe8 the rescuing straw 28.Qxe8+ Kxe8 28.Qxc6+- Rd8 29.Rxd8 Qxd8 30.Qb7+ Qe7 31.Qxe7+ Bxe7 32.Kf1 32.Nxb5 and White can already relax Bc5+ 33.Kf1+- 32...Ne6 32...b4 the only chance to get some counterplay 33.axb4 axb4+- 33.Bxe6 Bf6 33...b4 hardly improves anything 34.axb4 Bxb4 35.Ne4+- 34.Ne4 34.Ne4 Bxb2 35.Bd7+- 1–0

White	EloW	Black	EloB	Res

Vierjoki,T

1799

Kojjootti

1713

1–0

Two of the highest rated games that reached the position after 5...c6 can be seen below, according to my reference database.