Black has different paths to follow, but without the option of h6-g5 (that he had with the bishop developed on g5 on move 6), it is more difficult for him to find activity and interfere with white’s development.Īmong the best players to employ 6.Bf4 we can find Svidler, Eljanov, Moiseenko, and a few more others, but, as mentioned earlier, this road is currently under development! Let’s have a look now at three games that are very relevant to our subject. White aims for solid, quiet play within the limits of the typical Queen’s Gambit structure. Instead of playing 6.Bg5, it is interesting for white to try 6.Bf4!?, which is more restrictive. In this article, we want to present you with a rather new alternative for white that we consider interesting enough to try. With black doing so well in the main lines, it is natural to start looking for alternatives in the previous moves with the idea of reducing the number of choices for black.

Another interesting idea for black is to go 6…h6 7.Bh4 Nbd7, followed by g5 and Ne4 or c5, as played by Anand. For instance, 6…h6 7.Bh4 Bf5!? is quite trendy and has scored well in practice.īlack’s play is rather natural he has solved the problem of the c8 bishop, he will continue with Nbd7 and there are always ideas of playing g5 and Ne4. However, recent results show that play is double-edged, and black has more than just one way to achieve interesting play. The mainline against this defense has always been 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5. Their games have not passed unnoticed and the Ragozin is now one of black’s top choices.

It can be applied to 1.Nf3 or 1.c4 as well, as long as white has developed his knight to f3.īlack’s success in this variation was achieved due to the efforts of top-level players such as Aronian, Giri, Wojtaszek, and Leko to name a few. For example: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 (Black threatens to play the Nimzo Indian with 3…Bb4) 3.Nf3 d5 (Queen’s Gambit ?) 4.Nc3 Bb4! Ragozin Defense. Given its flexibility in the move order, black can employ it in different move orders, depending on white’s starting move. Ragozin Defense has become very popular nowadays against the move 1.d4.

How to play queen's gambit declined