Attacking the Modern Defense · Road to GM, Game 433

Playing against the Modern Defense is much easier in d4, c4 setups than in e4 setups in my opinion. My sparring partner: https://noctie.ai/?aff=q9yKD On Noctie you can play out specific positions against a human-like opponent, select the rating, get immediate feedback and much more. If you go premium, use the code "HPYEAR" for a 20% yearly discount. In this game I used my 2 year old prep I had for Damjan Horvat against the Modern with early f5. That line, in which white plays Qh5+ and forces the black king to move is very pleasant for white unless black understands the ideas perfectly. Tomic S. (2003) - Filipovich D. (1853) Pula Open 2026, Round 6, 18.6.2026 Modern Defense against d4, c4 1. d4 g6 2. c4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. e4 e5 5. d5 f5 6. exf5 gxf5 7. Qh5+ Kf8 8. Bd3 Nf6 9. Qe2 e4 10. Bc2 Nbd7 11. Nh3 Nc5 12. O-O Bd7 13. f3 Qe7 14. fxe4 Re8 15. Bg5 Qe5 16. Rae1 Qd4+ 17. Kh1 Kg8 18. Be3 Qe5 19. Bxc5 dxc5 20. exf5 Qd6 21. Qf3 h6 22. Rxe8+ Bxe8 23. Ne4 Qe5 24. Nxf6+ Bxf6 25. Qg3+ Qxg3 26. hxg3 Bxb2 27. Rb1 Be5 28. Re1 *