The Secret Weapon: 2...b6 against 1.d4 by GM Alexey Dreev
Some ideas live in a coach's private files for years before they reach anyone else. This repertoire is one of them. GM Alexey Dreev built the 2...b6 system for his own students over many seasons, and he shares the reason plainly in his introduction: this is a line prepared to play for a win with Black, and to sidestep the forced draws that so often decide games against 1.d4.
The move itself is the statement of intent. After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 b6!?, Black declines the well-trodden Classical Queen's Indian (2...e6 3.Nf3 b6) in favor of something sharper. The queenside fianchetto arrives a tempo earlier and on Black's own terms, and the resulting positions carry more tension and far more winning potential than the structures Black is usually steered into here.
What makes this repertoire different
The recurring theme of the course is a fight over a single piece: Black's light-squared bishop on b7. White's most principled attempts — 4.d5 in the main position, or 7.d5 in the Double Fianchetto — are all aimed at closing that bishop's diagonal, and Dreev's answers are all about proving that the closure costs White more than it gains. Against 4.d5 Black strikes back immediately with 4...e6, hitting the center before it settles.
Two ideas give the repertoire its independent character. The first is the Double Fianchetto: after 3.Nf3 Bb7 4.g3, Dreev avoids the routine 4...e6 and plays 4...g6!?, meeting White's setup with a mirror of his own and the sharp central move 7...Ne4. The second is his handling of the main tabiya after 4.d5 e6 5.a3 — the fresh 5...Bd6!?, a way of developing the bishop that keeps the position unbalanced and, in Dreev's words, playable for three results. There is also a timely reassessment woven through the theory: 3.f3, long considered White's most testing try, is now met by 3...Nc6!, an approach the engines have rehabilitated into full counterplay.
The course includes:
- 10 Chapters
- 20 test positions
- Memory Booster
- To Go Version of every chapter
- Video instruction
- Multilingual PGN availability (English, German, French, Spanish)
Variation map
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 b6!?
3.Nc3 Bb7
- 4.d5 e6 5.a3 Bd6!? → Chapter 7
- 4.d5 e6 5.e4 Bb4! → Chapter 6
- 4.f3 d5! → Chapter 5
- 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 → Chapters 8–9
- 4.Nf3 Ne4!? → Chapter 10
3.Nf3 Bb7 4.g3 g6!? 5.Bg2 Bg7 6.O-O O-O (Double Fianchetto)
- 7.Nc3 Ne4! → Chapter 1
- 7.d5 → Chapter 2
- 7.Qc2 and other sidelines → Chapter 3
3.f3 Nc6! → Chapter 4
From the same author
Players who know Dreev from the other side of the board may recognize his approach to 1.d4 systems from Dreev's London, the White repertoire he produced with GM Pier Luigi Basso. That course tackles the London System from White's perspective and is a separate project.
A weapon for the win
If you play 1.d4 as White, you already know how easily the Queen's Indian can drift toward equality and the handshake. This repertoire is Dreev's answer to that problem for the player sitting behind the black pieces — an aggressive system with the imbalance built in from move two. Start with Chapter 7 and the 5...Bd6 tabiya to see how much life the line still holds, then work outward through the Double Fianchetto and the sidelines.