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Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst (D58)
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 Be7 5 e3 O-O 6 Nf3 h6
7 Bh4 b6

Number of games in database: 2811
Years covered: 1926 to 2023
Overall record:
   White wins 29.6%
   Black wins 17.3%
   Draws 53.1%

Popularity graph, by decade

Explore this opening  |  Search for sacrifices in this opening.
PRACTITIONERS
With the White Pieces With the Black Pieces
Predrag Nikolic  27 games
Lajos Portisch  24 games
Anatoly Karpov  22 games
Alexander G Beliavsky  62 games
Rafael Vaganian  50 games
Efim Geller  50 games
NOTABLE GAMES [what is this?]
White Wins Black Wins
Korchnoi vs Spassky, 1977
Karpov vs Spassky, 1974
Karpov vs Geller, 1981
E Magerramov vs Kasparov, 1977
Korchnoi vs Karpov, 1981
Psakhis vs Geller, 1982
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 page 1 of 113; games 1-25 of 2,811  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Janowski vs Tartakower 0-1331926SemmeringD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
2. Kostic vs Tartakower  0-1471926BardejovD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
3. B Alimonda vs Tartakower  ½-½411926MeranoD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
4. Gruenfeld vs D Przepiorka  ½-½181927KecskemetD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
5. Saemisch vs B Hoenlinger  1-0321928Trentschin-Teplitz(Trencianske Teplice)D58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
6. Reti vs Tartakower 1-0541928Bad KissingenD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
7. B Szijjarto Szabo vs B Hoenlinger  1-0591930GyorD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
8. Alekhine vs Tartakower 0-1741933Folkestone OlympiadD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
9. N Riumin vs I Rabinovich 1-0321934LeningradD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
10. J Dobias vs B Petkevic  0-1321935Kautsky mem 12thD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
11. H Steiner vs Abel Perez  1-0531935Mexican International MastersD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
12. I Rabinovich vs V Goglidze  ½-½611935MoscowD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
13. P Dubinin vs Kotov 1-0351936Giant Factory championshipD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
14. Euwe vs S Landau  ½-½401936ZandvoortD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
15. N Chernov vs H Heinicke  0-1251936non-FIDE Munich OlympiadD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
16. P Dubinin vs L Kaiev  1-0251937Ch Trade Unions (1/2 Final)D58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
17. N Bergqvist vs S Landau  0-1511937MatchD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
18. Alekhine vs Bogoljubov 1-0581937Bad Nauheim-Stuttgart-GarmischD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
19. P Herman vs B Urban  ½-½391937BrnoD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
20. M Yudovich Sr. vs Panov  0-1471938URS-ch sf KievD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
21. P N Troitsky vs B Naglis  1-0311938Ch Trade Unions (team sf)D58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
22. Kotov vs V Makogonov  1-0501939USSR ChampionshipD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
23. Kotov vs Bondarevsky  ½-½371939USSR ChampionshipD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
24. Foltys vs V Winz  1-0551939Buenos Aires Olympiad Final-AD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
25. Sokolsky vs V Chekhover  1-033194015th Ch LeningradD58 Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (Makagonov-Bondarevsky) Syst
 page 1 of 113; games 1-25 of 2,811  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
Apr-21-04  Kenkaku: Spassky was a big proponent of this statistically drawish opening.
Jul-05-04  zagor: Spassky played 98 QGD games with black and Tartakower was his favorite sub-variation. 77 of those games ended with draws. And the weirdest thing - same man was a huge proponent of King's Gambit, extremly non-drawish opening
Jul-05-04  Shadout Mapes: I'm guessing Spassky played this when he didn't want a risk. Even Fischer played it on occasion. More comments are on Queen's Gambit Declined, Tartakower (D59) if you're interested.
Jul-05-04  zagor: Actually, before his match against Fischer, Spassky was warned by Korchnoi that Bobby could use 1.d4 as a suprise weapon. Boris just laughed and said: "Then I'll play Tartakower and he's got nothing". His bullet-proof defense failed when he needed it most.
Jul-05-04  PizzatheHut: I thought the TMB variation was defined by 8. Rc1, but considering I'm not a big opening theorist, I'm probably mistaken.
Jul-05-04  zagor: Rc1 defines anti-neo-orthodox variation.
Aug-01-04  mad knight: When confronted with the QGD-Exchange, I'd like to transpose to the TMB since the Tartakover is my usual defence against the QGD and I don't like the cramped positions in the Exchange variation. Can White oppose this and if so, how? And what's the next best thing then? Thanks and play well!
Jul-10-05  Isolani: "Notable exponents include Kasparov, Kramnik, Short, and Beliavsky - none of whom is usually happy just to draw with black."

Starting Out: the Queen's Gambit
p. 11
John Shaw

Mar-12-06  fred lennox: One can see by the position above the main traits of this opening. Black's kingside pieces are developed and the king is in safety. White's king is not. With the position closed, this is not yet an issue, kingside development is not complete. White does have central control with 3 minor pieces to one of black. White's d pawn is secure and...b6 solves the problem of the Queens bishop. One trait to this opening is it does allow black to have both bishops, or at the least, does not give white the pair advantage.
Oct-01-06  TheKid: Why does this opening draw so much at top level?

It was created by Tartakower!!

Jul-03-07  get Reti: I like this opening for black because b6 stops white from playing c5, and thus black doesn't have to play dxc5, surrendering the center.
Sep-05-08  ravel5184: Whenever anybody loses as Black in this opening, they have to write down its name 100 times and hand it in
Jul-25-12  Archswindler: At a glance, the statistics on here aren't very promising - only 16.6% chance of a win for black is enough to put me off any opening. That's from 1589 games (at the time of writing this comment). I don't expect to always win as black, but I do expect to be able to play for a win against a weaker player who only wants a draw with white, and a win percentage of 16.6% would suggest that it would be quite difficult to do so.

However, it seems that statistics don't always mean very much. I checked a much larger database (about 8000 games in this variation) to see if the statistics came out the same. Overall, black's win percentage was about 20% in that database.

I limited the search to games played since 1970, and with at least 20 moves, to cut out short GM draws and older games. Black's win percentage went up to 25%, which I think is decent enough.

I then limited the search to games between players graded 1600-2250 (i.e. those I'm likely to play against), and black's win percentage then went up to 32%, with 33% for white and 35% for draws, from about 1000 games. That seems about as good as anyone can expect from any opening playing black.

I suspect if you look at the results of any fundamentally sound opening at club level, the win percentages for white and black will come out roughly the same, with fewer draws than at master level (especially fewer short draws).

Nov-27-12  ThrillerFan: One should not base their openings on statistics. It should be based on your style of play. Unless you are facing a 2700 player, statistics can be thrown out the Window. 1700 players don't know the suttlties of inverting moves 17 and 18 of some opening and how that might change the assessment from equal to Black's dead! Play what matches your style. If you are a wild tactican who likes the Modern Benoni and Sicilian Dragon, this opening isn't for you!

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