Arcángel

The system presented here is called the Möller or also the Modern Arkhangelsk Variation. It is very popular at the present time at the top level, because it meets the desire of many grandmasters for active play with Black. It has, for example, often been played by Alexei Shirov and Viswanathan Anand. In the original Arkhangelsk Variation (5...b5 6.Bb3 Bb7) Black immediately develops his queen’s bishop to b7. In the old form of the Möller Variation 5...Bc5 is played before ...b5. The modern system with 5...b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 has developed as a mixture of them both.