Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Queen's Gambit Declined

by Robert Ris
4/20/2026 – In this episode, we'll have a look at one of his three spectacular victories which was played in the second game of match. Erdogmus didn't show any fear by entering the sharp Anti-Moscow Variation of the Slav. The Bulgarian superstar is an absolute top specialist in this field and contributed massively to the development of this line 20 years ago. It seemed like White got the upper hand out of the opening, but one mistake enabled Black to come back into the game. After the exchange of queens a razorsharp position ensued in which both sides tried to promote a passed pawn. By chosing the wrong square for his king, the Bulgarian committed the decisive blunder and soon lost. An absolutely incredible fight!
This video course offers you a complete, clear repertoire for Black against the moves 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.

Man of the moment is Javokhir Sindarov, who impressively dominated the FIDE Candidates and earned the right to challenge World Champion Gukesh in a match later in the year. However, equally impressive is the performance of the only 14-years old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus. In a 6-game match against former World Champion Veselin Topalov he is currently leading 4-1. With this performance he crosses for the first time the 2700-barrier. 

In this episode, we'll have a look at one of his three spectacular victories which was played in the second game of match. Erdogmus didn't show any fear by entering the sharp Anti-Moscow Variation of the Slav. The Bulgarian superstar is an absolute top specialist in this field and contributed massively to the development of this line 20 years ago. It seemed like White got the upper hand out of the opening, but one mistake enabled Black to come back into the game. After the exchange of queens a razorsharp position ensued in which both sides tried to promote a passed pawn. By chosing the wrong square for his king, the Bulgarian committed the decisive blunder and soon lost. An absolutely incredible fight!

In this DVD, Erwin l'Ami guides you through the fascinating Benko Gambit. As early as move three Black starts a fight for the initiative, a strategy that has proved to be successful in countless amateur and master level games.

Exercise: does it matter where the black king goes?

Feel free to move the pieces on the live diagram!

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Topics: Fast and Furious
Robert is an International Master who mostly spends his time training and coaching talented youngsters. On the PlayChess server The Fast and the Furious is a popular show where he explains sharp opening lines for a wider audience. He is also a well-known ChessBase author who produced numerous DVDs and regularly contributes to ChessBase Magazine as well. Since 2015 he is the organizer of the Dutch Rapid Championships in his home town Amstelveen. He has started a YouTube channel with chess analysis as well.
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See also

Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Queen's Gambit Declined

4/13/2026 – Sindarov's play at the Candidates Tournament is absolutely impressive and we have a look at his 10th round game against Praggnanandhaa. Did he take a lot of risks opting for a theoretical piece sacrifice in a sharp line of the Queen's Gambit Declined? Or was it actually a very clever practical decision, offering risk-free attacking chances against the opponent's king? In this episode I'll give you my take on his approach and discuss the current theoretical state of this opening variation.

See also

Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Petroff with 4.Nc4

4/7/2026 – An exciting piece of home preparation was seen in the game Caruana-Bluebaum. Fabi introduced a new concept in the Petroff with 4.Nc4, followed by placing the knight on e3 and pushing the pawn to f5. Bluebaum was clearly caught by surprise and failed to come up with an adequate answer. In a position with opposite-castled kings White's attack was really fast and it was checkmate on move 28!

Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.

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