Chess with Sam Collins

Dmitry Kryakvin vs Alexander Motylev

Russian Rapid Championship 2017

Rapid and blitz tournaments are becoming increasingly popular at GM level. The Russian rapid championship is one of the strongest such tournaments, and was won outright by GM Alexander Motylev, a former European Champion.

1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nd2

This is the move order preferred by modern theory, over the traditional 5.Nf3. Black can respond solidly with 5...e6 but Motylev ...