Queen's Gambit Declined: A Grandmaster Explains

MoveTrainer™ Opening course by GM Alex Colovic

Buy for $16.99

This Queen's Gambit Declined repertoire is a book for serious students who want to have a solid and life-long repertoire based on GM foundations.

GM Alex Colovic has used his personal analyses and preparation to create it and he has played the variations in this book with great success.

The opening of the World Championship matches (as described by Kasparov) can now be yours and you can start using it right away!

The real quality of this repertoire lies in the fact that I actually used my own preparation and analysis to create it.

It is a no-holds-barred revelation of my preparation, something I have never done before, and especially not with an opening I still actively use.

My only hope now is that the people who take upon this repertoire will not be the people I will get to meet across the board!

In late 2017 this book has undergone a full revamp. It was initially known as "A Grandmaster Guide to the Queen's Gambit Declined", and it was aimed mostly at advanced players.

But having so many ambitious casual players and beginners on Chessable, players of all levels jumped at the chance to get some Grandmaster prep!

This gave rise to many conversations around ideas and plans that are second-nature to a GM but a mystery to most of the rest of us.

Grandmaster Colovic has taken everything on board, and this has resulted in an update of an extra 13,000 words of instruction, explaining every moment as a Club level player or post-beginner would want it.

Certain positions have clarifications which are direct answers to comments left by students, such as Chessable co-founder David Kramaley (FIDE 1830). Enjoy!

251

Course stats

For: black pieces

Total students: 409

Recommended for: Casual players Intermediate players Advanced players

Paid video: 5 hours and 36 minutes

Free video: 1 hour and 46 minutes

Trainable variations: 220

Alternative variations: 66

Informational variations: 10

Avg. line depth: 14.86

Instruction: 16,568 words

Released on: Nov 23, 2016

Support level: Medium

Section: 🎓 Titled player

Queen's Gambit Declined: A Grandmaster Explains has

4.6 out of 5 stars, based on 37 user ratings.

Variation Details

73 x QGD 3... Be7 Exchange Variation (15.23 avg depth)

55 x QGD Main Lines 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 (14.16 avg depth)

43 x QGD Main Lines 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 (15.30 avg depth)

84 x QGD Main Lines 5. Bf4 (14.93 avg depth)

41 x QGD Main Lines 5. Various (14.54 avg depth)

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Comments

Last 10 Position Comments

nsilver7 271,420 Thanks GM Alex, huge help! 3 weeks ago

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GMAlexColovic 5,840 Patience! :)
Black's plan is to play Bb7, Nb8-c6 and possibly to a5 and c4. What is important that the "passive" Bb7 is well-positioned to prevent White's active e4-push. In fact, it is more difficult for White to do something active here as any opening of the position will favour Black's pair of bishops. So your fear of having "all the time in the world to slowly improve" are not very realistic.
You're right that Black shouldn't be pushing ...e5. Black should try to play on the queenside, the above knight-transfer or exchange the light-squared bishops by ...a5 and ...Ba6, or play ...a6, ...b5 and plant a knight on c4, all depending on circumstances. Exchanges on the c-file are OK and should further stress the invulnerability of Black's position.
Hope this helps!
Alex 3 weeks ago

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nsilver7 271,420 Is there a plan for Black to finish development in this line? Completely understand that we don't want to leave the weakness on c6 (if Black would recapture exd5), but how exactly should we proceed in solving our LSB 'problem'? I'm trying to find a way to make the e5 break work but d5 (if e5) and b5 squares are so weak and White seems well positioned after simply Rc1 and castling. I'm not claiming White has a big advantage or anything, but it feels like they have all the time in the world to slowly improve position while Black struggles to come up with active plan. Any guidance is much appreciated! 3 weeks ago

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simplydt 8,704,750 All done, thank you. 3 weeks ago

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GMAlexColovic 5,840 In fact, yes, it is possible to play ...c5 against Rc1, it is another line, though I don't like it that much. This is case where I had to choose so in this particular line I preferred to play ...c5 only after White has weakened his kingside. Perhaps a way to remember it is that "Rc1 discourages ...c5" so you don't play it, but the exception is "an attack on the wing is best countered by a strike in the centre." Hope this helps. 3 weeks ago

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nsilver7 271,420 Very tough move for me to find, even tougher to find c5 on the next move.. The explanation given says rook on c1 generally discourages the advance of c5 but then we justify it by saying White has weakened his kingside after h4 - except we don't attack on the kingside, we end up trading queens. Surely the move c5 can't be that bad with the pawn on h2 can it? We have the unopposed Bishop on f6 after all. 3 weeks ago

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nsilver7 271,420 Thanks Alex, that's very helpful! BTW, loving the repertoire thus far - very thorough and instructive. 4 weeks ago

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GMAlexColovic 5,840 Actually it's quite easy to solve the problem of the Bb7. Just play 16...a5 (instead of Nf6 in your suggested line) followed by ...Ba6. After the exchange of bishops he can land a knight on d6, but that is temporary as you can then play Nf6-d5, closing the d-file and getting rid of the Nd6. Black also has counterplay along the b-file in that position. The position is indeed equal, but perhaps it does require a bit of patience playing it. Hope this helps! 4 weeks ago

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nsilver7 271,420 This variation looks a bit uncomfortable to my amateur eyes for Black to play after White responds with c5. For example, c5 Qc7 Qc3 bxc5 dxc5 Nf6 Nxf6 Bxf6 Qc2. My weak engine suggests that the resulting position is about equal but I'm not very convinced considering we haven't solved the problem of the LSB and I don't see an easy way to do so. Perhaps instead of taking on c5, playing for the e5 break is better? Could see myself getting squeezed to death in this line by a stronger opponent. 4 weeks ago

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nsilver7 271,420 Might want to add dxe4 as an alternative move here considering it's the next variation given and the trainee has no way of knowing which move is expected here. 4 weeks ago

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