"Inviting the bishop trade" - free sample from ChessBase Magazine #232

Christian Braun counters the modern 4...Bd6 with 5.Bd3!?

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"Our starting position arises after 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Nf3 Bd6 (the modern continuation, Black immediately challenges the London bishop f4) 5.Bd3!?.

5.Bd3!? occurred in 845 games, scoring 56.9% and thus higher than 5.Bg3 (7.485 games/54%) and 5.Ne5 (3.171 games/58.7%). The advantage compared to those main moves is that we remain really flexible and can react on Black's different setups very well."

In his article, Christian Braun discusses the following continuations: A) 5...c5 6.dxc5 Bxf4 7.exf4, B) 5...Bxf4 6.exf4 Qd6 7.Qd2 b6 (and other 7th moves), C) 5...0-0 6.0-0 Bxf4 7.exf4 Qd6 (and other 7th moves), D) 5...0-0 6.0-0 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Nbd2 Nc6 (and other rare 8th moves), E) 5...0-0 6.0-0 Bxf4 7.exf4 - sidelines, F) 5.Bd3 - sidelines and G) 5...0-0 6.0-0 b6 7.Qe2.

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"I like the flexible 5.Bd3!? very much. White still can decide where to put the Nb1, and Black does not get the control over the e4-square (as after 5.Ne5 for example). Very often, White gets the better development and simply has 'the stronger pieces' than Black."

The complete training programme from ChessBase Magazine 232 at a glance:

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