Opening surveys Marin: Keres Defence A40 1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Bd2 a5 4.Nc3   After 4.Nc3 (instead of 4.Nf3, see Marin’s article in CBM 139) White is hoping to force Black into capturing on c3, whereupon he can recapture with the bishop. Mihail Marin presents various replies for Black. Breutigam: Scandinavian B01 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd6 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 c6 6.Ne5 Nbd7     After Sergei Tiviakov had lost two games with his favourite move 3...Qd6, theoreticians sat up and took notice. Martin Breutigam explains in his analysis that Black has enough possibilities to improve on his play. Karolyi: Pirc Defence B06 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f3 a6 5.a4 oder 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3 a6 5.a4   Against White’s f3 (or Be3 in the variation without ...Nf6) strong players like to choose a setup with ...a6 and ...b5. Tibor Karolyi suggests in his article the radical a2-a4 and in doing so follows a game by the young Russian star Ian Nepomniachtchi. Marin: Caro-Kann B15 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 with exd5   In Mihail Marin’s final article on the hybrid system of Caro-Kann and Pirc Defence the subject is lines in which, after 3.Nc3 g6, White takes on d5 early on. In addition, the author discusses the variation with 3.exd5 cxd5 and a subsequent ...g6. Grivas: Sicilian B33 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nb3 Nf6 6.Nc3 e6 7.Be2 and 7.Bd3 (without 7...d6)   Whilst 7.Be2 is really harmless, Black needs to exert himself a bit more after 7.Bd3 in order to maintain equality. 7...Bb4, as proposed by Efstratios Grivas is interesting, though the author himself prefers to play 7...d6. Kritz: Two Knights Defence C57 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nd4 and 5...b5   The two variations are related, since 5...b5 6.Bf1! Nd4 7.c3 and 5... Nd4 6.c3 b5 7.Bf1 lead to the same position. Leonid Kritz demonstrates convincingly that there is an advantage for White after 7...Nxd5 8.cxd4 and that the line 5...b5 6.Bf1 h6 also fails in this respect. Stohl: Slav Defence D15 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.e3 b5 6.b3 Bg4 7.h3 Bxf3 8.Qxf3   After the main move 8...e5 things become extremely sharp, but as Igor Stohl’s analyses prove, Black can count on having good chances of equality. If you have 4...a6 in your repertoire, you can hardly avoid these variations. Ftacnik: Queen's Gambit D38 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 c5   Although the variation with 6...h6 and 7...c5 has not been played all that often so far, it seems as though White can hardly achieve any advantage. Neither the usual 8.e3 nor the recently tried 8.dxc5 has been successful. Schandorff: Semi-Slav D43 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bxf6 Qxf6 7.e3 Nd7 8.Bd3   In the third part of his series on the Moscow Variation, Lars Schandorff turns to the old lines in which Black does not go in for the modern treatment with ...g6. But White can probably always hope for a slight advantage. Krasenkow: Semi-Slav D46 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 Bd6   A disadvantage of 6...Bd6 is supposed to be that White reacts with a rapid e3-e4 (immediately or after castling). But as Michal Krasenkow’s analyses show, Black can hope for level play in all lines. Kuzmin: Nimzo-Indian E46 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Nge2 d5 6.a3 Be7 7.cxd5   On move 6 Black more often retreats to e7 (6... Bd6 was dealt with in CBM 140). After the capture on d5, he is able to recapture with either the knight of the pawn. In both cases it will be hard for White to achieve any advantage. Postny: Nimzo-Indian E48 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Nge2 Re8   Evgeny Postny’s analyses focus above all on the move 8.Bd2. Then Black usually retreats with his dark-squared bishop, and analysis shows that there is a lot to be said for 8...Bd6, but that 8...Bf8 also has its advantages. Schipkov: King's Indian E89 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f3 0-0 6.Be3 e5 7. Nge2 c6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.d5   The subtle move order treated in this article allows the exclusion of certain variations for Black. Boris Schipkov’s analysis demonstrates an advantage for White from the position in the diagram, and to some extent White even has a choice. Bojkov: King's Indian E94 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5. Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 Na6 7.0-0 e5 8.Be3 Ng4 9.Bg5 Qe8 10.Re1   On his DVD “A modern way to play the King‘s Indian” Dejan Bojkov draws up a program for Black which in many variations is based on the move Nb8-a6. The position after 9...Qe8 represents one of the central lines in the Na6 King’s Indian.