Grand Prix Attack - No Plan, No Prep, Nil Point

Last week I played a club game against Basingstoke. I confess that I had not properly prepared for Black's 4th and my 5th move response! I didn't have a plan after 6.Bb5, I simply wanted to match my opponents early lunge in the center by giving my Bishop an early exchange and hoping to castle soon afterwards. I thought that by giving Black doubled pawns I'd have a slight advantage?

My opponent was wise and played 7. .. Qc7, a kind of Kan setup. I then went on to blunder a pawn after misplacing my Queen. My opponent finshed me off with nice little tactic against my h3 pawn, winning 2 more of my pawns and the game was up. The lesson for me here is that I well and truly lost the oppening and my opponent kept his advantage ... According to Fritz 13 it is not necessary to take the pawn on d5 (5.exd5), instead Bb5+ can be played on move 5 not move 6.

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