Colle main line with Nc6

This position arises after

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 Bd6
(4...Be7 is also possible, see Additional possibilities)
5.Nbd2 c5 6.c3 0-0 7.0-0 Nc6 - and is the most popular
Black response to the Colle (according to the author's
personal statisics, about 20% of all Colle games go this
way).
With his last move Black follows the "common sense"
opening strategy - as if he were playing the Queen's
Gambit. With 7...Nc6 he prepares a pawn advance in the
center with e6-e5 and takes appropriate measures on
forthcoming e3-e4. If White moves his pawn immediately,
Black meets it with pawn exchanges in the center and
Black meets it with pawn exchanges in the center and
White gets an isolated pawn that gives Black enough
counterplay, though White has good attacking
possibilities: Romanovsky,P - Rotlewi,G 0-1

But usually White avoids creating an isolated pawn with

8.dxc5 Bxc5
and then he can tempt Black to force an ending with 9.e4
or avoid an ending with the preliminary 9.Qe2 and only
than 10.e4. The price for this order of moves is in
increasing Black possibilities in the line 10...e5 11.e4
Important note:
The idea to avoid queen exchange is usually realised with
8.Qe2 before 9.dxc5 more often. Usually (after 8...Qc7 or
8...e5) it is only a transposition. But a lot of modern theory
books missed an interesting idea, introduced for Black in
the rare Bulgarian opening manual by Neikirkh and
Tsvetkov (1958) - Black can meet 8.Qe2 with 8…Nfd7 and
now 9.dxc5 is weak because of 9…Ndxc5.
now 9.dxc5 is weak because of 9…Ndxc5.
So 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.Qe2 move order is better, because it
reduces Black possibilities and 10.e4 cannot be stopped.

Colle ending
"Colle ending" is the name we will give to a typical
ending with White pawn majority 3 versus 2 in the
Queen side (and subsequently, 4 vs 3 Black pawn
majority in the King side). After moves 9.e4 dxe4 10.Nxe4
Nxe4 11.Bxe4 Qxd1 12.Rxd1 White has brilliant
prospects.

In this position White has a good possibility to realize his

pawn majority because of better development, a rook
controlling the open d-line and further winning tempos
after b2-b4 and possible b4-b5. The Be4-Nc6-b7-Ra8 pin
has an important role that creates an additional threat of
pawn strike a5-a6. See once more
Haag,M - Doennebrink,E 1-0 and as additional games
Haag,M - Doennebrink,E 1-0 and as additional games
Brockmann,M - Reichert,J 1-0 and
Nickl,K - Wohlfahrt,H 1-0
It is time to note, that Colle ending with 3 vs 2 pawn
majority arises enough often in other lines of Colle and the
plan of pawn majority advance, creating a passed pawn
and queening it remain the main ideas of White play. See,
for example Pantev,V - Kozhuharov,S 1-0

At a halfway house
At a halfway house to the ending Black can turn aside and
reserve his Queen for a middlegame by moving it from the
d-file:
9.e4 dxe4 10.Nxe4 Be7 but with this move Black gives
White much more space for maneuvres, than in the line
without 9...dxe4
See Colle,E - Doesburgh van 1-0
The same turning can happen one move later: 9.e4 dxe4
The same turning can happen one move later: 9.e4 dxe4
10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 Qc7 (or Qe7 or even Qb6). This
changing of plans is in White's faovour, because he
realized one of the strategical ideas: his b1 knight crossed
the board (Nb1-d2-e4) to exchange Nf6, an important
defender of Black's king-side, especially the h7 point,
where White's light square bishop is looking with an
increasing interest!

See Sinclair,D - Gaffar,A 0-1

So it is better for Black to avoid an ending and start a

struggle for the e5 point. He can:
- move his e6 pawn to e5 (see "Clash of wills")
- take this important point under his pieces' fire with
9...Qc7 (see "Old main line")
- make a useful waiting move hoping to attack and
annihilate white pawn, arrived at the desired e5 square
(see Welcome or no trespassers?)
 These three possibilities form 3 different plans for Black,
but every plan White has to meet in a fitting manner. Let's
look closely at each line:

"Clash of wills" - pawn center e4 vs e5

This line arises after different move orders:

- 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.e4 e5 10.Qe2
- 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.Qe2 e5 10.e4
- 8.Qe2 e5 9.dxc5 Bxc5 10.e4
and contains a lot of possibilities for both sides.
In the first case White has an additional possibility 10.exd5
- see Colle,E - Euwe,M ½-½
After 8/9/10. Qe2 Black has a wider choice, but it does not
bother his opponent very much.
10...Be6
It looks like this main line from the NCO and Fritz7/Fritz8
opening book is in White's favour:
 opening book is in White's favour:
Saemisch,F - Rosselli del Turco,S ½-½
The most popular and natural is 10...Bg4
See Kloeditz,U - Rebholz,R 1-0
Another "common sense" move is 10...Re8, but weakening
of the f7 point gives White additional possibilities
See Hoi,C - De Firmian,N 0-1
Space grabbing 10...d4 is not enough:
See Guimard,C - Castelli,R 1-0

"Old main line": struggle for piece control over

e5

after 9...Qc7
With his last move Black takes control over e5 and in
following moves both sides argue thr pros and cons e4-e5
pawn advance with
10.Qe2 Bd6 11.Re1 Ng4:
10.Qe2 Bd6 11.Re1 Ng4:

e4-e5 is prevented and after

12.h3 Nge5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.exd5 exd5 Black holds
e5, but at the cost of getting an isolated pawn on d5

This line was elaborated by Alekhine in 1920s and up to

mid-1930s it was adopted as a solid equalizing
continuation in the Colle opening. Until White devised the
strategy of allowing the exchange of his light squared
strategy of allowing the exchange of his light squared
bishop Black has a good game (NCO, for example, gives
13.Bc2 Bd7=). But in 1930s G. Koltanowski improved
White's play with the fundamental new 15.Nf3!

This move indicates a change in White's strategy: his new

main target is the d5 isolated pawn and in a future siege of
this weakness. Nf3 will be at least as valuable a piece as
Bd3. So White continues his development by freeing Bc1
and puts a question to Black: what piece to take? Some
brilliant Koltanowski wins and following practice show that
White has a better game after both 15...Nxd3 and
15...Nxf3+.
15...Nxd3
Koltanowski,G - Almeda,J 1-0
additional games: Pek,I - Kostbar,K 1-0,
Zimninski,N - Groleau,G 1-0
15...Nxf3
Persitz,B - Brilla-Banfalvi 1-0
 Persitz,B - Brilla-Banfalvi 1-0
addtional game and a good example of playing against
"two weaknesses": Jensen,I - Fernandez Fornes,J 1-0
Black can delay Ne5 exchange , but the main ideas of
treating the position remains the same:
Schwertel,H - Herzel,A 1-0.

"Welcome or no trespassers?" ...h6 trick

The most sophisticated and complex line arises after
9...Qc7 10.Qe2 h6!?

This line was played occasionally since the 1930s, but

only in 1986 did Robert Reynolds shared his analyses in
December issue of "The Chess Correspondent" magazine.
The idea of this move is in its seeming weakness: Black
invites White to make his program move e4-e5. But just
after 11.e5 all Black forces attack this outpost with
11...Ng4 and it is not easy to defend it.
11...Ng4 and it is not easy to defend it.

Had Black pawn stayed at h7 White has a tactical

response: Ng4? Bxh7+ Kxh7 Ng5+ and Qxg4. This
difference makes ...h6 a useful move. But the latest
theoretical research shows, that 11.e5 is playable for
White and the complex position that arises, gives him
interesting possibilities - if he knows the main ideas of
future struggle around the e5 outpost.
See Danner,G - Novikov,I 0-1 (and pay attention to
13.Nbd4 and 14.Nbd4 variations)
But like in the Russian matreshka (set of nesting dolls)
there is another idea hidden into the h6 move: if White
guesses Black's intentions and answers the waiting
10…h6 with the symmetrical 11.h3 (Smith and Hall
recommendation), the Black knight goes a different way -
11...Nh5! and White can not defend both f4 and g3 points.
11...Nh5! and White can not defend both f4 and g3 points.

see Ostrowski,L - Ivanov,S 0-1

Since that the line was adopted by some strong players,

including IMs J. Silman, S. Ivanov (now GM), S. Polgar,
GMs V. Eingorn, I. Novikov, P. Wells . One of the
experts in this line as White is Brazilian IM J. Pelikian. He
paid attention to the "magic" character of the position:
before active operations both sides try to make as many
useful waiting moves as they can. Such moves as Kh1
(that makes impossible Nh5-g3 after h2-h3), Bc2 (that
saves a bishop from the fork Nh5-f4), a3 (that helps to
develop queen side with b4, c4 and possible Bb2) are not
only waiting moves, but also a preparation of the important
e4-e5 at the most appropriate moment.
See Pelikian,J - Valle,A 1-0
additional games Pelikian,J - Thompson,I 1-0,
Lazic,M - Sale,S 0-1 and Pelikian,J - Coelho,L 1-0
This line pretends to be a main line of the Colle, so White
 This line pretends to be a main line of the Colle, so White
(as well as Black) player had to look at the resulting
positions with a special attention.

Important note:
The similar position arises (with colours reversed) in the
actual so-called Anti-Meran variation (ECO D46) in the line
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2
Bd6 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Qe7 10.h3
For this line see, as additional games,
Dus Chotimirsky,F - Fahrni,H 0-1,
Ramirez,C - Cuartas,J 0-1, Alzate,D - Echavarria,J 0-1,
Fedorov - Sosnovskiy,I 0-1

Additional possibilities
An isolated pawn
Sometimes Colle experimented with the line 8.dxc5 Bxc5
9.e4 Qc7 10.exd5 exd5 The resulting position is close to
the lines from the French Defence 3.Nd2 c5 4.exd5 exd5 ,
but with some extra tempos and good development for
Black, that gives him full compensation for the isolated
pawn. This line can be a kind of psychological weapon
against non-French players and against low-rated club
players who usually don't like to play positions with an
isolated pawn.
See Colle,E - Kashdan,I 0-1

Be7 instead of Bd6

Sometimes Black develops his dark-squared bishop to e7
instead of d6 - as if he were playing Queen's Gambit
Declined. Often after White takes c5 pawn and Black
replies Bxc5 there is no difference with Bd6 lines. But Be7
does not threaten e6-e5 advance and White can try to use
additional time for more painstaking preparation of e3-e4,
for example, with Qe1-e2 move.

See Ragozin,V - Stahlberg,G 1-0

To 01. Contents
To the next chapter 08. Colle main line with Nbd7